Portia Katrenia Maultsby (born June 11, 1947) is an American

ethnomusicologist Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dim ...

and educator. She is a

professor emerita ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

who specializes in African-American music. She founded the university's

Archives of African American Music and Culture The Indiana University Archives of African American Music and Culture (AAAMC), established in 1991, is a material repository covering a range of African American musical idioms and cultural expressions from the post-World War II era. The collectio ...

in 1991.

Biography

Early life and education

Maultsby was born in Orlando,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, to Maxie C. and Valdee Maultsby (later Maultsby-Williams), and grew up in the segregated American South. Her older brother was psychiatrist Maxie C. Maultsby, Jr. (1932–2016). She also had a twin brother, Casel Hayes Maultsby (1947–1988), a pilot. Maultsby graduated from Jones High School in Orlando in 1964. She attended Mount St Scholastica College (now Benedictine College) in

Atchison Atchison may refer to: Places In the United States: *Atchison, California, a former settlement *Atchison, Kansas, a city *Atchison County, Kansas *Atchison County, Missouri People with the surname * Bob Atchison (born 1941), Canadian drag race ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

, on a music scholarship, graduating in 1968 with a bachelor's degree in piano, theory, and composition. The following year, she earned a master's degree in musicology from the

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

. In 1974, she was awarded a PhD in

ethnomusicology Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dim ...

from the University of Wisconsin-Madison; she was the first African American to be awarded that degree in the United States.

Career

Maultsby began lecturing at Indiana University in 1971, while still a graduate student. She became the founding director of the Indiana University Soul Revue, a student ensemble dedicated to Black music. By 1975, she was an assistant professor in the Department of African-American Studies. She went on to become chair of the department (1985–91), then professor in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology (from 1992). Maultsby's specialization in African-American music spans genres, including

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

, and spirituals. She founded the university's

in 1991, and served as its director from 1991 through 2013. The archives started as Maultsby's personal collection and grew to include more than 10,000 pieces of music and music-related items (including interviews, photographs, and recordings) by 2003. Maultsby co-edited two textbooks with her Indiana University colleague Mellonee V. Burnim: ''African American Music: An Introduction'' (2006) and ''Issues in African American Music: Power, Gender, Race, Representation'' (2016). She wrote the foreword to the 2018 book ''

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...

and Music: Protest, Intervention, Reflection'', edited by Fernando Orejuela and Stephanie Shonekan. Maultsby has also served as a consultant for museums (including serving as a senior scholar at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

in 1985) and documentary films (including the PBS documentary series ''

Eyes on the Prize ''Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Movement'' is an American television series and 14-part documentary about the 20th-century civil rights movement in the United States. The documentary originally aired on the PBS network, and it also ...

).''

Selected works

Books

*''African American Music: An Introduction'' (co-edited with Mellonee V. Burnim), 2006. *''Issues in African American Music: Power, Gender, Race, Representation'' (co-edited with Mellonee V. Burnim), 2016.

Book chapters

* *

Articles

* * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maultsby, Portia K. 1947 births 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American musicologists 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American musicologists Academics from Florida African-American academics African-American music educators Black studies scholars African-American women academics American women academics African-American women musicians African-American women writers American women musicologists Benedictine College alumni Ethnomusicologists Indiana University faculty Living people American twins University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Engineering alumni Writers from Orlando, Florida