“Their male counterparts have been documented in the literature while most of these women have been suffocated with silence.
With this gesture of retrieval, hopefully, they will not be forgotten.”
~Rosetta Reitz, Sweet Petunias
Rosetta Reitz was a 20th century feminist writer, business owner, and record and concert producer. She produced 18 albums of the music of the early women of jazz and the blues.
Who were the 96 Black women whose music appears on Rosetta Records, what value did music have in their lives, and what legacy did they want to leave behind? What societal factors, including technologies, empowered or hindered their pursuits? Which of those factors continue today and what can we do to correct past and ongoing wrongs? Inspired by Reitz’s careful attention to lyrics, music, and quantifiable data, we aim to continue to count the representation of Black women in histories and playlists, analyze music distribution forms and their impact, and conduct analysis of musical recordings. Further, inspired by Black feminist archival practices, we aim to recover the values of the women themselves by seeking their voices in the Rosetta Reitz archive and by placing those archival materials in conversation with other relevant primary and secondary sources.
Join our collective of researchers, producers, archivists, artists, and performers to help bring the spirit of Rosetta Reitz into contemporary artistic and scholarly practice.
Apply Now! Send a 250-word statement and CV/resume to lou.brown[at]duke.edu.
We’ll explore themes such as…
- Black women in jazz & blues
- History & technologies of the music industry
- Feminist business practices
- Musical storytelling
- Allyship
- Activism
- Ethics of care
- Radical empathy
Possible outcomes include…
- Engaging key artists & scholars
- Biographical, legal & ethical research
- Data gathering & analysis
- Public writing including expanded and new Wikipedia entries, blogs, and research papers
- Public listening sessions
