Bibliography

This list is a work in progress! If you know of other reference books we should add, please let us know at editor@musicbyblackcomposers.org

History – General

• Abdul, Raoul. Blacks in Classical Music: A Personal History. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1977.
• Alexander, Otis D. Classical Music, Racism, and Perceptions: A Reference Source for Recounting of African-American Pioneers and Contemporaries. Astoria, NY: African Tree Press, 2016.
• De Lerma, Dominique-René and Marsha J. Reisser. Black Music and Musicians in the New Grove Dictionary of American Music and the New Harvard Dictionary of Music. CBMR Monographs. Chicago: Center for Black Music Research, Columbia College, 1989.
• Horowitz, Joseph. Dvořák’s Prophesy: And the Vexed Fate of Black Classical Music. New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2021.
• Hutchinson, Earl Ofari. It’s Our Music Too: The Black Experience in Classical Music. Los Angeles: Middle Passage Press, 2016.
• Southern, Eileen. The Music of Black Americans: A History. 3^rd ed.  New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 1997.
• Southern, Eileen and Josephine Wright. Images: Iconography of Music in African American Culture (1770s-1920s). Garland Reference Library of the Humanities Volume 1. New York: Routledge, 2000.

Composers – Multiple

• Alexander, Otis D. Creative Wizards. Astoria, NY: African Tree Press, 2018.
• Alexander, Otis D. Opera: Black/Brown Composers. Astoria, NY: African Tree Press, 2018.
• Alexander, Otis D. Proper Ladies: Selected African-American/Women of Color in the Fine and Lively Arts. Astoria, NY: African Tree Press, 2017.
• Baker, David N., Lida M. Belt and Herman C. Hudson. The Black Composer Speaks. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1978.
• Banfield, William C. Musical Landscapes in Color: Conversations with Black American Composers. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2003.
• Floyd, Samuel A., et al. The International Dictionary of Black Composers. Vol. 1 & 2.  Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1999.
• Floyd, Samuel A., and Marsha J. Reisser. Black Music Biography: An Annotated
• Bibliography. White Plains, NY: Kraus International Publications, 1987.
• Gray, John. Blacks in Classical Music: A Bibliographical Guide to Composers, Performers, and Ensembles. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1988.
• Green, Mildred Denby. Black Women Composers: A Genesis. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1983.
• Handy, W. C. Negro Authors and Composers of the United States. New York: AMS Press, 1976. (Reprint of the 1938? ed. published by Handy Bros. Music Co., New York).
• Roach, Hildred. Black American Music: Past and Present: Pan-African Composers Thenceforth and Now. Malabar, FL: Krueger Publishing Company, 1985.
• Southern, Eileen. Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1982.
• Walker-Hill, Helen. From Spirituals to Symphonies: African-American Women Composers and their Music. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002.
• Wilson, Olly. “The Black-American Composer and the Orchestra in the Twentieth Century,” The Black Perspective in Music 14 no. 1 (Winter 1986), 26-34.

Composers – Specific

Bologne (Chevalier de Saint-Georges)

• Banat, Gabriel. The Chevalier de Saint-Georges: Virtuoso of the Sword and the Bow. (Lives in Music Series: 7) Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2006.
• Guede, Alain. Monsieur de Saint-George: Virtuoso, Swordsman, Revolutionary; A Legendary Life Rediscovered. Gilda M. Roberts, Translator. New York: Picador Press, 1999 and 2003.
• Smith, Walter E. The Black Mozart: Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, 2004.

Johnson (Hall)

• Simpson, Eugene Thamon. Hall Johnson: His Life, His Spirit, and His Music. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2008

Price

• Brown, Linda Rae. The Heart of a Woman: The Life and Music of Florence B. Price. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2020.

Saint-Georges (see Bologne)

Still

• Smith, Catherine Parsons. William Grant Still: A Study in Contradictions. Oakland: University of California Press, 2000.

Walker

• Walker, George. Reminiscences of an American Composer and Pianist. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2009.

Performers

• Gordon, E Harrison: Black Classical Musicians of the 20^th Century, Volume 1. Brooklyn: Nubian Conservatory of Music, 2016.
• Gray, John. Blacks in Classical Music: A Bibliographical Guide to Composers, Performers, and Ensembles. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1988.
• Handy, D. Antoinette. Black Women in American Bands and Orchestras. 2^nd ed.  Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1998.
• McGinty, Doris Evans. A Documentary History of the National Association of Negro Musicians. Chicago: Columbia College: 2004.

Women Musicians

• Green, Mildred Denby. Black Women Composers: A Genesis. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1983.
• Handy, D. Antoinette. Black Women in American Bands and Orchestras. 2^nd ed.  Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1998.
• Walker-Hill, Helen. From Spirituals to Symphonies: African-American Women Composers and their Music. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002.

Regional

• Gray, John. Music of Sub-Saharan Africa: An International Bibliography and Resource Guide. Nyack, NY: African Diaspora Press, 2018.

Instrumental Pedagogy

• Ali-Landing, Lucinda. Done is Better than Perfect Practice Book.

Music Journals

• Center for Black Music Research (CMBR) Digest. Columbia College, Chicago: 2002-present.
• Floyd, Samuel E., et al. Lenox Avenue: A Journal of Interarts Inquiry. Chicago: Center for Black Music Research, Columbia College, 1999-present.
• Murchison, Gayle, ed. Black Music Research Journal. Chicago: Center for Black Music Research, Columbia College, 1980-present.

Check out our discography of music by Black composers! »