Apr 6, 2021 2 min read

The Pittsburgh Humanities Festival will take place virtually this year every Wednesday in April at 7 p.m.

Sponsored by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, the conversations will be streamed on the Cultural Trust’s Facebook page and YouTube channel. Among the topics that will be explored over the next four Wednesdays will be gun violence prevention, baking cookies for social justice, restoration of Homewood’s National Negro Opera House, and perceptions of Black women in popular music history.

On Wednesday, Jonnet Solomon will discuss the history of the National Negro Opera House in Pittsburgh’s Homewood neighborhood and the effort she is leading to restore it. The house, which once welcomed such figures as Count Basie and Roberto Clemente, was recently named to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s annual list of the 11 Most Endangered Places.

On April 14, Daphne A. Brooks, professor at Yale University and award-winning Black feminist music critic, takes us on an epic journey through radical sound from Bessie Smith to Beyonce as she discusses her new book, “Liner Notes for the Revolution: The Intellectual Life of Black Femnist Sound.”

“Cookie Activism: Using Sugar as a Platform for Justice with Jasmine Cho,” on April 21, will feature Cho talking about her work as a Pittsburgh baker and how she uses cookie-making and decorating as therapy and to promote Asian American representation.

On April 28, a discussion will be had on how to stem gun violence. The panelists will include Kathryn Fleisher, who founded the group Not My Generation following the 2018 Tree of Life massacre.

For additional information, go online to TrustArts.org/SmartTalk.