Join us in-person in the sanctuary or on Zoom for an illustrated Book Talk and Celebration of the new book, Musical Crossroads: Stories Behind the Objects of African American Music edited by Dwandalyn R. Reese, published in association with the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution. Dwan is associate director for Curatorial Affairs at the National Museum of African American History and Culture and has more than thirty years of experience as a scholar, performer, grantor, and curator, including twelve years as the NMAAHC’s Curator of Music and Performing Arts from 2009 to 2021. She curated the Museum’s Musical Crossroads exhibition, which won the Secretary’s Research Prize in 2017; co-curated the Museum’s grand opening music festival, Freedom Sounds: A Community Celebration (2016), the Smithsonian Year of Music (2019), and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival Program, Rhythm and Blues: Tell It Like It Is (2011); served as contributing producer on the Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap (2021); and co-hosted the first season of the award-winning NMAAHC and SiriusXM podcast series, All Music is Black Music (2021). As chair of Smithsonian Music, she leads a pan-institutional effort to raise the profile of the Smithsonian’s music collections and is frequently called upon to talk about a variety of issues, including such topics as performing arts collections, exhibitions and museums, African American music history and performance, gender and vocal performance, musical theatre, the Harlem Renaissance, blackface minstrelsy and stereotypes, and American popular entertainment. As described on the cover, this book is : A vibrantly illustrated exploration of 400 years of African American musical culture.
