“Stars Fell [In] Alabama”: Toward a Critical Race Theory Approach to Music Learning and Teaching

• In Event: Analyzing Policy Through Critical Research Methods

Abstract

For this project, we present critical race theory (CRT) as a pedagogical tool that K-12 music teachers can use to create multicultural curricula and equity-focused learning spaces. We propose that centering Black music and musicians in K-12 music classrooms will provide an important counter-narrative that challenges White supremacist constructions of what counts as the music education canon. In a two-pronged approach, we use Coltrane’s “Alabama” to illustrate what doing CRT looks like in the music classroom, modeling how tunes such as this can function as rich sites for unearthing historical narratives that appear to be hidden, and to articulate how those in K-12 can employ songs like “Alabama” to counter legislators’ and anti-CRT policy makers’ attempts to disremember our histories.

Authors

• Joyce M. McCall, Arizona State University

• Adrienne D. Dixson, Pennsylvania State University