Check out how artists and musicians developed their craft and their importance in shaping and expressing history.
Valerie Thomas was an American scientist and inventor. In 1980, she created the illusion transmitter which allows 2-dimensional images to be observed as if they were 3-dimensional. Not only did the transmitter lead to the invention of 3D movies, but the technology is still used at NASA today! Thomas was …
Undine Smith Moore was known as the “Dean of Black Woman Composers,” and she was a talented composer and music educator. Undine was born in 1904 in Jarratt, Virginia to James William Smith and Hardie Turnbull Smith. Undine grew up in a musical household. She started learning piano from Lillian Allen Darden when she was …
William Grant Still was known as the “Dean of African-American Classical Composers.” He had a renowned career as a composer who broke many racial barriers in classical music. Still was born on May 11, 1895, in Woodville, Mississippi. He was raised in Little Rock, Arkansas where he started his music education with violin lessons at …
William Levi Dawson was born on September 26, 1899, in Anniston, Alabama. At age 13, he ran away from home and studied music at the historically Black school, the Tuskegee Institute under Booker T. Washington. He was part of the school’s band and orchestra, and he composed music for the Tuskegee Singers. William worked as …
Hazel Scott was a child prodigy classically trained on the piano. She was known as the “Darling of Café Society,” which was an integrated nightclub in Greenwich Village, New York. Hazel was born on June 11, 1920 in Port of Spain, Trinidad. Her father, R. Thomas Scott, was a West African Scholar and her mother, Alma Long …
Margaret Bonds was born on March 3, 1913 in Chicago, Illinois. Her father was a physician, and her mother was a piano teacher and church choral director. Margaret’s mother started teaching her piano at a very young age. When Margaret was 8 years old, she started studying at the Coleridge-Taylor Music School. (Remember Samuel …
George Bridgetower was a violin virtuoso who lived from 1778 – 1860. He is most well-known for his friendship with Beethoven, but George himself was a highly accomplish prodigy who even earned the recognition of King George IV. George was half Eastern European and half West Indian. His father served the Hungarian Prince Esterhazy, …
Leontyne Price is a remarkable, highly decorated singer who broke many color barriers in the world of opera. She was born Mary Violent Leontyne Price on February 10, 1928 in Laurel, Mississippi. Her mother played a huge role in fostering her musical talents as she herself was a soprano, though she …
