Editor’s note: In conjunction with the current “Black Composers Matter” display at the Music Library, I – your friendly neighborhood Music Library Associate – had a great time researching for it and I thought it might be nice to showcase the Black Composers highlighted therein. Things that are linked will take you to additional relevant information or to OneSearch for library-owned materials.
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Zenobia Powell Perry
(October 3, 1908 – January 17, 2004)
Perry was born in Boley, Oklahoma into a well-educated, middle class family. Her grandfather, who had been enslaved, sang her traditional spirituals as a child, which later influenced her work.
When she was about 7 years old, she met Booker T. Washington and sang for him at his appearance in Boley on August 22, 1915. She won a piano competition in 1919, and also learned to play violin.
Perry went on to study music at Berryman Conservatory in Nebraska and the Hampton Institute in Virginia. In 1935, she started at the Tuskegee Institute where she studied with composer William L. Dawson, who encouraged her to compose original work. She graduated from Tuskegee in 1938.
After Tuskegee, Perry became part of a Black teacher training program which was headed by Eleanor Roosevelt (who helped to fund Perry’s graduate studies).
Perry (left) with music students and teachers in 1949.
Perry worked as a professor at several historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), including Central State University in Ohio.
She did not seriously begin composing until she was in her 40s. Her music is classical with some jazz and folk influence. She wrote an opera Tawana House (first performed in 1987 and revived in 2014), as well as works for voice, orchestra, band and a mass.
If you’d like to learn more about her, here are some items about Perry from the Music Library’s collection:
* American Composer Zenobia Powell Perry: Race and Gender in the 20th Century by Jeannie Gayle Pool (Book)
* Soulscapes: Piano Music by African American Women (CD)
* Black Women Composers: A Century of Piano Music (1893-1990) edited by Helen Walker-Hill (Score)
* You can also find her works by searching on streaming services like Spotify or Youtube!
