Jack Dappa Blues Heritage Preservation Foundation is a private operating organization based in Bowling Green, KY. The foundation is regarded as the focal point for research, archiving, and raising awareness of African American Traditional Music and the Black experience, as well as philanthropists who raise donations to teach the community how to preserve their culture and heritage through many mediums. We aim to preserve African American Traditional Music, Folklore, Folklife, Folk Art, and Foodways.
The organization also works to build a database of collections created by in-house and community patrons through our African American Folklorist program, which trains participants to document the history and heritage of their family, culture, and music. In a bid to fulfill our mission, we’ve embarked on developing learning and engagement of Black Music, such as Blues, String Music, Jug Bands, Black spirituals, Gospel, and other traditional music, along with its connection to the generation of folk members that participate in the traditions on some way or another.
This is a breakdown of the first phase of a curriculum that can be used in public schools, private schools, homeschools, and community organizations. The lessons can be instructed by a teaching artist, incorporated in a teacher’s classroom, or implemented in homeschool, library, or museum activities. It is constructed so that if a teacher or instructor has no music training or broadcast training, they can still use the curricula. However, it is specific to teaching artists and teachers experienced in folklore, folk studies, and cultural works.
RESULTS
Students who show promise or opt-in to being published can publish their works in the African American Folklorist magazine and join the Jack Dappa Blues Heritage Preservation Foundation repository of archived collections.
ASSESSMENT
Utilize and implement education based on the Kentucky standards KRS 156.160 & 704 KAR 3:305. The result of the year-long program curricula is that students develop the communication skills necessary to function in a complex and changing civilization. Have the Knowledge to make economic, social, and political choices. Understanding governmental processes as they affect the community, the state, and the nation, and how that affects them, their culture, and the community’s culture. Discover Sufficient self-knowledge and knowledge of shared tradition and expression. Learn to work with others and identify significant aspects of their traditions and classmates. Learn and employ the methods of folklore and folklife.
USED BY
Units are divided into multiple weeks of the school year. The lessons can be utilized by students of all ages. Teachers of courses such as music, social studies, history, African American history, and literature can incorporate all or selected units into their lesson plans for traditional schooling. Teachers, instructors, parents, and community programs can also select individual units specific to the community’s interests.