Breaking New Ground with the History of Hip Hop

English Teacher Pete Nicholson

RECALLS THAT WHEN HE FIRST BEGAN TEACHING IN THE EARLY 2000s, SOME STUDENTS WERE SURPRISED TO LEARN THAT HE LIKED HIP HOP.

“They didn’t associate that with a teacher. I realized that it was a really good connection point. Kids who may not have been interested in class otherwise would enjoy connecting about music. I wanted to tap into that interest.”

Fast forward several years, and Nicholson, who grew up in the New York suburbs where hip hop was part of the social fabric, had a classroom across the hall from new social studies teacher Andy Cassarino.

“It was geographical luck.” Nicholson says with a smile.

Cassarino, born and raised in Vermont, says that he started listening to hip hop as an adolescent, but he really became interested in college: “My mentor introduced me to conscientious hip hop–that’s when I really started listening to the lyrics, and that’s when I really started to love hip hop.”

When the two connected on hip hop, they knew right away that they should co-create an integrated English and social studies class on the genre—a class where, as Nicholson says, “The music is a way to learn history and culture.”

Nicholson and Cassarino wrote a proposal and received a Burr and Burton faculty grant to create the new curriculum over the summer of 2021.

The History of Hip Hop course, which first ran in the fall of 2021, is fully integrated and counts as either an English or a social studies course for students. Nicholson explains that it’s also a unique course offering even among Burr and Burton’s many course offerings, “It’s a 20th century history class; it’s an African American history class. Those two aspects of history are really valuable to teach—and may not have always gotten as much attention in history classes in the past. We wanted to make sure that the history got all the way up through the 80s, 90s and the turn of the century.”

Cassarino explains the approach to the curriculum, which weaves together movements in music with the history that influenced them, “For example, this year we’re looking at the Great Migration and we look at why [Black Americans] were leaving the south. We examine these blues songs that were specifically about the issues they were facing. Students listen to the music, and we consider the reasons why so many farmers were leaving the south. There’s the ‘Bo-Weavil Blues’, and the ‘Sharecropper’s Blues.’ The music reflects on and responds to the political, social, cultural issues we’re studying.”

Nicholson explains the magic of integrating English and social studies: “That interplay is what the course is all about. We’ll do a deep literary analysis of specific songs that also becomes an access point to understanding history.”

And helping kids construct context for and deeper understanding of something they care about is part of the success. Cassarino reflects, “It’s a subject that so many students are personally invested in, because they love the music; that’s the beauty of this course.”