Overview

Exhibits
 

Digital Exhibit

Opens November 2021
Visit the site

 

A digital exhibit highlighting archival documents related to Southern's life and career launched 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

February–April 2022

Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library

Directions and hours here

 

Many archival materials from our digital exhibit were on display for members of the public to explore in person from February through April 2022 at the Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library at Harvard.

 

 

Events
 

Webinar I

November 15, 2021
4:00—5:00 p.m. ET

Webinar I Recording Link

 

On November 15, 2021, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study hosted “Black Women and the American University: Eileen Southern’s Story” from 4:005:00 p.m. ET. Our speakers were 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, also featured the premiere of Light the Way Home: Eileen Southern's Story, a short documentary about Southern by Harvard College students Daniel Huang (‘22) and Uzo Ngwu (‘23) with music by Devon Gates (‘23).

 

Webinar II

April 7, 2022

4:00—5:00 p.m. ET

Webinar II Recording Link

 

On April 7, 2022, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study offered a second webinar, “Black Music and the American University: Eileen Southern’s Story,” from 4:00—5:00 p.m. ET. The speakers were 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; and Braxton D. Shelley, Associate Professor of Music, of Sacred Music, and of Divinity, Yale Divinity School.

 

Pre-Concert Conversation

April 8, 2022

7:00–7:40 p.m. ET

Sanders Theatre, Harvard University

Free admission

Concert recording link

 

Concert

April 8, 2022

8:00 p.m. ET

Sanders Theatre, Harvard University

Free admission

Concert recording link

 

To honor Southern’s strong support for African American composers, Harvard’s Department of Music commissioned two musical works by Black composers, dedicated to Southern, that premiered at our culminating event. These works are by Marques L. A. Garrett (Assistant Professor of Music, University of Nebraska-Lincoln) and Rosephanye Powell (Professor of Voice, Auburn University). The Southern Initiative concert featured a collaboration between the Harvard Choruses, conducted by Andrew Clark; the Kuumba Singers of Harvard College, directed by Sheldon Reid; 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.

 

Voice Masterclass

April 9, 2022

9:00–10:15 a.m. ET

Sanders Theatre, Harvard University

Free admission

Co-sponsored by the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Boston Chapter

 

Community Sing

April 9, 2022

11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m. ET

Science Center Plaza Tent, Harvard University

Free admission

Co-sponsored by Massachusetts ACDA