Yale University is set to introduce a new course on the cultural and political impacts of American singer, songwriter, and businesswoman, Beyoncé. Titled, “Beyoncé Makes History: Black Radical Tradition, Culture, Theory & Politics Through Music,” Yale University’s African American Studies Professor Daphne Brooks intends to use the performer’s influential repertoire as a way for students to learn about Black intellectuals from Frederick Douglass to Toni Morrison.
The course is a one-credit class that will explore the period from her 2013 self-titled album through 2024’s genre-defying “Cowboy Carter” and how the musician has created awareness and engagement socially and politically.
“Beyoncé’s music is a treasure trove of societal commentary and storytelling filled with dense layers that require multiple analytical lenses,” said Hannah Buckles, a second-year technical theater major.
Brooks notes that Beyoncé has tried to tell a story through her music about “race and gender and sexuality in the context of the 400-year-plus history of African-American subjugation,” per the Associated Press.
“The theory and politics of Beyoncé’s music often overlaps with those of these black intellectuals. Toni Morrison often wrote about the role of the American Dream in Black America,” said Buckles, “Frederick Douglass, one of the United States’ top abolitionists, calling for the freedom of enslaved Black Americans. When looking at his ideals alongside the lyrics of ‘Freedom’ the commonalities between his messages and own escape from enslavement.”
When the release of her song and video, “Formation” dropped for her 2016 album, “Lemonade,” it shocked America. The video featured allusions to the Black Lives Matter movement and Hurricane Katrina. One image showed Beyoncé sitting atop a New Orleans police car which is eventually submerged in water.
After her politically charged Super Bowl performance in 2016 to the same song, she faced backlash from former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. What later followed were calls to #BoycottBeyoncé in one organizer’s protest against her performance, per MSNBC.
“Beyoncé has highlighted aspects of black culture on both the domestic and international scale. Her attention places a larger lens for those unfamiliar with the Black, primarily Black American, way of life,” said Buckles, “From HBCU bands, ballroom culture, police brutality, the American Dream, to love letters to the motherland, she ensures all of her projects converge to encapsulate the black identity.”
Brooks credits the artist with using her platform to “spectacularly elevate awareness of and engagement with grassroots, social, political ideologies and movements” in her music, including the Black Lives Matter movement and Black feminist commentary, per the Associated Press.
“The last three or four albums particularly, are reclaiming some of the musical history that was stolen from black people especially. This is clear from ‘Renaissance’ and ‘Cowboy Carter,’” said Amani Weather, a third-year secondary English education major.
The ideas found in Beyoncé’s lyrics are not new, and are rooted in the causes led by the Black freedom fighters of the past.
“Art has and always will be political. People create because they want to convey a message to an audience. I feel Beyoncé’s albums do a wonderful job of showing us what was occurring in the world at this time,” said Buckles.
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