Black Music and Social Protest:

UMBC’s Department of English presents a talk by Dr. Guthrie P. Ramsey, “Black Music and Social Protest: From Du Bois’ Souls to Kendrick Lamar,” discussing the ways that African-American music has been instrumental in social protest and empowerment from slavery to the present, featuring live music from Guthrie Ramsey and vocalist Vince Anthony.

Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr. is a musicologist, pianist, composer, and the Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Term Professor of Music at the University of Pennsylvania. A widely published author, he is the author of Race Music: Black Cultures from Bebop to Hip-Hop, The Amazing Bud Powell: Black Genius, Jazz History and the Challenge of Bebopand African American Music: Grove Music Essentials (Kindle Edition). He is currently completing two new books, a collection of mid-career essays titled Who Hears Here? and a monograph history of African American music from the slave-era to the present. As the leader of the band Dr. Guy’s MusiQology, he has released three CDs (Y the Q, The Colored Waiting Room, and B Eclectic) and has performed at venues such as The Blue Note in New York and the Annenberg Center for Performing Arts in Philadelphia. Among his other musical works is Someone Is Listening, a commission written with poet Elizabeth Alexander commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the NAACP. His three movement suite for voice and jazz ensemble, Art Songs in the Kingdom of Culture, which premiered in February 2012, was written in honor of W.E.B. DuBois.

Dr. Ramsey was invited to UMBC as part of the Eminent Scholars Program sponsored by the Office of the Provost.

Admission is free.

Plan your visit
UMBC is located about 10 minutes south of the Inner Harbor along I-95. For this event, free visitor parking is available in Lot 8, directly adjacent to the Performing Arts and Humanities Building, where the Music Box is located on the ground floor — please click here for additional information.