William Bolden Townsend, a journalist, educator, lawyer, and politician, gained fame through his campaigns against racist violence. He was born into slavery in Huntsville, Alabama in 1854. His white, maternal grandfather, Samuel Townsend, emancipated him. William Townsend and his mother, Margaret (Richardson) Townsend, moved to … Read MoreWilliam Bolden Townsend (1854-1917)
Composer, performer, musical critic/essayist, advocate, and teacher H. Lawrence Freeman was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1869 to Lemuel Freeman and Agnes Sims-Freeman. Initially self-taught, Freeman’s musical abilities were apparent at a young age. At 12, he started and performed in a boy’s vocal quartet. … Read MoreHarry Lawrence Freeman (1869-1954)
Over a long distinguished career Kermit Moore has been a cellist of outstanding acclaim, an orchestra conductor, composer, teacher, and mentor. Through these activities in classical music he has been successful in breaking down racial and social barriers. Moore was born in Akron, Ohio on … Read MoreKermit Moore (1929-2013)
Henry Jay Lewis, musician and conductor, was born October 16, 1932 in Los Angeles to automobile dealer Henry J. Lewis, and nurse Mary Josephine Lewis. Lewis started playing the piano when he was five, and in junior high he learned to play the double bass … Read MoreHenry Jay Lewis (1932-1996)
Lucien-Leon Guillaume Lambert was a pianist, composer, arranger, and music teacher. Born in 1858 in Vernouillet, France, a then-small village near Paris, he was the son of Charles Lucien Lambert, an American, and an unknown French mother. Guillaume Lambert was one of several renowned musicians … Read MoreLucien-Leon Guillaume Lambert (1858-1945)
Image Ownership: Center for Black Music Research (Fair Use) Musician, composer, and conductor Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson was born on June 14, 1932, in Manhattan, New York City. Perkinson’s mother, a talented pianist, organist, and theater director in the Bronx, named her son after the Afro-British composer, … Read MoreColeridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932-2004)
Concert bass-baritone singer, actor, and teacher William Caesar Warfield was born on January 22, 1920 in West Helena, Arkansas to a family of sharecroppers. When Warfield was a young child, his family moved to Rochester, New York, where his father served as a pastor for … Read MoreWilliam Warfield (1920-2002)
Charles Dean Dixon, a conductor, was born January 10, 1915, in New York, New York, to West Indian parents Henry Charles Dixon and McClara Rolston Dixon. Dixon’s parents exposed him to classical music at an early age, and his mother taught him to play the … Read MoreCharles Dean Dixon (1915-1976)
Musician, composer, professor, and conductor Fela Sowande was born May 1905 in Abeokuta, Nigeria. He was the son of Emmanuel Sowande, who was an Anglican priest and influential in the development of Nigerian sacred music. Fela Sowande was a musician and composer of music in … Read MoreOlufela Sowande (Fela) Obafunmilayo (1905-1987)
Author, commentator, speaker, political advisor, and columnist Keith Boykin was born in St. Louis, Missouri on August 28, 1965 but was raised in the suburb of Florissant, Missouri. Boykin’s parents separated during his childhood, but he enjoyed close relationships with both sides of his family … Read MoreKeith Boykin (1965- )
