Teach with My Music with Rhiannon Giddens and Pura Fé to introduce students to Native American musician Pura Fé, her musical experiences, Indigenous/Native American History, and American Transcontinental Railroad History. This episode also connects to Music Lessons and History through Music.
My Music with Rhiannon Giddens Season Two Episode Si, features Native American vocalist and lap steel guitarist Pura Fé, who has both Tuscarora and Taino blood in her veins and generations of ancestors in her voice. She shares her personal background and musical journey in an episode that culminates in a Silk Road Ensemble performance of her song “Mahk Jchi”.
Get the learning guide for this episode now from the My Music with Rhiannon Giddens / Teaching the American Railroad page in the Journeys in Film Resource Library — or keep reading to learn more!
My Music with Rhiannon Giddens and Pura Fé FAQ
Why Teach with My Music with Rhiannon Giddens
My Music with Rhiannon Giddens brings US history alive to explore the development of the Transcontinental Railroad during western expansion in the United States. The series also deepens understanding and connection and can build community around the cultures that were first connected by the building of America’s Transcontinental Railroad.
Why Teach with The Episode Six Learning Guide with Pura Fé
The Episode Six Learning Guide for My Music with Rhiannon Giddens Season Two Episode Six with Pura Fé can help you teach about about:
- Creativity and Curiosity
- Community and Creative Support
- Cultural Preservation and Reclamation
- Social and Scientific Constructions of Memory
- Language, Art, and Accessibility
- History of the American Transcontinental Railroad and Native Americans
- History through Music
- Music Lessons
This learning guide contains background context about the Transcontinental Railroad, a Pre-viewing Activity, and Active Viewing Recommendations.
It also includes glossaries / lists of useful terms, discussion questions, related resources, and extended learning activates. The extended learning activities can include our supplementary Music Listening Handout and Song Analysis Handout.
Episode running time: 25 minutes
Subjects: History, Music, Music History, Social Studies, U.S. History
Lesson Grades: 6,7,8
Where Can I Get This Learning Guide
Get your free copy of these teaching resources from the My Music with Rhiannon Giddens / Teaching the American Railroad page in the Journeys in Film Resource Library and learn more about teaching with this powerful and inspiring series.
Where Can I Watch This Episode
Get the latest information on where to watch from the My Music with Rhiannon Giddens listing in the Journeys in Film Resource Library.
Important Dates for Teaching With This Resource
- 2022–2032 International Decade of Indigenous Languages
- February 11 – National Guitar Day
- March – Music in Our Schools Month
- March – Women’s History Month
- April 7 – National Get Out Your Guitar Day
- May – National Train Day (date varies)
- May 21 – World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development
- June – National Indigenous History Month (Canada)
- June 21 – World Music Day
- June 21 – National Indigenous Peoples Day (Canada)
- August 9 – International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples
- October – Global Diversity Awareness Month
- October 10 – Indigenous People’s Day
- October 1 – International Music Day
- November – Native American/Alaska Native Heritage Month
- November 28, 2025 – Native American Heritage Day (date varies)
Where Can I Get More Related Resources
This Learning Guide makes a perfect pairing with the American Railroad Instructional Guide Lesson 5 “Native Americans and the Transcontinental Railroad” about the impact the railroad had on the Great Plain Tribes.. The Instructional Guide and matching Student Guide are available from the My Music with Rhiannon Giddens / Teaching the American Railroad page in the Journeys in Film Resource Library.
We also offer educational resources for teaching with The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silkroad Ensemble. This vibrant documentary presents artists from around the world in collaboration. It’s a great tool for teaching about world music, world instruments and world cultures, that complements the cultural and musical explorations of My Music with Rhiannon Giddens.
Learn more about Pura Fé in this Silkroad Ensemble artist profile: Spotlight:Pura Fét.
Expand the conversation about Cultural Preservation with The Music of Strangers Lesson 6: Preserving Culture in a Globalized World.
For teaching about Dyslexia and Learning Styles, we also recommend Like Stars on Earth about a boy bullied for his dyslexia who discovers a creative passion for visual arts.
Teaching about Indigenous Peoples? Get more resources in our article on teaching about World Indigenous Peoples with film.
If you’re teaching Middle School Geography, History and Social Studies, we also recommend: Children of Heaven (Iran), Like Stars on Earth (India), Please Vote for Me (China), The Cup (Tibet), The Way Home (South Korea), Wadjda (Saudi Arabia), and Whale Rider (Aotearoa / New Zealand).
