Through the decades, Black Americans helped shape much of the music of the Appalachians but have received little recognition.

Join Oldtime fiddle and banjo player Earl White on Tuesday, October 27, from 2:30 to 4 p.m., as he gives a candid and informative discussion about the contributions Black Americans have made to Oldtime music. Registration for this free virtual event is available here.

The event is the third in “Affrilachia: Black History and the Arts in Appalachia,” a three-part Zoom speaker series hosted by Appalachian Studies Program at Virginia Tech. “Affrilachia” is a term coined by Kentucky poet Frank X. Walker to celebrate the extensive cultural contributions Black Americans have made to the Appalachian Region.

In addition to the Appalachian Studies Program, the speaker series sponsors include the Africana Studies Program, the Diggs Professorship, the Department of Sociology, the Department of English, the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, the Department of Religion and Culture, and the School of Performing Arts, all at Virginia Tech.