Social Studies Research and Practice www.socstrp.org Volume 10 Number 2 67 Summer 2015 Using the Power of Music to Support Students’ Understanding of Fascism Anthony Pellegrino George Mason University Joseph L. Adragna St. Scholastica Academy Kristien Zenkov George Mason University Music has been an integral part of humanity’s culture for millennia. Like many other artifacts of culture, songs have: expressed a range of feelings, informed listeners of historical and political issues, and provoked social awareness and change at every level of sophistication. In nearly all corners of the globe, music is woven deeply into the fabric of life and significantly affects and reflects the contexts in which it is written and shared. Our almost universal passion for music, bolstered by its importance as an artifact of culture and history, has not resulted in the integration of musical forms and texts in our classrooms in any systematic or conspicuous way. In that context, we propose a framework for integrating music in the social studies classroom. Our example comes from two individuals who lived very different lives, yet experienced some tragic parallels confronting fascism at various points in history. The music and writing these individuals left behind enable us to explore best practices in social studies and literacy in particularly engaging ways. Keywords: Music, Global Education, World History, Global Studies, Literacy Practices, Primary Source Analysis Music has been an integral part of humanity’s culture for millennia. Like many other artifacts of culture, songs have expressed a range of feelings, informed listeners of historical and political issues, and provoked social awareness and change at every level of sophistication. In nearly all corners of the globe, music is deeply woven into the fabric of life and significantly affects and reflects the contexts in which it is written and shared. While music matters to individuals of every age, it is particularly important for young people (Maira & Soep, 2005; Vahlberg, 2010). For youth the world over, music is often an elemental vehicle for cultural identity development (Alim, 2009). It also serves as one vehicle through which they communicate and express ideas and emotion (Houser, 2005; Pellegrino, Lee, Luongo, & Zakaria, 2011). Our almost universal passion for music, even bolstered by its importance as an artifact of culture and history, has not resulted in the integration of musical forms and texts in our classrooms in any systematic or conspicuous way (Brkrich, 2012). For social studies and literacy educators, this reality is especially troubling, given the power of music to communicate and facilitate learning in compelling ways. In world history and global studies courses, specifically, music—with its ability to convey perspectives of past and current events that transcend certain language and cultural differences—holds great potential to captivate and inspire students to gain insight from its messages. Recent scholarship on the use of music in social studies classrooms has begun to demonstrate this power. Scholars (e.g. Brkrich,