What Happened to the Black Opera
It’s no surprise. Black musicians, entertainers, and performers dominate the music industry. But, back in the day, we were excluded from classical art forms and deemed ill-suited for the (generally) conservative culture that some classical arts promote.
Insert Mary Caldwell Dawson of Pittsburgh, PA: the legendary founder of the National Negro Opera Company who refused to let racism and discrimination prevent Black people from learning classical music.
Schools, water fountains, and restaurants weren’t the only segregated institutions during the Jim Crow Era. Black citizens weren’t allowed in certain musical halls and musical schools - preventing them from receiving formal classical music training.
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Dawson filled the void in 1941 by starting the National Negro Opera Company (NNOC). She gave a voice to African-American composers, musicians, and singers of the classical genres.
Through performances of “Aida,” “Faust, and “Ouanga, Ouanga,” across the urban metropolis scene, NNOC would soon be recognized as a beacon of Black talent.
Caldwell, like many of our community’s greatest singers, began her career in her community church. However, she wanted to take it to the next level. This led her to enroll and graduate from the New England Conservatory of Music as the sole African-American in her class.
With aspirations to sing opera professionally, she pursued higher-level training in voice and piano with the Chicago Musical College in New York. Caldwell cleaned dental offices in order to defray the costs of her esteemed education.
Caldwell was no stranger to hard work - and likely valued those same characteristics in her partner. After marrying Walter Dawson, a master electrician who operated his own electrical service shop in Homewood, Caldwell opened her first music school - Caldwell Dawson School of Music - above his shop.
She’d accept payment and barters for her services, but likely also gave some lessons free of charge given her passion for the craft and commitment to youth development.
The Cardwell Dawson Choir, made up of both youth and adults from the Pittsburgh area, garnered attention nationwide. She even generated enough fanfare to perform at the 1939 World’s Fair in NYC.
After serving as President of the National Organization of Negro Musicians, using personal connections with her infectious attitude for fundraising, and imputing her courageous community-driven spirit into the essence of her work, Dawson formed the National Negro Opera Company in 1941.
While the NNOC was not the only African-American group to perform opera on stage, Dawson’s creation surpassed its predecessors and contemporaries in breadth, scope and longevity.
The school did not skimp on production. Its performance of “Aida” cost the equivalent of $100,000 in today’s dollars.
Dawson’s ability to produce such high-cost and quality productions when racial and economic discrimination ran rampant is evidence of her tenacity and unrelenting commitment to her craft. In addition to preparing the next generation, Dawson performed solo shows to fundraise in churches and community gatherings.
Her classical repertoire and civic engagement helped form chapters of the opera guild across the United States. Although the organization’s development dissipated with her death, her legacy lives on in thousands of musicians and singers that she taught and mentored.
In the spirit of her legacy, let’s continue to follow the careers of contemporary, Black opera singers and classical musicians like Eric Owens and Janai Bruggar. Let’s celebrate the diversity of our community’s talent and never forget to #PushBlack.
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Octavius Catto may not be a household name, but his fervent leadership in the fight for equal rights never went unnoticed. In fact, he was so influential that his lifework ultimately got him killed in 1871.
Catto was the progeny of a quite privileged set of parents. His father was a minister and mother descended from one of the richest mixed-race families (the DeReefs) in South Carolina. This status allowed him educational opportunities beyond reach to even most whites at the time.
As valedictorian at the Institute for Colored Youth, now known as Cheyney University, Catto was adamant about finding ways to bridge the gap between Blacks and whites and would dedicate his future military, political, and athletic careers doing so.
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It turns out that the Civil War brought drama directly to his Pennsylvania doorsteps and spawned his participation in the military. He saw the war as a viable opportunity for African Americans to prove themselves as equals so, in addition to joining himself, he launched a campaign seeking Black volunteer troops.
This was a clever strategy because it was a definite way for enslaved Blacks to acquire their freedom and also gained Catto notoriety within the political community of folks pushing for emancipation legislation. With the passage of the 15th Amendment, he relinquished his military duties and traveled throughout the North educating Black people on the voting process.
His increased political activism fostered strong ties with the Republican party, which he believed to be the primary vehicle through which Blacks would gain civil liberties and equal rights. His professional network included other organizations such as the 4th Ward Black Political Club and the National Equal Rights League, where Frederick Douglass served as President.
Catto was definitely a jack of all trades. In addition to his military and political prowess, he was a star athlete and co-founded the nation’s second all-Black professional baseball team--Pythian Baseball Club.
Despite his charm and charisma on and off the field, many Democrats feared political upheaval as Catto vowed to get droves of newly eligible Black voters to vote Republican. On election day, Catto was murdered in cold blood by Frank Kelly who was a staunch Democrat and closely linked to the party’s figurehead.
Despite multiple eyewitnesses, Kelly was acquitted of the crime by an all-white Philadelphia jury and never brought to justice for his inhumane act. Catto clearly intimidated whites who feared educated Blacks, yet it is still remarkable all that he was able to accomplish in just 32 years of life.
If you'd like to learn more about Octavius Catto, pick up a copy of Tasting Freedom: Octavius Catto and The Battle For Equality In Civil War America.
When educator Brittany Harris noticed the low test scores in her school district, she knew she had to do something about it.
