A-B Tech hosted a presentation in honor of Black History Month by Dr. David Gilbert, an assistant professor in History at Mars Hill University.
The Songs of the Freedom Struggle: From Rock and Soul to Rap explored the hidden meaning in popular music, according to Gilbert. “I hope I got people to think about the music they like through a different lens. There is a deeper, and sometimes hidden, meaning circulated within the music especially by black musicians,” he said.
Gilbert is the author of an award-winning book on black music and culture, “The Product of Our Souls: Ragtime, Race, and the Birth of the Manhattan Musical Marketplace.” This work won a Choice award from the American Library Association in 2015.