Miami Presents: She Sang Freedom

Presented on: Thursday, September 17th at 12:00 PM EDT




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Miami alumni and friends are invited to join Dr. Tammy Kernodle for a special presentation: "She Sang Freedom: A Conversation about the role of women musicians in advancing social change in post war America." This talk explores how women musicians were central in shaping the public rhetoric of selected social movements that emerged out of the political milieu of the late 1950s and 1960s through the act of freedom singing and the creation of freedom or protest songs. Musical voices highlighted through this talk include Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Joan Baez, Mavis Staples and many others. Tammy L. Kernodle is an internationally-recognized scholar and musician that teaches and researches in the areas of African American music and gender and music. She has worked closely with a number of educational programs including The American Jazz Museum, National Museum of African American History and Culture, NPR, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the BBC. Her work has appeared in numerous journals, anthologies ,and online platforms including NPR's Turning the Table Series and a recent digital exhibit of jazz materials at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Kernodle is the author of biography Soul on Soul: The Life and Music of Mary Lou Williams, served as Associate Editor of the three-volume Encyclopedia of African American Music and the Editorial team for the revision of the Grove Dictionary of American Music. She has appeared in a number of award-winning documentaries including Girls in the Band, The Lady Who Swings the Band and Miles Davis: The Birth of Cool. Dr. Kernodle currently serves as the President of the Society for American Music and is Professor of Musicology at Miami University.