Beyoncé Course Coming to Yale University

In an exciting development for Beyoncé fans, Yale University will offer a course titled Beyoncé Makes History during the Spring 2025 semester. This course, taught by Professor Daphne Brooks, a specialist in African American Studies and Music, promises an in-depth exploration of the singer’s artistic contributions from 2013 to 2024. According to Yale Daily News, the course will use Beyoncé’s body of work as a lens to examine Black history, intellectual thought, and performance.

Professor Brooks previously taught a course at Princeton University, Black Women in Popular Music Culture, which also sparked immense interest. “Those classes were always overenrolled,” Brooks shared, reflecting on the high demand for a class focused on Beyoncé. “There was so much energy around Beyoncé, even though the class spanned music history from the late 19th century to the present. I always thought I should come back to focusing on her,” she continued.

The course will cover key elements of Beyoncé’s music, fashion, and visual media. Students will engage with albums from Beyoncé (2013) to Cowboy Carter (2024) and study the intersection of her artistic expressions with the experiences of Black women in media and politics. The course will involve scholarly readings, visual album screenings, work with archival material from Yale’s Beinecke Library, and the creation of playlists that connect Beyoncé’s work with her influences.

Brooks emphasized the importance of Beyoncé’s work in a current cultural context, explaining, “[She’s] so ripe for teaching at this moment in time. The number of breakthroughs and innovations she’s executed, and the way she’s interwoven history, politics, and Black cultural life into her performance aesthetics—it’s unprecedented.”

This course is not only a tribute to Beyoncé’s impact on music and culture but also serves as a testament to her ability to push boundaries, challenge norms, and blend art with activism.

In related news, Beyoncé continues to dominate the music scene as she leads the nominations for the 2025 Grammy Awards with 11 nominations for her album Cowboy Carter. This marks a milestone in her career, as she becomes the most nominated artist in Grammy history, surpassing her husband, JAY-Z, with a total of 99 nominations.

The Beyoncé Makes History class at Yale is just another way her influence continues to resonate across academic, cultural, and musical spaces, further cementing her place as a defining figure in contemporary culture.