In the weeks before the 2024 U.S. election, when my Trump anxiety kept me from sleeping or focusing, the only thing I found solace in was an academic book of musicology. If I had encountered Samantha Ege’s South Side Impresarios: How Race Women Transformed Chicago’s Classical Music Scene at any other time, I would have mainly noted its insights into the cultural context of composers like Florence Price and Margaret Bonds, pushing against notions of exceptionalism or individual genius. Instead, I felt like I was given a political survival kit.
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