— LISTEE'S SPOTLIGHT —

Dr. John E. Allen, a historian and the owner of Digital Futures Music Publishing, is revered for his research and publishing efforts in preserving African American history. Since 2005, he has published research and performed music under Digital Futures Music Publishing, through which he has also assumed the curation of an antique quilt he inherited from his mother that is believed to be linked to the Underground Railroad dating to 1887. The quilt is one of numerous subjects of Dr. Allen’s book, “Content of Their Character: The Story Behind This Antique Quilt and the History of the African American Family that Made It,” published in 2009. He aims to share the quilt’s significance worldwide and make it available for public display in a museum. Earlier in his career, Dr. Allen was a dentist around Sacramento, California, for over three decades and worked in private practice with clinics supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in underserved communities. The recipient of a DDS from the University of California San Francisco, he supplemented his education with coursework in jazz performance at Skyline College and jazz music theory and harmony at Stanford University. Dr. Allen continues to perform music and promotes jazz education to the present day.