“Rock My Soul: The Black Legacy of Rock & Roll” Art Exhibit- February 10- March 31, 2006

Nova Southeastern University (NSU) presents the rich history of African and African American music throughout the months for February and March with the exhibit, “Rock My Soul: The Black Legacy of Rock and Roll,” a traveling exhibit of the Arts League of Michigan and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The exhibition will be displayed in the Second Floor Gallery of the Alvin Sherman Library, Research and Information Technology Center, on NSU’s main campus.

“Rock My Soul” is part of the university’s African Presence 2006 Third Annual Art Exhibition, the highlight of the university’s Black History Month celebration, which also includes a film series, public lectures, and a community forum.

Last year’s African Presence exhibit, “The Caribbean Connection,” featured the work of local artists and photographers, in addition to the collection, “Panafricanists,” by acclaimed Jamaican artist Barrington Watson.

Sponsored nationally by the Ford Foundation, “Rock My Soul” includes the commissioned work of 10 Detroit-based black artists, each inspired by and representing African and African-American music: the music of West Africa, slavery work songs and spirituals, blues, jazz, gospel, R&B, soul, and hip-hop. Each one of these eras and genres is represented by works of art that convey the essence of the music and the spirit of the people who created them.

Noted historians agree that the history of America is woven into its music. And that music is heavily influenced by the rich sounds which generated from gospel pews, juke joints, jazz bars and blues houses of Black America. These styles, in turn, had their own roots in Africa and were brought to America when the first Africans arrived in 1619. Over the years, they evolved, moving from the rural plantations of Mississippi and the melting-pot metropolis of New Orleans, up the Mississippi River to urban centers like Memphis and later, Chicago. Without these influences, rock and roll, as we know it, would never have existed.

The exhibit, which will be on display through March 31, is sponsored by NSU’s Office of University Relations, Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services Office of Community Education and Diversity Affairs, and Comcast Spotlight.

Nova Southeastern University, with its main campus in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is the number one producer of African American doctorates among both traditionally white institutions and historically Black colleges and universities, as well as the number one producer of Hispanic doctorates based on survey results published in the July 29, 2004 edition of Black Issues in Higher Education.

For more information about Rock My Soul: The Black Legacy of Rock and Roll art exhibition, please call (954) 262-5357, or visit www.nova.edu/library/about/events/blacklegacy/legacy.html. For more information about Black History Month events, please visit www.nova.edu/cwis/ur/blackhistory/.