LitFest 2024: Music & Activism with Benjamin Barson

In his book Brassroots Democracy: Maroon Ecologies and the Jazz Commons, musician and activist Benjamin Barson explores one such form of expression: jazz music. The book dives into the birth of jazz, and unearths vibrant narratives of New Orleans musicians to illuminate the Black Atlantic struggles that informed music-as-world-making from the Haitian Revolution through Reconstruction to the jazz revolution. This program will bring Ben’s research to life, as he takes the stage with a group of Pittsburgh and New York based musicians to reimagine the music discussed in the book and its resonance in our current moment.