Winning the Pulitzer Prize for Music is one of the multitude of richly deserved tributes to composer, pianist, and educator George Theophilus Walker. His prolific career continued into his 90s with his commissioned Sinfonia No. 4 (Strands), premiered in 2012 by the New Jersey Symphony … Read MoreGeorge Theophilus Walker (1922-2018)
Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard, part of Massachusetts’ Cape Cod Islands, is one of several historic African American summer resort communities along the Atlantic seaboard founded in the 1890s. The” Inkwell” or Town Beach in Oak Bluffs is the name of the popular beach frequented … Read MoreThe Inkwell, Martha’s Vineyard (1890s- )
Image Ownership: G.D. Hackett/Pictorial Parade (Fair Use) Ulysses Simpson Kay, Jr., was one of the leading black composers in the classical music industry in the 20th Century. Born in Tucson, Arizona, Kay grew up in a musically talented family. His mother, Elizabeth Kay, was a … Read MoreUlysses S. Kay (1917-1995)
Image Ownership: Ernesto Galan (Fair Use) Classically trained ballerina Tai Jimenez freelanced and also performed with the Dance Theatre of Harlem for 12 years before she became the only Dance Theatre member to make a successful transition to one of the major ballet companies in … Read MoreTai Jimenez (1970- )
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)
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- )
From precocious five-year-old piano player in the 1890s to internationally known choral director, composer, concert pianist, and poet, R. Nathaniel Dett became champion for preservation of the black spiritual which he called authentic American folk music: He dedicated his life to finding a musical form … Read MoreR. Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943)
Composer and violinist Jose Silvestre White was born in Matansas, Cuba in 1835 to Don Carlos White and an Afro-Cuban mother. His father gave White his first instruction in violin, and he later studied with Jose Miguel Roman and Pedro Lecerff. In 1854, at eighteen, … Read MoreJoseph Silvestre White (1835–1918)
Florence Beatrice Smith, the first black woman composer to garner an international reputation, was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1887, to James H. Smith, a dentist, and Florence Gulliver Smith, a former school teacher and private lesson piano teacher who also managed several local … Read MoreFlorence Beatrice Smith Price (1887-1953)
