Gospel Through the Decades

All Aboard the Gospel Train By: Demi Browder For those like me who wasn’t too heavily experienced with gospel, hop on this train to take a gospel trip down memory lane. Traditional, jazzy, blues, folk, hip-hop, pop, and jubilee, we have it all! Sit back and enjoy the scenary. First Stop: 1920s Mother McCollum was […]

All Hail the Queen… of Soul

Put Some Respect on Her Name: Aretha Franklin By: Demi Browder The Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin was born on March 15, 1942 in Memphis, Tennessee. She grew up with a father who was a Baptist minister, and a mother who died of a heart attack when she was younger who played the piano. She […]

A Dedication to the Wheat Street Female Quartet

Significant in Silence: Wheat Street Female Quartet By: Demi Browder Who is Wheat Street? The Wheat Street Female Quartet is an all female group that emerged in Atlanta, Georgia in the 1920’s. You may wonder who are they? Where did they come from? I’ve never heard of an all women’s quartet group back then? Well, […]

Pursuance: An Element of ‘A Love Supreme’

John Coltrane and ‘A Love Supreme’ Analysis By: Demi Browder John Coltrane & His Journey John Coltrane was an American Jazz saxophonist and composer born in North Carolina. John Coltrane is known for making modern jazz popular around the world. He is also known for his masterpiece, A Love Supreme. In, A Love Supreme, John […]

Wha-a-t in the Tech-n-ooo

… Where Are the Women in Techno? By: Demi Browder Detroit Techno Techno music started to become known around the 1980s and early 1990s. Specifically, Detroit Techno is what was known at the time, originated in the city of Detroit. This genre of music combined elements of electric technology and funk. Known Detroit techno artists […]

Chaka Khan

Queen of Funk: Chaka Khan By: Demi Browder Yvette Marie Stevens Chaka Khan, known as the Queen of Funk was born on March 23, 1953 as, Yvette Marie Stevens, in neighborhood Hyde Park in  Chicago, Illinois. She currently is in Chicago, and has two children both adults. Born into an artistic household, she grew up […]

Black Feminism Through Blues

Embracing a New Norm Through Blues By: Demi Browder Women in Blues African American women set the new standard of expression through music as they stood up and embraced their independence, freedom, and sexual imagery in Blues. Blues emerged during the decades following the abolition of slavery allowing for the genre to give musical expression […]

Constructing Uplift and Womanhood: Treemonisha’s Plot and Libretto

Constructing Uplift and Womanhood: Treemonisha’s Plot and Libretto By: Demi Browder, LaShaunda McWright, Kennedy Taylor, Kyleigh Brown, and De’Ja Smith How We Feel About Treemonisha Personally, Treemonisha is a play based on feminism and strength. Treemonisha goes through hardships throughout the entirety of the play ie. kidnapping and doubt; but she manages to still lead […]

A Woman’s Tribute to Negro Spirituals

Marian Anderson Singing Songs to Her Rights By: Demi Browder Who was Marian Anderson? Marian Anderson was born on February 27, 1897 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was known not only for her contralto, but her bravery to breakthrough racism to show her talent. Growing up Anderson revealed her voice talents early, but unfortunately her family […]

Music in the Lens of Women

Feminism in Folk Music feat. Lauryn Hill By: Demi Browder What is Folk Music? Folk is a genre of music much described as soulful, strong, imitated, and rhythmic. Folk derives from the early 1600s sang mostly by African descent people who were enslaved. Slaves brought over the banjo, bones, and the djembe drums used to […]