Lawrence Jackson—a writer, historian, and Johns Hopkins professor who specializes in recasting the study of modern African-American literature and culture—has a beguiling new project: to build an interactive digital map of the life of Baltimore native, Billie Holiday. Through the use of old-school research methods, Jackson and a team of his students are able to uncover previously undiscovered historic and contextual information—to reveal a life. The team then pours that found, analog data into a series of interactive online maps: richly layered with biographical snippets and historic artifacts. Jackson joins us to share not only a visual tour of Billie Holiday's Baltimore, but also a glimpse at the dazzling potential of the digital humanities.

This program is presented in partnership with Blanc Gallery.