Webinar I.
November 15, 2021
4:00—5:00 p.m. ET
On November 15, 2021, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study will host “Black Women and the American University: Eileen Southern’s Story” from 4:00–5:00 p.m. ET. Our speakers include Tammy Kernodle, Professor of Musicology at Miami University of Ohio; Betty Hillmon, Founder/Director of the Boston City-Wide String Orchestra; and Naomi André, Professor of Arts and Ideas in the Humanities Program, Department of Afroamerican and African Studies, and Women's Studies, University of Michigan. The event, emceed by Carol J. Oja and Braxton D. Shelley, will also feature the premiere of a short documentary about Southern by Harvard College students Daniel Huang (‘22) and Uzo Ngwu (‘23) with music by Devon Gates (‘23).
Digital Exhibit
Opens November 2021
Online, coming soon
A digital exhibit highlighting archival documents related to Southern's life and career will launch in tandem with our first webinar. In addition to materials from Southern's collection at the Harvard University Archives, the exhibit features recorded interviews with almost two dozen individuals who worked with, learned from, or were influenced by Southern.
In-person Exhibit
January–April, 2022
Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library
Many archival materials from our digital exhibit will be on display for members of the public to explore in person from January through April 2022 at the Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library at Harvard.
Webinar II.
April 7, 2022
4:00—5:00 p.m. ET
Zoom, registration to come
On April 7, 2022, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study will offer a second webinar, “Black Music and the American University: Eileen Southern’s Story,” from 4:00—5:00 p.m. ET. The speakers are Marva Griffin Carter, Associate Professor of African American Studies and Music, Georgia State University; Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr., Professor of Music at the University of Pennsylvania; Braxton D. Shelley, Associate Professor of Music, of Sacred Music, and of Divinity, Yale Divinity School; and Katie Callam and Christina Linklater from the Eileen Southern Initiative.
Concert
Weekend of April 8, 2022
Harvard University
To honor Southern’s strong support for African American composers, Harvard’s Department of Music has commissioned two new musical works by Black composers, dedicated to Southern, that will be premiered at our culminating event. These works by Marques Garrett (Assistant Professor of Music, University of Nebraska-Lincoln) and Rosephanye Powell (Professor of Voice, Auburn University) will premiere in April 2022 through a collaboration with the Harvard University Choirs, conducted by Andrew Clark, and the Aeolians, an award-winning choir from Oakwood University, a historically Black institution in Huntsville, Alabama. The Aeolians are conducted by Jason Max Ferdinand.