Post by Dartmouth College

Some of the greatest songs ever made were produced from sampling, taking what already exists and transforming it into something new. Professor Allie Martin uses the same technique to research sounds of Black life across America—looping and layering archival recordings from the Library of Congress into soundscape compositions that challenge how we listen to history https://bit.ly/3QOvHQ3 She’s been named a 2026–27 fellow at the National Humanities Center, chosen from 453 applicants, to finish her second book on the subject. Her students are doing the fieldwork right now, recording sounds of Black life in Portsmouth, N.H., in collaboration with Black Heritage Trail of NH. “I want to make work that makes Black people feel safe and make Black people be able to sound without subjection because we rarely get to do that,” says Martin.