This course addresses jazz and related African American musics as a continual process of “call and response” by musicians, audiences, writers, and other participants on the scene in relation to their broader social environment. Students will investigate topics such as the American civil rights movement through music by Max Roach, John Coltrane, Nina Simone, and others; large-scale musical framings of the historical narratives of African American experiences and identities by Duke Ellington, Hannibal Lokumbe, and John Carter; societal issues beyond the United States; and ideas of freedom, democracy, cosmopolitanism, and struggle. Historical examples are placed in relation to contemporary issues, and students are encouraged to find their own responses to the calls of today.