On October 23 & 24, 2019 - Legendary jazz drummer Max Roach will be honored in a series of symposiums and events at the University of Massachusetts - Amherst. Roach who passed away in 2007, was a faculty member at UMass from 1972 to 2004. Professor Roach joined the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies, and was one of the founders of the Jazz in July Program along with Billy Taylor and Frederick Tillis.