Freedom Songs: Black American Music as Protest

About the event

The WSU School of Music welcomes Dr. Dawn Norfleet for her lecture “Freedom Songs: Black American Music as Protest” as a part of our Music: A Mosaic of Experiences lectures series. African American history IS American history. This experience is reflected in musical expression. Since arriving on the shores of the United States to become victims, then survivors of institutionalized slavery, African Americans used song as catharsis, devotion, inspiration, and protest. These songs tell the story of trauma and pain, but also, ingenuity and strength. The songs have also symbolized and inspired social movements. This presentation represents different time periods and styles from pre-Civil War folk music, to jazz and popular music. Additionally, Dr. Norfleet — a musician and composer — will include one of her own works, a protest song written in 2000 about the controversial killing of a 19 year old woman by police in Riverside, CA. Freedom Songs: Black American Music as Protest also addresses issues of Social Justice with the aim of expanding all participants’ cultural and historical knowledge base, and increasing empathy.

This event is co-sponsored with the WSU Center for Arts and Humanities.