The season premiere of the TV show black-ish featured this Schoolhouse Rock!-inspired history lesson about the ending of slavery in America. That alone would be cool but they went the extra mile and created animated versions of The Roots to tell the story. It's really well done and quite poignant.

Sing along... to the tune of "I'm just a bill" (lyrics cribbed from the YouTube comment's section):

I am a slave

Yes, I'm only a slave

They'll place my body in an unmarked grave

In these confederate days

It's kinda hard to lift every voice singing

While worrying about how low the sweet chariots are swinging

I could swing from a tree, but hey

I hope and pray that they don't kill me today

I am still just a slave

I am a slave in the home of the brave

A product of the triangular trade

Please pardon my ways

If I'm nervous or the slightest bit skittish

In the presence of the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, or British

They kept me in colonial chains

Tell me how to persuade them to chill

Or to save me and still I'm a slave

Go ahead, jump into Juneteenth rabbit hole.

(Cool Mom Picks) Read the rest

Bob Dorough, jazz musician and musical director of Schoolhouse Rock, passed away earlier this week, at the age of 94. His voice is instantly recognizable.

Lolly, Lolly, Lolly.

Via Yahoo Entertainment:

“In 1971 he received a commission to ‘set the multiplication tables to music.’ This led to a small industry, being the beginning of ABC-TV’s ‘Schoolhouse Rock,’ Saturday morning cartoons that entertained and instructed unsuspecting children during the years 1973-1985,” Dorough’s biography reads.

The bio adds, “The impact of this media exposure was unpredictably immense. The show came back for another five years in the 90’s and is now enjoying its 40th anniversary with a DVD edition of the entire, five-subject series, for which Dorough worked as the Musical Director.”

In case you missed "I'm Just a Lie" on Tuesday night's Jimmy Kimmel Live, here it is – the updated version of Schoolhouse Rock's 1976 "I'm just a Bill." Read the rest

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