, a sprawling collection of academic articles, essays, films and other pieces of media rooted in Black queer and feminist studies and directly inspired by each track on Queen Bey’s Billboard 200-topping dance album.Curated by Justin Calhoun, Leslie Hall and Chauna Lawson of the HRC’s HBCU program, the syllabus will serve as an educational resource designed to honor, analyze and celebrate the joy, resilience, innovation and legacy of the Black queer community.
Calhoun — alongside Hall and Lawson — began work on the syllabus in October 2023, dividing the album’s 16-song tracklist into different themes and building hubs of additional secondary resources that expound on said themes. Despite Calhoun’s initial concerns that breaking up the tracklist would “lose the flow” of the album —is intentionally mixed and sequenced to emulate a seamless DJ set — he ultimately agreed that the approach helped the syllabus feel more like a lesson plan.
Although Parkwood Entertainment, Beyoncé’s production company, did not authorize or give “direct sign off” on the syllabus , creating the resource was “a seamless process,” according to Calhoun.