Classical Music from Africa and the African Diaspora

Historic Composers Directory

A directory of all historic Black composers currently known by MBC—as of today we list 160!

Known living composers appear in our Living Composers Directory.

Search or sort directory by surname, region, birth year, or death year by clicking on the column headings.

An “X” in the “MBC Poster” or “MBC Coloring Book” columns indicates the composers who appear in those publications. (Black Classical Composers Timeline Poster and Coloring Book of Black Composers)

Do you know any composers’ names we are missing? Please let us know! editor@musicbyblackcomposers.org

(Note: the 16th-century Portuguese composer, Vicente Lusitanto, is not included in this directory since the known historical records are inconclusive about his ethnic background. See our blog post here to read more.)

Current count: 160 composers

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