Roots Run Both Ways: A Filmmaker's Return and the Music That Never Left

Join award-winning filmmaker and educator Jacqueline L. Olive, the 2026-28 Lehman Brady Joint Visiting Associate Professor of American Studies and Documentary Studies at Duke University and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, for an evening of conversation, music, and storytelling.

Olive will discuss her documentary filmmaking journey, her return to North Carolina, and the enduring influence of Black musical traditions on Americana music.

The evening begins with a conversation between Olive and filmmaker and Wake Forest University professor Peter Gilbert, followed by a discussion with Duke professor Mark Anthony Neal and acclaimed musician Leon Timbo about Olive's new oral history project "Roots & Reclamation" and her forthcoming documentary "African Americana."

A live musical performance by Timbo and an audience Q&A will conclude the program.

Weather permitting, the event will take place on the CDS front porch. In the event of rain, the program will move indoors.