| This dissertation is a study of the African-American composer Zenobia Powell Perry, born in 1908 in Boley, Oklahoma, to a physician father from Somalia and a black-Creek Indian mother. There are few African-American women composers working professionally today in concert music and even fewer with successful careers during the 20th century. Perry's life story and work as a composer, poet, and music educator add substantially to the very limited materials currently available on African-American women composers. Zenobia Perry studied with R. Nathaniel Dett (in Rochester, New York), Cortez Donald Reece (Langston University), William L. Dawson (at Tuskegee Institute, Alabama), Allan Willman (University of Wyoming), and Darius Milhaud (University of Wyoming and Aspen, Colorado) and has taught at black universities during a career that spans more than five decades. She is a formidable role model for all Americans who desire to compose and to have successful lives in music, while facing challenges related to race, ethnicity, and gender. Perry is a precious and articulate link to a special moment in American culture of the 1920s and 1930s, when black American composers were being recognized for their unique contributions to the country's musical life. As it raises many complex and unresolved issues related to American blacks with native American heritage, her life story bears witness to a century during which tremendous strides were made towards equality for all. The music of Zenobia Powell Perry has been performed in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Cleveland, Detroit, and other cities throughout the United States. This dissertation is based on numerous interviews conducted by the author between 1993 and 2002, on her personal, papers, correspondence, scores, and other documents related to her life and career. It also includes analysis of her musical style, a chronology, a complete list of works, several appendices, and is completely indexed. |
