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THEME Lecture: In Search of Nora Douglas Holt
Location: Collier House - 4-17-2026 3:15 pm - 4:15 pm (America/Los_Angeles) (1 hour)

Public lecture from musicologist/pianist Samantha Ege. Nora Douglas Holt remade the world in her own image, radiating and relishing Black women’s ingenuity in all that she touched. Composer, philosopher, Jazz-Age icon, Harlem Renaissance muse, social activist, and pleasure seeker: Holt was all these things and more. In 1918, she became the first person of African descent in the United States to attain a master of music degree, and throughout the Roaring Twenties both personal scandals and professional triumphs kept her in the headlines. A contemporary of Florence Price and a friend of Josephine Baker, Holt was an omnipresent figure in both classical music and popular culture. In this talk, musicologist and pianist Samantha Ege traces the multifaceted musical socialite~s tangled beginnings and illustrious career.

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