Press Release

ILLINOIS HUMANITIES COUNCIL EXPLORES INFLUENCES OF CHUCK BERRY, JAMES BROWN, AND OTHER R&B ARTISTS

Scholars to examine race and rhythm & blues as part of series marking

50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education

CHICAGO – “R&B music, the civil rights movement, and the Brown v. Board decision have long been intertwined,” says History Professor and Smithsonian Institution curator Charles McGovern. “The lives, the lyrics, and the music of such artists as The Drifters, Ruth Brown, James Brown, Chuck Berry, and even Elvis Presley reveal so much about our country’s social history….”

Hear McGovern and others address the mutual histories of civil rights and music when the Illinois Humanities Council (IHC) and the Chicago Historical Society host “The Impact of Race on Rhythm and Blues,” a free event featuring some of the country’s leading scholars in history, African American studies, and music on September 23 at 6:30 p.m. at the Chicago Historical Society, 1601 N. Clark St., Chicago. This panel discussion will explore the effects of race and racial inequality on the development of jazz and rhythm & blues. Participants are:


  • Professor Adam Green, Departments of History, African American Studies, and American Studies, New York University and author of Selling the Race: Culture and Community in Black Chicago, 1940-1955
  • Professor Travis Jackson, Department of Music and member of the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture, University of Chicago and author of the forthcoming book, Blowin’ the Blues Away: Performance and Meaning on the New York Jazz Scene
  • Professor Charles McGovern curated Rock & Soul: Social Crossroads, a permanent Smithsonian exhibition at the Memphis Rock & Soul Museum and is now teaching in the Departments of American Studies and History at The College of William and Mary.

Chicago Public Radio (WBEZ) producer Sylvia Ewing will moderate this discussion. Selections of music by several R&B artists will be played at the event.

This event is free and open to the public, but reservations are required and space is limited. To make reservations or for more information, contact the IHC at 312.422.5580 or send an email to ihc@prairie.org.

“The Impact of Race on Rhythm and Blues” is part of the IHC’s “Brown v. Board 50 Years Later: Conversations on Integration, Race, and the Courts,” a free, year-long series of programs going on around Illinois from May 2004-May 2005. For a calendar of events or for more information, please visit the IHC’s “Brown v. Board 50 Years Later” website at www.bvb50.org or contact the IHC at 312.422.5580 or via email at ihc@prairie.org.

Chicago Public Radio (WBEZ 91.5), Chicago Sun-Times, Comcast, and

WYCC-TV Channel 20 are media sponsors for “Brown v. Board 50 Years Later.”

“Brown v. Board 50 Years Later” is funded in part by grants from The Boeing

Company, Jovon Broadcasting, the Polk Bros. Foundation, The Richard H.

Driehaus Foundation, and Woods Fund of Chicago.

D A R E T O K N O W

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