The American Protest Song has a long history of singing out against injustice and intolerance through the ages. This course will trace that history and the giants of the genre and their work. Topics include civil rights, native American rights, women’s rights, labor movement, anti-war, and the environment.

We will start by telling the real story behind Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land,” continue with “I Ain’t Marching Any More” during the late 1960s, and include Billy Holiday’s “Strange Fruit,” among the many iconic songs that enrich our heritage.  We will include works by Phil Ochs, Pete Seeger, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Paul Robeson, Joan Baez, Peter, Paul and Mary, Bruce Springsteen, and Bob Dylan, among others. Many other songs will be new discoveries.

Works of more than twenty artists will be presented during this five-week course. Content will include the artists’ background and the background of their songs. Representative songs will be played. There will be opportunities for the class to tell of their experiences with the songs and how they may have been affected by them.  Come and enjoy, reflect, and reminisce.