You can also check out our related resource collections for teaching with film about Music and Women’s History.
Our Windows and Mirrors Media Literacy Activity gives students a way to consider if the perspectives of underrepresented and marginalized people are included in their media diets.
How Can I Learn More about Teaching with this Series
Learn more about teaching with our full collection of Learning Guides and teaching resources for this series in our My Music with Rhiannon Giddens Teaching Resources FAQ.
How Can I Do Professional Development Related to this Series
Silkroad Ensemble members will be participating in our free professional development webinar Teaching with Primary Sources: Cultural Products as Historical Narrative on January 27, 2026. Learn more and register for the series: Stories That Connect: Using Film and Primary Sources to Build Belonging
What if I’m New to Teaching With Film
Check out our Teacher Toolbox to make teaching with film fun, easy and effective.
About Pura Fé
Pura Fé (Tuscarora/Taino) is an Indigenous activist, singer-songwriter, and storyteller known for her distinct, soulful vocals and for breathing life into several musical genres. Her work as a musician has brought her around the world to do work at festivals, benefits in classrooms, online, and in the studio. As a Native activist and cultural leader, she has done work to combat the erasure of native culture, restore traditions, build community, fight corporate takeover of native land, and give a voice to those facing social injustice. As the founding member of the internationally renowned Native Women’s a cappella trio Ulali, Pura Fé helped to create a movement throughout Indian Country, which not only empowered Native Women’s hand drum and harmony, but also built a bridge for Native music into the mainstream music scene. Pura Fé’s solo career has produced six studio albums with her Native Blues and lap-steel slide guitar work. While touring Europe with Music Maker Blues Review under Dixie Frog and Nueva Onda French labels, she won Grand Prix du Disque from L’Académie CharlsCros (French Grammy) for Best WorldAlbum in 2006 for Tuscarora Nation Blues, and a Native American Music Award (NAMMY) for Best Female Artist for Follow Your Heart’s Desire in the same year. Pura Fé and Ulali appeared in and consulted for the Rezolution Pictures Documentary RUMBLE:The Indians That Rocked The World, which won first place at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. Pura Fé commented on her experience with the documentary, “This gave me a chance to reenact a piece of the historical birth of blues music that no one considers or hears about”. Incumbent United States Poet Laureate, Joy Harjo once said, “We are systematically being written out of everything.” To have a platform to help bring awareness to the mainstream was crucial to Pura Fé and Ulali. Today, Pura Fé lives in Canada and is writing a film for Rezolution Pictures. She is also working with First Nations dance and theater troops while recording a new album.
About My Music with Rhiannon Giddens Season 2
Pulitzer Prize and Grammy winner Rhiannon Giddens hosts a half-hour series of musical performance and conversation with multicultural musicians in the Silkroad Ensemble’s American Railroad project. The outstanding guest artists of the series are innovative and accomplished musicians and storytellers who have forged unconventional paths to find their voices.
About the American Railroad Project
Originally conceived by Silkroad’s Artistic Director Rhiannon Giddens, the American Railroad project sheds light on the profound yet often-overlooked contributions of Indigenous and African Americans, as well as Chinese, Irish, Japanese, and other immigrant communities, to the construction of the U.S. Transcontinental Railroad and connecting railways across North America.
Just as the ancient Silk Road facilitated cultural exchange between Asia and Europe, the railroad transformed the American landscape—both uniting and dividing the people whose lives it touched. While these laborers played a fundamental role in one of the 19th century’s most significant technological and economic achievements, their stories have too often been erased from history. At the same time, the railways had a devastating impact on Indigenous communities, displacing people from their ancestral lands.
About the Silkroad Ensemble
Yo-Yo Ma conceived Silkroad in 1998 as a reminder that even as rapid globalization resulted in division, it brought extraordinary possibilities for working together. Seeking to understand this dynamic, he recognized the historical Silk Road as a model for cultural collaboration – for the exchange of ideas, tradition, and innovation across borders. In a groundbreaking experiment, he brought together musicians from the lands of the Silk Road to co-create a new artistic idiom: a musical language founded in difference, a metaphor for the benefits of a more connected world.
Journeys in Film is pleased to offer educational resources for two Silkroad Projects: My Music with Rhiannon Giddens Season Two / American Railroad and The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silkroad Ensemble for grades 6-12.
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My Music with Rhiannon Giddens / Teaching the American Railroad
