Samuel A. Floyd Jr. (1937– 2016) advanced the field of black music research by amassing a world-renowned collection of archival materials held at the Center for Black Music
Research (Columbia College Chicago), publishing several award-winning books, establishing four performance ensembles, and organizing ten national and international conferences.

At the time of his passing, Sam and his research assistant, Melanie Zeck, were completing his final monograph, The Transformation of Black Music, to which important contributions on Afro-Modernism were made by his friend, colleague, and former mentee, Guthrie P. Ramsey.

Sam was honored with the Society for American Music’s Lifetime Achievement Award and was named an Honorary Member of the American Musicological Society.