Now that you’ve explored Beyoncé’s entire discography and the musical, cultural, and sociopolitical history that influenced her work, let’s build a collective timeline of that history. Choose an era and genre that Beyoncé’s work historicized to investigate by answering the following questions through a multimedia presentation: What cultural or sociopolitical moment did Beyoncé examine or incorporate into her music, videos, aesthetics, and/or performances? How did Beyoncé capture or recreate the soundtrack of that era? Whose narratives did she highlight or center? How did the public respond? How would you personally respond? What did you learn about that moment and its music through Beyoncé’s work? Do you notice how her work has influenced the current generation of musicians, performers, and archivists/historians? (Provide a clear example.)
Here are some possible topics, though you are not limited to these: 1860s slavery abolition + country/delta/blues music, 1920s Jim Crow South/Great Migration + jazz music, 1950s-‘70s postwar feminism + funk music, the 1960s Civil Rights Movement + R&B/soul music, 1980s-‘90s LGBTQ+ ballroom culture + house music, the late 2000s-‘10s feminist movement + pop music. You might present your project as a media collage, a playlist, a dance, a video-essay, an interview, etc.
At least five references required: Beyoncé’s work, one source about the era, one source about the era’s music, one source on public response, and one source on contemporary influence.
Start on the library home page with her name. You can search Beyoncé or Beyoncé Knowles or Beyoncé Knowles-Carter.
You may get different results with each search, but each one will bring you results.
There are several biographical works in our collection that might be a good place to start:
Beyoncé in the World: Making Meaning with Queen Bey in Troubled Times
Beyoncé in Formation: Remixing Black Feminism
Take a look in Credo Reference, a database of hundreds of encyclopedias, dictionaries, and biographies, for more biographical information.
A search from the library home page of your era, by name or decade, will bring back many results.
For instance, try 1970s to search for information on the '70s - and be sure to include other terms, like feminism, postwar, Vietnam, etc.
Likewise, search by a century; for instance, try 19th century along with terms like slavery and abolition, or 20th century and Great Migration.
Again, Credo Reference is a great source for information about historical time periods, and the resources there can direct you to more detailed information or related topics.
If you haven't narrowed down your era and music, search the catalog for music history books. These can help you learn enough about an era and its music to help you decide on one for your focus. Your search for Beyoncé by name may bring up some titles that will be helpful here, but also try different combinations of search terms, like music history and america, Beyoncé and music history, popular music and history
Keep in mind that if you don't specify America or United States or US or USA, you'll get results from beyond, and you'll have to sort through them - but you may find books that discuss the American experience in a global context, so don't necessarily rule that search out.
Here are a few titles that might be of interest:
From blues to Beyoncé: a century of black women's generational sonic rhetorics
Diva: feminism and fierceness from pop to hip-hop
Bodies of sound: studies across popular music and dance
The Pop Palimpsest: Intertextuality in Recorded Popular Music
You'll find information on the multitude of responses in books and articles about Beyoncé's work, but you may also want to take a look at critical responses in newspapers and magazines printed close to the time of album, song, and video releases.
Search by song or album name, and if you want to research a video, include the word video.
Popular media, like newspapers, magazines, and even social media, give real-time reception information, made for a wide audience.
Searching from the library home page with names, you'll see results that are labeled things like Newsletters or Magazines - these will include industry publications, like Variety and Rolling Stone. But to see newspapers, you'll want to select Resource Type from the filters on the left side of the screen, and select Newspapers search.
As with reception, be on the lookout as you read about Beyoncé and her work for information on contemporary influences.
If you have artists and songs in mind that have been influenced by the work of Beyoncé, search them by name or title. Critical work published at the time of release may be a great source for this information, too.