Harris identified that parent involvement was also low, and to achieve improvement, parents needed to make regular visits to the school - a hard thing to ask of parents in low-income Chattanooga, TN.
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But Harris found quite a unique solution.
The Passage is a portable school created by Harris and colleague Colleen Ryan.
It's a minibus transformed into a mobile classroom for the community, filled with tables, chairs, a whiteboard, iPads, and any other classroom item you’d find in school.
Harris and Ryan take The Passage to the homes of students, where they collaborate with both children and parents to create strategies that will help students build strong study habits.
Usually serving Kindergarten through 5th grade children, they offer a 30-minute session once a week for four weeks.
Because, as Ryan put it, “parents are the first teachers of their children.” The Passage is an opportunity for parents - and the community - to feel empowered to help their kids academically. When they do, children always come out on top!
Replace Gucci’s blackface sweater - reminiscent of the demeaning Sambo caricature - with legendary rapper Nas’ Hstry Clothing, a unisex brand that celebrates Black history and culture.
While Burberry thought it’d be cute to design a Noose Hoodie, Nareasha Willis created Avenue N, a fashion brand that centers Black activism and calls out cultural appropriation in the fashion world.
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Moncler also presented a bubble jacket COVERED in blackface. Instead of spending your money there, shop HerFavoriteLA for trendy and sporty streetwear apparel.
Accessories aren’t exempt from these racist designs. Prada released a purse accessory that screams blackface. A better alternative for a designer purse is Mifland, a luxury Black-owned company that features leather bags.
No stranger to cultural borrowing, singer Katy Perry also took a bite from this rotten, racist apple going around - her shoe collection featured blackface heels.
Fortunately, you can get your shoe fix from Stella Hues, a shoe brand inspired by the blue seas of the Caribbean.
It’s such a simple thing but it brings people together better than a Shonda Rhimes drama. If you’ve got soul, this is especially for you. The Soul Train Line is more than a dance phenomenon. It’s an African-American institution.
More than 35 years after it first debuted on TV, the Soul Train Line still has the ability to bring everyone out on the dance floor to showcase their best moves.
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Before the Soul Train Line appeared on TV, it was a staple at Chicago house parties. Don Cornelius, creator and host of Soul Train, brought The Line to the show, where it first aired on the fifth episode. The rest is history.
The introduction of the Soul Train Line might have not happened had it not been for Soul Train. The show first began as a local program in Chicago. In a time where soul music was booming, Cornelius wanted to create a program just for soul music.
Working as a disc jockey for Chicago radio station WVON, he emceed for a series of touring concerts featuring local talents. He called this the tour Soul Train. After Sears & Roebuck Company saw the success of Soul Train, they decided to sponsor the show and bring it to television. Through that sponsorship, Soul Train the show was born.
The show not only introduced the nation to acts like Aretha Franklin and James Brown, but also dancers like Laurie-Ann Gibson and Jeffrey Daniel, who famously taught Michael Jackson how to do the moonwalk.
In recent years, some folks have attempted keeping the show’s legacy alive. In 2015, participants in Oakland’s DeFremery Park broke the record for the longest Soul Train Line with 337 participants. We love it!
The show ran for 35 years, but it has a lasting effect on us to this day. Whenever there’s a cookout or gathering of friends and family, the Soul Train Line is an equalizer that brings all our people together to just dance.
Rebecca Antinozzi, a former fifth-grade teacher at The Chapel School in Bronxville, New York, believed it was a good idea to hold a mock slave auction for her history class. Yes, you read that right - a mock slave auction.
In an activity that was nothing less than degrading, the teacher pretended to shackle the necks and ankles of her Black students and auction them off to their white classmates, who played wealthy bidders.
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Vernex Harding, who is a school administrator at another school, said her son was one of the targeted students: “The children were encouraged to bid on them. My son was humiliated.”
The teacher used the Black students as props in an activity that benefited their white peers, teaching them the worst possible type of lesson about their history as Black people.
The school apologized for the incident and is conducting their own investigation. But that’s not enough.
The State Attorney General, Letitia James, is looking into the matter as well: “The reports of racist ‘lessons’ by a teacher at The Chapel School are deeply troubling. My office is monitoring this matter closely.”
Our children are being educated in schools where many teachers are ignorant, racist, and not properly trained - so we need to be vigilant about properly educating and empowering our children ourselves!
The dance routine that wow’d the world was depicted in the 1943 musical film “Stormy Weather” and performed by none other than the legendary Nicholas Brothers.
They danced to the musical number “Jumpin’ Jive,” a song by Harlem-based bandleader Cab Calloway and his orchestra.
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Brothers Fayard and Harold were the BEST acrobatic “flash dancers” around. While many jazz tap-dancers of the day tapped enthusiastically on foot, the Nicholas Brothers seemed to tap through the air! And up the walls! And even gliding down flights of stairs!
One of the brothers’ signature moves was jumping into splits - like, REAL splits - and sliding back up with NO hands - a spectacular move the two would perform in tandem!
Perhaps most amazing about this dance performance is the not-so-secret behind it: this routine was performed UNREHEARSED and filmed on the FIRST TAKE. Now it’s deemed the BEST dance scene ever on film.
The Nicholas brothers found fame during the height of the Harlem Renaissance with their unique style and astonishing unity. And in every step they took through their flourishing career, the spirit of Black dance was always alive.