The L.A. Scene: Teaching Race and Popular Music in the 1950sThe article discusses the Los Angeles, California music scene and popular music in the 1950s. It reflects on the author's experience of using these topics to teach students about American politics, culture, and race during the 1950s. The author comments on interracial relations, cultural mixing, and transnational elements of music. Other topics include political organizing and the music scene of Tijuana, Mexico. Musicians discussed include Little Julian Herrera, Big Jay McNeely, and Ritchie Valens.
Luis Alvarez (author) is associate professor of history at the University of California, San Diego. He is the author of The Power of the Zoot: Youth Culture and Resistance during World War II (University of California Press, 2008). His research and teaching interests include comparative race and ethnicity, popular culture, and social movements. His current book projects are Everyday Utopia: Popular Culture and the Politics of the Possible and Reggae Rhythms in Dignity's Diaspora.