+ The Dawson Papers

+ 2005 Symposium

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Presentations

  • Session One: Race and Identity in Twenty-First Century Music Making.
  • Session One: Race and Identity in Twenty-First Century Music Making.
  • Session One: Race and Identity in Twenty-First Century Music Making.
  • Session One: Race and Identity in Twenty-First Century Music Making.
  • Session One: Race and Identity in Twenty-First Century Music Making.
  • Session One: Race and Identity in Twenty-First Century Music Making.
  • Session One: Race and Identity in Twenty-First Century Music Making.
  • Session Two: William Dawson, Up Close.
  • Session Two: William Dawson, Up Close.
  • Session Two: William Dawson, Up Close.
  • Session Three: The Spirituals: Meaning and Mythology in African American Identity.
  • Session Three: The Spirituals: Meaning and Mythology in African American Identity.
  • Session Three: The Spirituals: Meaning and Mythology in African American Identity.
  • Session Four: Reciprocity and Representation: Music, Letters, and the Visual Arts.
  • Session Four: Reciprocity and Representation: Music, Letters, and the Visual Arts.
  • Session Four: Reciprocity and Representation: Music, Letters, and the Visual Arts.
  • Session Four: Reciprocity and Representation: Music, Letters, and the Visual Arts.
  • Session Four: Reciprocity and Representation: Music, Letters, and the Visual Arts.
  • Session Five: The Intersection of Concert and Vernacular Traditions.
  • Session Five: The Intersection of Concert and Vernacular Traditions.
  • Session Five: The Intersection of Concert and Vernacular Traditions.
  • Session Five: The Intersection of Concert and Vernacular Traditions.
  • Session Six: Music as Social History.
  • Session Six: Music as Social History.
  • Session Six: Music as Social History.
  • Session Six: Music as Social History.
  • Session Six: Music as Social History.
  • Session Seven: The Ecology of the Music: Identity, Artistic Expectation, and Arts Institutions.
  • Session Seven: The Ecology of the Music: Identity, Artistic Expectation, and Arts Institutions.
  • Session Seven: The Ecology of the Music: Identity, Artistic Expectation, and Arts Institutions.
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Hboyer

Session Three: The Spirituals: Meaning and Mythology in African American Identity.

Professor Horace Boyer talks about the roots of the spirituals, arguing that "slaves and the Protestant religion" lie at their foundation. "The two go together," he shares, "and you cannot have the Negro spiritual without that religion so that the songs a) concerned themselves with the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost and b) how they think of themselves in this situation of displacement." He also considers their uses, as "CNN of the slavery era," as therapy, as work songs, and as worship songs.