This course will explore the history of the Uptown Theater and the North Philadelphia neighborhood just north of Temple University that surrounded the music hall. It will dig deep into the history of the Uptown Theater to help students better understand the complex processes and interactions of urban change and the shifting geographies and meanings of race and popular culture in postwar America. Students will learn about the close connections between music and society, art and commerce, and race and urban change. At the same time, they will explore the processes and politics of recovering the past and reconstructing living histories out of the rubble and silences of yesterday. That is because, in addition to being an interdisciplinary study of the city and popular culture, this course will serve as an introduction to public history - the ideas and issues of preserving the past to use and understand the present. Note: This course fulfills the U.S. Society (GU) requirement for students under GenEd and American Culture (AC) for students under Core. Students cannot receive credit for this course if they have successfully completed American Studies 0864.