Beyoncé has spent the latter half of her career studying little-known Black history, and now she has her own Ivy League curriculum. Her latest albums, Renaissance and Cowboy Carter, are prime examples of her passion. Yale University students will have the chance to study her place in Black history in a college course. Yale professor Daphne Brooks offers students an opportunity to dive deep into Beyoncé’s cultural impact this Spring.

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The singer’s impact has been felt across the music industry. From inventing surprise album releases to pioneering visual albums, Beyoncé has continually progressed in the music industry. However, her impact is felt in other places as well. In her attempts to shed light on Black history, she has changed the way we study Black history. Professor Brooks plans to use the singer’s work as a musical history book of sorts.

According to Yale News, the college course will use Beyoncé’s work from 2013-2024 as a “lens” to observe Black history. Brooks thought up the class while she was still on the faculty at Princeton University. While there, she taught “Black Women in Popular Music Culture,” in which students heavily focused on Queen Bey.

“Those classes were always overenrolled,” Brooks told Yale News. “And there was so much energy around the focus on Beyoncé, even though it was a class that starts in the late 19th century and moves through the present day. I always thought I should come back to focusing on her and centering her work pedagogically at some point.”

The news of this college course offering comes just after Vice President Kamala Harris lost the presidential election to Donald Trump. Brooks says now, this class is more important than ever as she told the publication, she believes Beyoncé’s contributions to culture and Black history need to be studied.

The Yale University Course On Beyoncé Will Study The Black Female Experience In The Media

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As for what students will actually be studying in class, Yale News stated the college course will focus on Beyoncé’s “sonic, fashion and visual media.” Students will be charged with reading and discussing those who have written scholarly articles about the “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer, like Cedric Robinson and Karl Hagstrom Miller. Those lucky enough to enroll in the class will attend screenings of Bey’s work. They will also have the opportunity to dig through archives to study her impact.

Brooks clarified that it was vital for her to hone in on Beyoncé’s later works, i.e., Beyoncé, Lemonade, and Cowboy Carter, because they mark her distinction from “typical pop repertoire.”

“2013 was really such a watershed moment in which she articulated her beliefs in Black feminism,” Brooks stated. “[In Flawless], it was the first time a pop artist had used sound bites from a Black feminist like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It became more about ‘We are going to produce club bangers that are also galvanizing our ability to think radically about the state of liberation.”

The college course will also examine other Black women who impacted the music industry, such as Diana Ross, Grace Jones, and Josephine Baker. Additionally, Brooks designed the course to help students connect the dots between American history and the plight of minorities.

“I would hope that no matter what discipline you are pursuing in liberal arts at Yale,” Brooks said, “by looking at culture through Beyoncé, it can invite us to think about the extent to which art can articulate the world we live in and nourish our spirits and give us the space to imagine better worlds and the ethics of freedom.”

Despite the online backlash, Halle Bailey is moving on from the DDG drama with Chloe Bailey at Femme It Forward’s Give Her FlowHERS Gala. The singer appeared at an event in LA celebrating Black women amidst her first solo Grammy nomination. Her appearance comes after she called out her child’s father, DDG, for taking their son, Halo, to Kai Cenat’s house.

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Hand in hand with her sister, Halle attended Femme It Forward’s third annual ‘Give Her FlowHERS’ Awards Gala. Dressed to the nines, the sisters stunned on the red carpet. While Chloe sported a grey blazer-mermaid style dress, Halle opted for a white halter-neck gown.

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Many other stars attended the women-centered event, including Andra Day, GloRilla, and Saweetie. Halle’s attendance marks her first public appearance since her online debacle with DDG.

As BOSSIP reported, the “Because I Love You” singer took to X, formerly known as Twitter, with concerns over her son’s safety. Halle and DDG’s son, Halo, appeared on Kai Cenat‘s Mafiathon stream along with his dad. Though their visit was innocent, Halle claims she wasn’t informed that Halo would appear on the stream. In a now-deleted tweet, Halle’s mama-bear instincts were on high alert.

“Hi everyone. Just so you know I am out of town and I don’t approve of my baby being on a stream tonight,” she wrote. “I wasn’t told or notified and I am extremely upset to have my baby in front of millions of people. am his mother and protector and saddened that I wasn’t notified especially when I am out of town.”

In a separate tweet, she addressed her struggle with postpartum depression.

“As a woman experiencing severe postpartum, there are boundaries that I wish to be respected. no one knows what someone is going through until they snap,” she stated in the now-deleted tweet.

However, after deleting her socials for a while, the new mother returned to X the next day with a different mindset.

“Yesterday maybe I did overreact and shouldn’t have brought it here. I know that Halo is always safe with his dad. I just don’t like finding out with the rest of the world what my baby is doing,” she admitted.

Social Media and DDG React To Halle’s Concerns

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After debuting their relationship in 2022, Halle and DDG announced their son’s birth in January 2024, a month after his birth. Unfortunately, Halo’s parents called it quits just shy of his first birthday. DDG posted a statement to his platforms announcing their split, while Halle has remained quiet about the breakup.

After the “Angel” singer expressed her concerns on X, many social media users inserted their opinions. Some users understood Halle’s worry. Though Cenat’s stream is not inherently inappropriate, some do not consider it the place for an 11-month-old.

“yall really making a postpartum mother feel bad for being upset her baby’s father didn’t tell her he was putting her baby on a stream that just got swatted less than a week ago…… okay brah,” an X user wrote.

Another X user pointed out that Halle was just worried about Halo, which is natural.

“Y’all really forced a mother to apologize for worrying about her child,” they wrote.

However, some X users were not moved by Halle’s motherly instincts, as they felt she decided to have a baby with DDG.

“mind u when we all said he was a cornball & not to procreate with a youtuber….. you told us to shut up and pray………,” one user stated.

Nevertheless, DDG came to Halle’s defense, stating that though they are no longer together, he understands she is suffering from postpartum depression.

“She could be going through something mentally after having a kid that I can’t understand as a man,” he stated in a video responding to the backlash. “So when situations like this happen, I try to handle it with as much grace as possible because Halo needs her. I need her. We need each other to create a childhood that’s safe and fun and memorable for him.”