USC Professor Robin Kelley Presents "Thelonious Monk: A Love Story," Nov. 11

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., Nov. 4, 2010 -- Leading scholar of African American history, politics, and culture, Robin D.G. Kelley of the University of Southern California will visitWilliams Collegeon Nov. 11, 2010, to deliver the annual W. Allison Davis 1924 and John A. Davis 1933 Lecture. His talk, titled "Thelonious Monk: A Love Story,” will be delivered in Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall at 8 p.m.

Based on his latest book - "Thelonious Monk: The Life and Time of an American Original," published last year, but already acclaimed “the definitive work on Monk” – Kelley’s lecture combines his love and knowledge of jazz with his life-long study of African American culture.  Tracing Monk’s accomplishments to and from the community of struggle, which as an African American he inhabited, Kelley insists on a radical reading of Monk that includes exploring the racism and conformism Monk confronted. Accompanied by renowned jazz guitarist Freddie Bryant, who will be playing Monk live, this evening promises to be exciting, entertaining and provocative.  A book signing, organized by Water Street Books, will follow.

Kelley’s numerous award-winning books, including "Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination" (2002), "Yo' Mama's DisFunktional!: Fighting the Culture Wars in Urban America" (1997), "Race Rebels: Culture Politics and the Black Working Class" (1994), and “Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Depression" (1990), have pushed Africana and American studies in a more global direction, while striving to “reopen a very old conversation about what kind of world we want to struggle for.”  He has co-edited numerous works, including, with Dana Frank and Howard Zinn,  "Three Strikes: Miners, Musicians, Salesgirls, and the Fighting Spirit of Labor's Last Century" (2001).  His numerous articles have appeared in The Nation, Monthly Review, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, and Callaloo.

Kelley is currently completing a book titled "Going Home: Jazz and the Making of Modern Africa," due to be published next year.

Educated at Cal State-Long Beach, where he received his B.A., and UCLA, where he received his Ph.D., Kelley taught at Columbia, NYU, the University of Michigan, and Emory, before coming in 2006 to the University of Southern California where he is professor of American studies, ethnicity and history.

The lecture is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by the Africana Studies Department and the Oakley Center.

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