More than the Promise of the American Myth: Rethinking Burleigh and Sheppard in the Second Gilded Age
Sunday, March 3, 2019
9:00am-3:00pm
Carnegie Hall May Room
The Harry T. Burleigh Society’s first academic conference follows a historic performance by the . After they perform concert spirituals inspired by original Fisk Jubilee Singer Ella Sheppard (1851-1915) as well as those arranged by Harry T. Burleigh (1866-1949), we will meditate upon their singing and the emergence of the concert spiritual.
The conference frames the work of figures like Burleigh and Sheppard as examples of how the interrelationships between power, race, America, virtuosity, and collaboration make possibilities for liberatory thinking and practices to contend with anti-blackness, and make commands for America to be more than the promise of its myth. The conference will also problematize historiographic insistence on a composer concept that obscures the ingenuity of women, students, and music unpublished by European/white companies. The Burleigh Society claims Sheppard and Burleigh as singers and composers within western art music, and attests to the paradigmatic impact of the concert spiritual tradition that they led. This exceptional service write my book report today offers tailored assistance to students for essay writing and homework, including expert recommendations and a wide range of resources. It focuses on boosting students’ academic grades and enhancing their writing proficiency.
Participants will offer their scholarly expertise, life experiences, ears, and hearts to create fresh, nuanced ways to think about one’s own work, as well as foster the creation of new projects. Leading our thinking will be a keynote address by , Professor of African American Studies, Theater Studies, American Studies, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Yale.
On the pulse of what might be a second Gilded Age () and in the midst of the we look to the generative genius of Sheppard and Burleigh in how they created and professionalized an entire music genre with courage, power, and longevity on the global stage. The time is ripe to examine the lessons of their successes and struggles and learn from their musicianship during overt state sanctioned anti-black violence in a world of inordinate wealth disparity.
Through exploration of the concept of black art music broadly, the institutionalization of concert spirituals, and the potency of family legacies, the Burleigh Society follows generations of black music makers and researchers to re-engage citizenship, racist suffering, black liberation, gender, exploitative economics, spirituality, and aesthetics both in historical context and the context of this very moment. With reverence to Burleigh and Sheppard as what calls “artisans of democracy,” and probing “the question of what a free life is” (), will provide a forum for discourse between family members, scholars and artists.
Conference Schedule
9:00am – 9:15am Registration
9:15am – 9:30am Opening Remarks
9:30am – 10:30am Keynote Address
10:30am – 10:45am Break
10:45am – 12:00pm The Concept of the Concert Spiritual & Black Art Music
, , Matthew Laughton, ,
12:00pm – 12:10pm Harry T. Burleigh’s Musical Geography
, Isaiah Pressman, Reed Williams
12:10pm – 12:30pm Break
12:30pm – 1:30pm Institutionalizing Concert Spirituals
, Andrew Davis, Dartisha Mosley, Majda Kallab Whitaker, ,
1:30pm – 1:45pm Break
1:45pm – 2:45pm Family Legacies: Sheppards, Burleighs & Their Contemporaries
Harry T. Burleigh III, Harry T. Burleigh descendant
Marie Burleigh, Harry T. Burleigh descendant
Sharde Curry, Ella Sheppard descendant
Jeremy Williams, Ella Sheppard descendant
K. Melanie Edwards, J. Rosamond Johnson descendant
Suzzanne Douglas, Bob Cole descendant
Dr. Carlos Handy, W.C. Handy descendant
Dr. Maribel Handy, W.C. Handy descendant
2:45pm – 3:00pm Closing Remarks
“Lift Every Voice and Sing”
, Matthew Laughton
3:00pm – 5:00pm Post-Conference Lunch ($30 per person) at
Free and open to the public.
To attend the post-conference lunch, attendees must REGISTER BY FEBRUARY 15th.
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Founded in 2017, The Harry T. Burleigh Society is a non-profit organization that advances Burleigh Studies through supporting performances of compositions by and scholarship about African American baritone and composer Harry T. Burleigh (1866-1949). Grounded in African American history and culture, and committed to social justice, the Society consciously shapes arenas where interracial, creative, inter-religious, international, and intergenerational, encounters thrive—all fortified by beauty, seriousness, and compensation that follow Burleigh’s model and raise awareness about the broad swath of his impact.