The 1619 Project in 2020
African American Music: the Sound of Freedom’s Journey

Organized by Nina Scolnik, UCI Music Professor
With Distinguished Guests

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

4:00 p.m.

Online

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.

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 popular music. 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 a month-long exploration of The 1619 Project, which culminates in the visit of Nikole Hannah-Jones, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of the project.

• Co-sponsored by UCI Humanities Center; UCI Illuminations; the UCI Advisory Council on Campus Climate, Culture & Inclusion; School of Humanities; Claire Trevor School of Arts; School of Education; School of Law; School of Social Sciences; UCI Libraries; Academic English; Composition; Center for Latin American Studies; Center for Medical Humanities; Literary Journalism and Center for Storytelling; International Center for Writing and Translation; Office of Inclusive Excellence; Student Affairs; Staff Assembly; AAPI Womxn in Leadership; and Academic Professional Women of UCI

Program will last for 60 minutes with an optional 30 minute discussion afterwards

Panelists
Dr. Dawn Norfleet, moderator
     Performer, composer, and ethnomusicologist; Faculty, Music Department, CTSA, UC Irvine
Dr. Minnita Daniel-Cox
     Associate Professor of Music, Vocal Performance; Founder, Dunbar Music Archive, University of Dayton, Ohio
Dr. Stephen Tucker
     The Robert and Marjorie Rawlins Chair of Music, Conductor, UCI Symphony, CTSA, UC Irvine
JoVia Armstrong
     Composer/performer; doctoral student in Integrated Composition, Improvisation, and Technology, Music Department, CTSA, UC Irvine

Read The 1619 Project

Listen to the podcasts

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 ProjectComposer/performer; doctoral student in Integrated Composition, Improvisation, and Technology, Music Department, CTSA, UC Irvine

Free registration here