Once again, Beyoncé’s impact is being taught in school.
As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East offered a virtual course titled “Black Is Queen: The Divine Feminine in Kush” in 2021, taught by Dr. Solange Ashby, who has a Ph.D. in Egyptology and was an adjunct professor at Barnard College at the time.
Beyoncé has also been taught at Cornell University, Arizona State University, and Rutgers University, among others. Now, Widener University in Pennsylvania becomes the latest school to feature a course on the “Cowboy Carter” artist, according to CBS News. This time to a class of nearly 10 freshman students, all young women.
“Who doesn’t want to take a course on Beyoncé? I grew up listening to her music,” Grace Schneider, a Widener freshman, said, according to the outlet.
Jayla Stone, another freshman at Widener, commented: “This is the class I talk the most in. It’s a small class and we’re able to connect more.”
The course is taught by Dr. Richard Cooper, Widener University’s co-coordinator of African American studies and former director of the Bachelor of Social Work program. He has been working at the school for more than 26 years, his LinkedIn mentions.
“When she dropped the new CD, I said ‘It’s over. We’re doing Beyoncé,'” he expressed in an interview with ABC 6. “I gotta stop talking about Aretha Franklin. Love her but I’ve gotta update some of the content and take a deeper gaze at what Beyoncé has been doing.”
The new course encompasses her contributions in African-American culture and will touch on body positivity, and advocacy around social and political change.
Students will also take a deep dive into Beyoncé music for a greater understanding of her lyrics and artistic expression as it relates to race, gender, and identity in society, mentioned CBS News 3 in Philadelphia, PA.
