1. The Beatles and American Segregation
How did the Beatles take a stand against segregation while touring America?

2. Background
The members of The Beatles grew up in Liverpool in the north of England. From the time the band formed, they were students of African-American music, such as American Rhythm and Blues, Southern Soul, Motown, and more. The “covers” (songs not written but recorded by The Beatles) included on their early records were predominantly songs made famous by African- American artists. Likely because of this respect for African-American music and their opposition to segregation, when The Beatles toured America their contracts stated explicitly that they would not perform for segregated audiences. For those who saw the group as nothing more than a “teen phenomenon,” it was a lesson in how artists can stand up for their beliefs and help to change the world they live in.

3. Who are The Beatles. What do you know about their success
Who are The Beatles? What do you know about their success? Have you ever heard of “Beatlemania”?
Beatlemania
1. What is Beatlemania?
2. How did the fans feel about The Beatles during Beatlemania?
3. Do you think this kind of celebrity gave The Beatles a unique social power? If so, what do you think could they do with it?
4. Can you think of any current musicians whose popularity gives them power to affect American society? Who? What did they do and what was the effect?

4. Read Handout 1 and answer the following questions:
4. How do you think segregation would have affected the lives of young people in the American South?
5. How do you think segregation affected The Beatles as young people growing up in England? Little Richard was a major influence on The Beatles’ music. They covered Richard’s songs “Good Golly Miss Molly” and “Long Tall Sally,” and the two groups played together in Europe before The Beatles’ first trip to the U.S. How do you think The Beatles’ love for Richard’s music would have affected their relationship to Richard as a person?
6. What do you think the White Citizens Council meant when it suggested that Rock and Roll would “mongrelize” America?

5. Beatles confront American segregation
Beatles & American Segregation
7. What was the situation The Beatles were facing in Florida?
8. What was The Beatles position on segregation?
If Jim Crow laws were still in effect at the time, what of significance were The Beatles doing relative to those laws?
9. What do you think the Beatles represented to Dr. Oliver when she was a girl?
10. How do you think the Beatles’ stance against segregation affected Dr. Oliver’s view of the pop act’s unique power?

6. Read Handout 2 and answer the following questions:
Questions after Part 1:
12. How do you think playing “black music” affected the group’s feelings about African Americans in general?
13. What do you think The Beatles respect for African-American music might have meant to a young American fan at the time?
Questions after Part 2:
14. What type of music does the author say The Beatles play?
15. What does Little Richard suggest that he hears in The Beatles’ sound in 1963?

7. Beatles on the ed Sullivan show
This nationally televised performance was watched by a record setting 73 million viewers, more than one third of the American population at the time.
16. What was Whoopi Goldberg’s reaction to The Beatles as a young woman?
17. How do you think Goldberg’s recollection of The Beatles seeming “colorless” differs from the White Citizen Council’s declaration that Rock and Roll would “mongrelize” America?

8. Beatles’ lyrics
Watch the following clip and use Handout 3 to answer the questions:
We Can Work It Out
18. What do you think this song is about? Could this song be about segregation? What else could you interpret this song to be about?
19. In what ways do you think the open-ended interpretation of “We Can Work It Out” might have affected the song’s power with listeners? 

9. Final thoughts
20. How would you describe the impact Beatlemania had on America to someone who had not heard of the band?
21. What have you learned about the power of popular music?
22. Can you think of contemporary artists who have attempted to leverage their power as popular performers to enact social change?