“American Protest Music” Lecture and Special Collections Research Center 2026 Exhibition Reception
Syracuse University Libraries’ Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) is hosting a guest lecture titled “American Protest Music” on Tuesday, April 21, 2026 from 3 – 4:30 pm (ET) in Bird Library’s Peter Graham Scholarly Commons (Bird 114), followed by an exhibition reception for We Demand! A Legacy of Activism in America on the 6th floor from 4:30 – 6 pm (ET). The lecture examines music as a site of protest and activism in American culture, complementing the core themes of SCRC's latest exhibition. The lecture and reception are free and open to the public. Those interested in attending either or both are asked to register in advance. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) will be provided at the lecture and during brief reception remarks. Those requiring other accommodations can email Max Wagh at mlwagh@syr.edu by April 15.
About the Lecture “American Protest Music”:
Attendees will journey through major social movements and political moments, including the populism movement, the labor movement, the Civil Rights Movement, women's liberation, and LGBTQ activism. In examining various social and political moments in American history, the lecture will include clips from the musical soundtrack that accompanied each moment to understand how music has been leveraged to articulate the concerns of Americans. Dr. Hunter will explore a diverse array of American music genres, including folk music, freedom songs, and disco music.
Beginning in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the populist and labor movements, Dr. Hunter will show how these movements emerged due to increasing concerns for the economic well-being of rural workers and safe working conditions for urban workers. Both movements were designed to protect workers from the exploitation of those in positions of economic and political power. The talk will then look at the Civil Rights Movement with the aim to understand how Black people used freedom songs as a strategic protest strategy to dismantle Jim Crow segregation as they marched and participated in freedom rides throughout the south. Finally, Hunter will end by discussing seventies disco music—a genre that advocated for the liberation of women and the queer community. This lecture will be interactive and will involve discussion questions about the music and the social contexts under study. In sum, this time together will elucidate how music has always granted insight into America’s social and political milieu.
About the Guest Lecturer, Dr. Cory Hunter:
Dr. Cory Hunter is the James P. Wilmot Distinguished Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Rochester and Eastman School of Music. He received his Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Eastman School of Music in 2006 with distinction, a Master of Divinity and Certificate of Music from Yale Divinity School and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music in 2009, and a PhD in musicology from Princeton University in 2016. He currently holds a dual position as Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Rochester and Assistant Professor of Musicology at Eastman School of Music. Hunter’s research centers on twentieth and twenty-first century Black gospel music practice. His current book project, Spiritual Realness in Gospel Music Discourse and Practice, considers how contemporary Black gospel artists use musical and discursive practices to accommodate the popular cultural infatuation with realness and to deconstruct the conventional theologies of conservative Black churches. In his recent article published in the Journal of the American Musicological Society (78:3), titled “Gospel Love Albums: Negotiating Articulations of Gender, Sexuality, and Realness,” Hunter argues that gospel artists construct the real through unsettling, contrived bifurcations between spirituality and eroticism and contesting the suppression of desire in Black churches.
About the Exhibition Reception for “We Demand!: A Legacy of Activism in America”:
The Special Collections Research Center’s 2026 exhibition, titled “We Demand!: A Legacy of Activism in America,” opened on March 2, 2026, on the 6th floor of Bird Library and will be on display until December 2026. Curated by Courtney Hicks, former SCRC Lead Curator and Curator of Plastics and Historical Artifacts, Jana Rosinski, SCRC Instruction and Education Librarian, and Lindy Smith, SCRC Assistant Director, the exhibition includes examples of resistance and perseverance in the form of publications, posters, protest signs, photographs, demands, newsletters and more representing the critical role of activism in challenging injustice and securing greater freedoms in the United States.
Since the country’s founding, the American people have shaped—and continue to shape—a more just and equitable future. For decades, SCRC has collected materials related to histories of activism and social reform in America that illustrate how advancements in rights were made possible by those who came before. This pursuit and work of individuals and collective groups who have come together to push for change in the face of extraordinary challenges and circumstances is documented within this exhibition.