Delta Blues Symposium XV welcomes keynote speaker Doug Seroff April 2

March 9, 2009 -- In conjunction with Delta Blues Symposium XV: Celebrating a Century of Delta Culture, Arkansas State University-Jonesboro’s  Department of English and Philosophy welcomes Doug Seroff, who will deliver the keynote address “Arkansas Blues: 100 Years Ago Today,” on Thursday, April 2, at 3:30 p.m. in the Mockingbird Room on the third floor of the ASU’s Reng Student Services Center/Student Union, 101 North Caraway Road, Jonesboro. The event is free and open to the public.

Doug Seroff, a resident of Greenbrier, Tenn., is a noted scholar of the rise of African American music. With collaborator Lynn Abbott, he is the author of several studies, including “Out of Sight: The Rise of African American Popular Music, 1889-1895” and “Ragged But Right: Black Travelling Shows, ‘Coon Songs,’ & the Dark Pathway to Blues and Jazz.” His address will explore blues activity in the first decades of the twentieth century, focusing on pioneer blueswoman and Hot Springs native Estelle Harris.

Delta Blues Symposium XV is sponsored by the Department of English and Philosophy at ASU. For further information, contact the Department of English and Philosophy at (870) 972-3043 or visit the Web site at www.clt.astate.edu/blues. All symposium events are free and open to the public. A complete schedule of symposium events is at http://www.clt.astate.edu/blues/dbs2009schedule.htm.  

For details, contact Dr. Rick Burns, Delta Blues Symposium Committee, at (870) 972-3043, or e-mail him at rburns@astate.edu.

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