STEPHENVILLE, TEXAS – Tarleton State University will host Charles Kennedy Jr. as the second provost diversity speaker of the Speaker Symposium Lecture Series on Feb. 5 at 7:30 p.m. His lecture, “Music as a Response to Life – From the Spirituals of Harry T. Burleigh to the Country Music of Today” will be held in the Clyde H. Wells Fine Arts Theater.
Kennedy’s presentation is part of Tarleton’s Black History Month celebration.
“A lot of times, we don’t stop to think about where our music comes from,” said Dr. Beth Rinard, who is a geology professor at Tarleton and one of the coordinators for the Speaker Symposium. “It’s about more than just a genre of music. It’s about history.”
Kennedy will discuss the roll of music in our lives and how Burleigh’s contributions remain significant.
Kennedy is a singer and an actor for the Pennsylvania Arts in Education program. He is also the president of the Harry T. Burleigh Society.
Burleigh was born in Pennsylvania in 1866. He was a student at the National Conservatory of Music in New York City. Burleigh began making formal orchestral arrangements for Negro Spirituals and is often credited for the music’s popularity in the 1920s.
The lecture is free and open to the community.
