I am thinking about belonging, displacement, and liberation. Rather than a linear narrative, these comments present a trio of contrapuntally interlocking themes: American music, African American musicologists, and the American nation more broadly.
I am writing this as we approach Independence Day 2022, a holiday that says a lot about Americanness in the United States as it celebrates the signing of the Declaration of Independence. This suggests a point of freedom for the nation: a late eighteenth-century liberation from their colonial status to the British. I was a child when this country celebrated its 200th anniversary in 1976 and, like other 4th of July celebrations in my family, this time marked a moment in the summer that meant a festive holiday, yet also felt a bit disembodied: how did I fit into this independence and liberation given our nation's history? As I grew up, the meaning of the nation's freedom...
