Sarah Suhadolnik Discusses the 1619 Project with Study Group in Des Moines

The Plymouth United Church of Christ in Des Moines recently hosted Dr. Suhadolnik as a featured speaker in their study group devoted to The New York Times’ 1619 Project. By marking the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery, the 1619 Project hosts essays and podcasts that contemplate slavery’s manifold social, cultural, and economic consequences. Sarah’s discussion on American popular music shared a program with performances from Tina Haase Findlay, local jazz artist, guitarist Brandon Findlay, and the Bridges 2 Harmony Gospel Choir.

 

(Re)discovering Musical Iowana, on the Road with Red Vespa

Marian Wilson Kimber’s article, “Musical Iowana: Iowa Women’s Clubs’ Promotion of Iowa Composers,” recently appeared in The Annals of Iowa.  Funded by a grant from the State Historical Society of Iowa, Wilson Kimber’s research uncovered women’s events celebrating the music of the state’s composers in over one hundred Iowa towns, largely in the 1920s through the 1940s.

 

As part of the duo, Red Vespa, Wilson Kimber continues to perform women’s spoken-word compositions. This past fall they appeared at the Musician’s Club of Women in Chicago and the 2019 American Musicological Society meeting in Boston. In November Wilson Kimber was honored with a distinguished Alumni Award from the University of North Carolina Greensboro, where she received her undergraduate education.