Ragtime

The National First Ladies' Library serves as "a unique national resource for patrons from school children to serious scholars."

Hurrah!

They have free lesson plans, which is all I need to know.

For instance, this lesson plan, on the musical style known as "Ragtime", is built around an exploration of the relatively interesting life of First Lady Ellen Wilson.

From the organization's website:

Students who participate in this activity will learn something about ragtime music, its history, and the ways in which it has contributed to others forms of American popular music. They will also have the opportunity to think about their own personal response to a certain type of music and try to “capture” that response in words and drawings.

Also: Scott Joplin - Maple Leaf Rag*

* From Wikipedia: The "Maple Leaf Rag" (copyright registered September 18, 1899^[1]) is an early ragtime composition for piano by Scott Joplin. It was one of Joplin's early works, and is one of the most famous of all ragtime pieces, becoming the first instrumental piece to sell over one million copies of sheet music.