African American Music: the Sound of Freedom's Journey


 Humanities Center     Oct 27 2020 | 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM Zoom

African American Music: the Sound of Freedom’s Journey

Using the 1619 Project’s “Episode 3: The Birth of American Music” as a launching point, this panel explores innovation in musical expressions from spirituals to jazz and contemporary music, investigating freedom as a process in motion, not as a destination.


Mary Lou Williams, New York, ca. 1946

Register: bit.ly/1619FreedomMusic

Speakers:

Dawn Norfleet  (Music) and Moderator
Minnita Daniel-Cox (University of Dayton)
Stephen Tucker (Music)
JoVia Armstrong (Music)

This event is 60 minutes and will include a Q&A session. For those who are interested, please stay for a bonus 30 minute facilitated discussion.

Discussion Facilitators:

• Dawn Norfleet
• Minnita Daniel-Cox

Suggested Podcast/Readings:

• The 1619 Podcast 3: The Birth of American Music
• Wesley Morris, “For centuries, black music has been the sound of artist freedom. No wonder everybody’s always stealing it,” The 1619 Project, pp. 60-67

To read the 1619 Project, see:  (www.pulitzercenter.org/sites/default/files/full_issue_of_the_1619_project.pdf)
To access the podcasts, see: (https://guides.lib.uci.edu/oceanproject)
To participate in The 1619 Project in 2020: Student Showcase (one minute reflection videos eligible for gift card drawings), see: bit.ly/1619Showcase

The 1619 Project in 2020
#UCI1619Project

The 1619 Project, published by the New York Times, retells the history of the U.S. by foregrounding the arrival 401 years ago of enslaved Africans to Virginia. Through a series of essays, photos, and podcasts, the 1619 Project charts the impact of slavery on the country’s founding principles, economy, health care system, racial segregation of neighborhoods and schools, popular music and visual representations. Conversations around the 1619 project have served as a flashpoint for intensive ideological debates about its content and impact. It has been both widely lauded and subjected to critiques from academics, journalists, pundits and policymakers who challenge its accuracy and its interpretation of history. Conservative politicians even seek to defund schools that teach the project. What is the power of the 1619 Project to reframe our understanding of U.S. history and our contemporary society? How might we go beyond the 1619 Project to develop an even fuller understanding of the centrality of slavery and race in the U.S. and in the broader Atlantic world?  Join us for month plus exploration of The 1619 Project, which culminates in the visit of Nikole Hannah-Jones, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of the project.

The 1619 Project series is presented by UCI Humanities Center and is co-sponsored by: UCI Illuminations: The Chancellor’s Arts & Culture Initiative, UCI Black Thriving Initiative, School of Humanities, Claire Trevor School of the Arts, School of Education, School of Law, School of Social Ecology, School of Social Sciences, UCI Libraries, Academic English, Composition Program, Center for Latin American Studies, Center on Law, Equality, and Race, Center for Medical Humanities, International Center for Writing and Translation, Literary Journalism and Center for Storytelling, Office of Inclusive Excellence, Student Affairs, Staff Assembly, AAPI Womxn in Leadership and Academic and Professional Women of UCI.