Pop superstar, Beyoncé made history earlier this week as she recorded her 99th Grammy nomination and became one of the most influential music icons in history.
The pop star’s legacy, her fandom will now become the subject of a new course at Yale University from next year.
The course will be titled “Beyoncé Makes History: Black Radical Tradition, Culture, Theory & Politics Through Music.” It will be a one-credit class at the Ivy League college and will focus on the period from her 2013 self-titled album through this year’s genre-defying Cowboy Carter.
The course will discuss her relevance in pop culture, her influence on social and political ideologies, and much more.
It is reported that Yale University’s African American Studies Professor Daphne Brooks intends to use the performer’s wide-ranging repertoire, including footage of her live performances, as a “portal” for students to learn about Black intellectuals, from Frederick Douglass to Toni Morrison.
“We’re going to be taking seriously the ways in which the critical work, the intellectual work of some of our greatest thinkers in American culture resonates with Beyoncé’s music and thinking about how we can apply their philosophies to her work and how it has sometimes been at odds with the Black radical intellectual tradition.”
Professor Daphne Brooks
This is not the first time that a performer can become the subject of a college-level course.
Previously, colleges have taught courses on singer and songwriter Bob Dylan over the years. There have also been courses on singer Taylor Swift and her lyrics and pop culture legacy.
Professors at other colleges and universities have also incorporated Beyoncé into their courses or offered classes on the superstar.
Meanwhile, Brooks sees Beyoncé in a league of her own, crediting the singer 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.
“She’s a fascinating artist because historical memory, as I often refer to it, and also the kind of impulse to be an archive of that historical memory, it’s just all over her work. And you just don’t see that with any other artist.”
Professor Daphne Brooks
Beyoncé Helps Raise Money
Beyoncé is notoriously private but behind the scenes, she’s always giving back to others.
The ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’ hitmaker recently donated and signed a limited-edition Cowboy Carter boxset to help raise money for breast cancer, a cause close to her family’s heart.
The star’s dad, Matthew Knowles, opened up about the donation in his latest Instagram post, as he attended the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation to help raise money for the cause.
Alongside a photo of himself at the event with the new owners of the limited-edition boxset, Matthew explained that it ended up being donated for a staggering $10,000.
“At the end of October, we did something very special in Montreal, Canada, and highlighted a limited-edition, Cowboy Carter boxset which was signed and donated by Beyoncé for this great cause. Only 50 of these boxsets have ever been signed and contain a photobook and two vinyl albums within.
“I decided to do something special on stage and sold it for the foundation for $10,000 to these three wonderful people who put their hand up and went home with a piece of music history. Thank you to the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation and the city of Montreal for their hospitality and for letting me share my voice around male breast cancer and genetic testing.”
Matthew Knowles
Matthew battled breast cancer in 2019 and has worked tirelessly to help raise money for the charity ever since.
He recently opened up about his “tough year”. “It was a tough year back in 2019, my wife Gena’s had just died, literally months before with breast cancer, and I was diagnosed…” he said.
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