Painting of a group of people during a festive occasion.
Carlos Julião, “Coroação de um Rei negro nos festejos de Reis” (18th century)

Oct. 6, 2022

VCU event to delve into the roots of Black and Indigenous music and sound in the early Atlantic world

“Intersections: Black and Indigenous Sound in the Early Atlantic World,” an in-person and virtual event taking place on Oct. 15, is free and open to the public.

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By Mary Kate Brogan
School of Pharmacy

An upcoming event at Virginia Commonwealth University will explore the intersections of Black and Indigenous sound and music in the early Atlantic world. “Intersections: Black and Indigenous Sound in the Early Atlantic World,” an in-person and virtual event taking place on Oct. 15, is free and open to the public.

The event, part of the VCU Humanities Research Center’s ongoing series “On Native Ground,” rounds out a two-day symposium at VCU focused on sound in the early Atlantic world. The event — co-organized by scholars Sarah Finley, Ph.D., of Christopher Newport University, Mary Caton Lingold, Ph.D., an assistant professor of English in the VCU College of Humanities and Sciences, Miguel Valerio, Ph.D., of Washington University in St. Louis, and Sarah Eyerly, Ph.D., of Florida State University — will feature short presentations from scholars, Q&A sessions, music and a performance by Charlottesville-based Lua, a band known for its innovative blend of Latin American and Appalachian tradition. Coffee, tea and lunch will be provided for those who register.

The event — supported by the VCU Humanities Research Center, the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture at the College of William & Mary, Christopher Newport University, Washington University of St. Louis, the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts — will follow a scholarly gathering of music, history, literature and language scholars who will converse about early Indigenous and Black performances in Latin America, the colonial United States, Atlantic Africa, Europe and throughout the Atlantic basin.

For a full slate of events from VCU’s Humanities Research Center, visit the VCU Humanities Research Center 2022-23 calendar of events.