The following is a post about the upcoming Veterans History Project (VHP) virtual discussion panel, “I Am Not Invisible 3.0” Women veterans panel discussion. March is Women’s History Month, a time for the veteran community to draw its attention to the two-million women who wore our nation’s uniform. Women veterans are our family members, friends and …
The American Folklife Center is happy to announce that Monica Mohindra has been named Director of the Veterans History Project (VHP). Monica has served as Acting Director since June 2021. Since then, she has been ably leading the Project’s adaptation to a changing world. This includes an extensive website transformation which is improving discoverability of …
We've had some scheduling challenges which led to an unexpected hiatus, but we're back with another episode of the Folklife Today podcast! Since springtime keeps threatening to bust through the cold weather, we're featuring songs of spring. Find it on Stitcher, iTunes, or your usual podcatcher--or find it at the link we provide from this blog. Also in the blog, see photos find links to most of the songs with more contextual information!
“In the case of American Negroes, their labor founded the nation and was prime cause of the industrial revolution and the capitalist system of the modern world: their slavery, revolt, escape, protest and emancipation is a central thread of our history: and without their music and laughter American art and literature would never have attained …
In the Homegrown Plus series, we present Homegrown concerts that also had accompanying oral history interviews, placing both videos together in an easy-to-find blog post. In 2021, we were very proud to present Samite, a singer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter who was born in Uganda and has lived in upstate New York since the 1980s. Samite left Uganda as a political refugee in 1982. He spent the following few years in Kenya where he studied African traditional musical instruments and rhythms. He mastered the kalimba (thumb piano), marimba (wooden xylophone), litungu (seven-stringed Kenyan lyre) and various flutes, both traditional and western, and learned both traditional melodies and original compositions. He played with the popular African Heritage Band and the Bacchus Club Jazz Band, and played frequently at the Mount Kenya Safari Club and other leading Kenyan venues. He emigrated to the United States in 1987, and continues to play traditional and original music, as well to compose for film scores. He has released albums on the Shanachie, Triloka, Xenophile, and Windham Hill labels, as has been featured on compilations from Putumayo, Ellipsis Arts, and Narada. In the concert you'll hear songs and stories of Samite's African roots. In the interview you'll hear tales of the refugee camps, his time in Kenya, and his life in America, including the influence of Pete Seeger. Find both videos here in the blog!
In this post. Judith Gray and Stephen Winick look into the history of the "Adam and Eve Wedding Song," said to have been written by Abraham Lincoln. Includes audio of the song from American Folklife Center collections!
Researcher Susan Carruthers is professor of history at the University of Warwick and author of several books including the newly published Dear John: Love and Loyalty in Wartime America (Cambridge University Press, 2022). As Susan discussed in a previous guest blog post, and in this video, Veterans History Project (VHP) collections served as a key …
It's time for another great Homegrown Plus blog! As you may know by now, in this series, we present Homegrown concerts that also had accompanying oral history interviews, placing both videos together in an easy-to-find blog post. (Find the whole series here!) We're continuing the run with Hubby Jenkins, who is an old-time and blues musician living in New York. Hubby is a singer and multi-instrumentalist who plays guitars, banjos, mandolins, and bones. He has been a member of the Rhiannon Giddens Band, and before that the Grammy-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops. Please enjoy his videos in this blog post!
We are happy to announce that applications are open for our paid summer internship program—and this year we plan to host interns onsite! In summer 2018, the AFC at the Library of Congress launched a paid internship opportunity as part of a program established through a generous gift from the late AFC staff member Peter …
