In the 1950s James Baldwin wrote that "it is only in his music that the Negro in America has been able to tell his story." Back then, Baldwin held that Black musical textures signaled a story "which no American is prepared to hear." In film and television for the decades that followed, a wide gap yawned, at times howled, between the music and the characters. Midway in the 2010s, however, the gap between music and filmic elements narrowed. In this talk, Professor Ed Pavlić will highlight how Black characters and Black music weave together in unprecedented closeness in four recent series whose nuance and complexity rivals, and at times surpasses, that of our best contemporary writing. Free lunch, students of all majors welcome. Sponsored by the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and by the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts.

 Pavlić is Distinguished Research Professor of English and African American Studies and affiliated faculty in creative writing. He teaches classes mainly in modern and contemporary African American and American poetry, fiction, film and music as well as courses in creative writing.