Aminata: Abbey Lincoln’s Song of Faith with Author Ada C.M. Thomas

Here to share her latest book, Aminata: Abbey Lincoln’s Song of Faith, author Ada C.M. Thomas brings an engaging discussion to the Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University Libraries. The author talk, moderated by Professor Ruth Feldstein, Department of American Studies, Africana Studies, and History, dives into Thomas’s research of jazz musician, Abbey Lincoln’s career, artistic collaboration, and influences. 

This program will be held on Thursday, September 24, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Dana Room at Dana Library. Items from the institute’s Abbey Lincoln archival collection will be on display, and books will be available for purchase from Source of Knowledge, an independently owned Newark bookstore. This event is free and open to the public. Seating for this event is limited; please register in advance to guarantee a spot. 

About Aminata: Abbey Lincoln’s Song of Faith 

Abbey Lincoln (1930–2010), one of the greatest jazz vocalists of the 20th century, was also an acclaimed composer, poet, playwright, actress, and activist and a towering figure within the African American intellectual tradition. Through constant reinvention, she resisted easy stereotyping and helped open a space for Black women artists to invoke their whole selves. With meticulous research and insightful analysis, Ada C. M. Thomas contemplates Lincoln’s music alongside her poetry, plays, and reflections, revealing a multifaceted artist whose philosophical inquiries resonate deeply with the Black experience. Thomas places Lincoln's albums in the context of both the female jazz and blues singers who influenced her and the male composers she collaborated with, including John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, and Max Roach.  

About the Author

Ada C.M. Thomas is a writer and scholar of literatures and cultures of the African Diaspora. She has conducted research and taught at institutions of higher education in the United States, The Bahamas, Cuba, and Trinidad and Tobago. She has worked as a Curator at Penn Center, a National Historic Landmark in the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor and served as a Public Scholar for the New Jersey Council for the Humanities. Her poetry and prose have appeared in Decolonial Passage and midnight & indigo. Her book, Aminata: Abbey Lincoln’s Song of Faith, was published by Rutgers University Press in July 2026.