OAH Distinguished Lecturer Profile

African-American history is critical to understanding the broader dynamic of American history and it is more important now than ever to understand the dynamic of slavery through the words and song of enslaved people. This lecture presents what used to be called "slave narratives" in the context of community and resistance to the South's "peculiar institution." The lecture includes excerpts from the narratives of enslaved and free people of color as well as spirituals and songs of resistance.

More than a boxer, Muhammad Ali stands as a representative of 1960s culture as a fighter, a self-promoter, draft resister, and a member of the Nation of Islam. This talk focuses on Ali’s transition from Golden Gloves champion to a successful petitioner for justice before the Supreme Court.

Americans have found myriad ways to assert the cultural independence and exceptional ism of their nation. Composers for the concert hall chose to quote folk and popular music in pieces that were intended too describe America in musical terms. In addition, composers in the 1920s and 30s asserted the "American" quality of their compositions by quoting jazz idioms, The presence of hip hop on Broadway is a continuation of the synthesis of popular and concert genres. This lecture explores varieties of American concert music whose creators strove to depict aspects of America's history and culture on stage.

This lecture asks audiences to connect musically with the struggles of the freedom movement of the 1950s and 60s. It explores the ways in which a musical conversation about the freedom struggle reveals the depth of passion and energy that created and sustained the movement.

This is a lecture about music in wartime. What did soldiers sing? How did composers utilize the tools of their craft to support wartime efforts? What role did music play in the development of anti-war sentiment in the military and the population at large? Although the primary area of inquiry is World Wars I and II, the lecture includes additional conflicts in the late-twentieth century. This lecture includes a number of musical examples from World War I and beyond.

This lecture discusses the various ways in which soldiers exercised their constitutional (but not their military) right to free expression as they opposed the fighting in Vietnam. The primary sources for this conversation are the GI antiwar newspapers published in the United States and abroad.

Although Jack Kerouac's most famous work is called On The Road, the author was constantly searching for a way home. This lecture chronicles the creation of On the Road and also discusses Kerouac's earlier writings, including some high school journalistic efforts from his time at New York's Horace Mann School.