The Billie Holiday Center for Liberation Arts at Johns Hopkins sponsored several major events this spring.
These included “Rent Party: African American Urban Dance Music from Ragtime to House” featuring the original research of Columbia University Professor Shana Redmond and a screening of the film “The Birth of Jazz in Baltimore” with an improvisational on-site score by Jamal Moore. Further music was provided by musicians Nasar Abadey and Richard Johnson.
This was a tribute to the Rent Party, a site of music and dance experience for the black urban migrant of the early 1900s. The Rent Party was an opportunity for confident, joyful self-expression and freedom from codes that regulated racial and sexual conduct, freedom from the ideals of uplift, sobriety, and propriety. It was a moment and a space for staking vernacular pleasure. It was an unapologetic place for Black creative expression.
This free program commemorated the life of Donald V. Bentley and was presented by the JHU Billie Holiday Center for Liberation Arts in partnership with the Baltimore Museum of Art on April 18, 2024.
The Billie Holiday Center for Liberation Arts welcomes everyone to attend Jazz in Lafayette Square on Saturday, September 7th, 2024. Everyone is also invited to sign up for the Center’s listserv for announcements of future events! Center Director and Bloomberg Professor of History and English, Professor Lawrence Jackson is grateful to all who participated in and attended events this spring for their support!