Voices Across Time

04/03/2025

Dear Colleague:

Found this waiting in my inbox this morning:

I am reaching out from the National Humanities Alliance to give you an important update on the NEH. On Monday, March 31, 2025 we learned that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is targeting the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) with the aim of substantially reducing its staff, cutting the agency’s grant programs, and rescinding grants that have already been awarded. You can read our full statement and see resources on our website.

As we have seen with similar actions, including the recent attack on IMLS, these actions have the potential to devastate the agency and, of course, the humanities community that relies on these government funds.

As an NEH grantee, you have a role to play in this moment. Here are actions you can take:
• Contact your Members of Congress—urging them to speak up for the NEH and ensure that the agency is able to fulfill its congressional mandate. Take a moment to mention that you are an NEH grantee and, if possible, spend a sentence or two on the impact of that grant. You can use our action alert to reach out: https://p2a.co/DdtlGIT
• Share this action alert with others—with your board members, partners, donors, subgrantees, teachers, participants, and constituents. It is imperative that policymakers understand the broad impact of NEH funding.
• Reach out to your local press—pitch a local reporter, or write an opinion piece or letter to the editor. NHA will be hosting office hours for the next two weeks to support this outreach. Sign up below:
Wednesday, April 2 & 9 - 10:00 a.m. ET
Thursday, April 3 & 10 - 2:00 p.m. ET
Friday, April 4 & 11 - 11:00 a.m. ET
Monday, April 7 - 12:00 p.m. ET
Tuesday, April 8 - 12:00 p.m. ET
• Especially if you are based at a museum, historical society, or other independent humanities organization, consider contacting your local policymakers and informing them of the potential consequences of losing NEH funding. Note that you are an NEH grantee, and make sure to include a note about the impact of this funding. You can use this action alert to reach out: https://p2a.co/HJwNkhW
• Tell us about the impact of your NEH grants and NEH staff using this form.

If your grant is impacted in any way, it is imperative that you let your Members of Congress know. Let me know if you need help with staffer contact information.

Sincerely,
Cecily

08/25/2021

Check out our ad for this year's online workshops in PMEA News! We've got a great line up this year. Hope to see you there!

06/14/2021

We are pleased to announce an upcoming virtual workshop. "Reconsidering the Role of Minstrel Songs in the Multicultural Music Classroom" will feature interactive presentations by Brandi Waller-Pace, Beth Davies, and Jennifer Forness. July 27, 28, and 29; 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. EDT. Register at pi.tt/camworkshop.

05/04/2021

TIL the connection between "A Love Supreme!" and Malcolm X--between John Coltrane and the universality of Islam which Malcolm brought back from his 1964 pilgrimage.

"Because of the tenor of the times in which the golden age of jazz and the golden age of African American Islam collided in a burst of creativity, thousands of black Americans crit­ically considered Islam .... There was 'a spiritual response' to the album, 'a response to A Love Supreme' said one Philadelphia deejay."

One of the most important artists in the 1960s, Coltrane pas­sionately expressed his African American Islamic spirituality both in his album A Love Supreme (Impulse!, 1965) and in his exploration o…

05/03/2021

Fascinating look back at African-American coal miners and their influence on American music.

When I was growing up we always celebrated the first of May as “May Day” in my home, not as some kind of spring ritual but in honor of International Workers Day , often referred to as Labour Day.

11/02/2020

Cool election-related playlist from the Smithsonian.

What song brings back memories of presidential elections for you? Post in the comments.

The American political process has been intertwined with music as long as there has been a United States of America. From "Follow Washington," one of many songs written in praise of George Washington, to the popular theme songs used by present-day candidates, every election cycle has had its ...

02/12/2020

The Archives and Special Collections Department for the University of Pittsburgh Library System and Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area are pleased to offer two, one week NEH History and Landmarks Workshops entitled The Homestead Steel Strike and the Growth of America as an Industrial Power July 12-18, 2020, and July 19-25, 2020. The “Battle of Homestead” is the most famous event in labor history. While the 1892 Homestead Steel Strike only lasted four months, it created a lasting impact on how the nation viewed the relationship between labor and management and cemented the reputation of two of America’s great Industrialists – Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick. This program will provide a framework for participants to immerse themselves in the battle from both sides by examining primary sources, touring historic sites, and taking a riverboat tour that follows the same route the Pinkerton guards used as they traveled to the Homestead Steelworks. Through lectures given by librarians, archivists, and scholars participants will receive unique insight into how one seemingly small conflict could instigate such tremendous change in 20th century American industry. Full time and part time teachers and librarians in public, charter, independent and religiously affiliated schools, as well as home schooling parents, museum educators and other K-12 school system personnel are eligible to participate. Pennsylvania teachers will revive Act 48 credit upon completion of the workshop. Accepted participants will receive a $1200 stipend.
Applications are due March 1. Apply online at

The Homestead Steel Strike and the Growth of America as an Industrial Power is an NEH Landmarks of American History and Culture workshop that will be hosted in Pittsburgh July 12-18, 2020, and July 19-25, 2020.

12/17/2019

An interesting look at musical and political preferences across our great nation.

Data show that tastes in live music mirror America's political divide

06/16/2019

A reminder of how music has divided our nation, too.

It’s never just about right versus left. In songs and in politics, things are more complicated.

11/12/2018

Interesting op-ed in the New York Times Saturday. When white nationalists rallied against "God Bless America" because it was (a) written by a Jewish immigrant (Irving Berlin) and (b) threatened to replace "The Star Spangled Banner" as a national anthem.

Heck, they even went after the Boys Scouts!

The nation loved the song, which was introduced 80 years ago. But some reviled Irving Berlin for his presumption, as an immigrant and a Jew, in having written it at all.

08/31/2018

Fascinating article on a song that many of us learned at Voices Across Time...and NEVER will forget.

Just as we were in the 1930s and ’60s, America is suffering a moral crisis. We have to decide which side we are on: hate and exclusion, or justice, inclusion, and democracy?

10/13/2016

If you have 24 hours to kill in NYC, this might be interesting: singer Taylor Mac provides "A 24-Decade History of Popular Music"

I’ve slept on it, and I’m sure. “A 24-Decade History of Popular Music” is sublime.