Susan Whitall to speak on art and activism

Award-winning journalist and author Susan Whitall will give a lecture, titled “Art and Activism: Music,” on Thursday, November 9, at 7 p.m at the Baldwin Public Library, jointly sponsored by the Birmingham Musem and the Baldwin Public Library.

Whitall is an award-winning jouralist and author who was editor of the iconic Birmingham-based rock magazine CREEM in the 1970s, as well as a Detroit News journalist for three decades. She is the author of Fever, a biogaphy of Little Willie John, and Women of Motown, an oral history of the girl groups and female artists at Detroit’s legendary record company Motown. Whitall is currently working on a CREEM documentary as well as several book projects, including Joni on Joni: Interviews and Encounters, an anthology of Joni Mitchell interviews which will be published in November 2018 by Chicago Review Press. I

The lecture on November 9 is part of a joint lecture series sponsored by the Birmingham Museum and the Baldwin Public Library focusing on the themes of art and activism. Whitall’s presentation is the second in a three-part series that takes a closer look at the tradition of the arts challenging the status quo and making the public think. Whitall will discuss music as the second of the three art forms of theater, music and the visual arts to be explored. The lecture will take place at 7 p.m at Baldwin Public Library, 300 W. Merrill Street, Birmingham.

“Susan’s grasp of American music culture from decades of covering music and entertainment in Detroit and beyond is extraordinary,” said Leslie Pielack, director of the Birmingham Museum. “We are excited to have her and invite the public to be part of the conversation through our Art and Activism series.”

Pielack noted that the CREEM magazine collection, a permanent exhibit at the Birmingham Museum, is the most significant collection of CREEM materials at any public museum.