William Grant Still

1965-1969

1965

Dorothy Maynor founds the Harlem School of the Arts in New York City.

Sacred music by Duke Ellington (1899-1974) performed at Grace Cathedral Church in San Francisco, California.

Nat "King" Cole dies in Santa Monica, California.

Duke student/composer Anthony M. Kelley born.

Entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. (1925-1990) publishes his autobiography, Yes, I Can, detailing a career that spanned vaudeville, film and Broadway musicals, nightclub singing, and television.

1966

First World Festival of Negro Arts at Dakar, Senegal.

1967

Charley Pride (1938- ) debuts at the Grand Ole Opry.

Concert pianist, composer, and writer Philippa Duke Schuyler (1931-1967) dies in a helicopter crash in Da Nang Bay, Vietnam.

1968

Henry Lewis (1932- ) appointed as director of the New Jersey Symphony.

The jazz cellist/composer David Baker (1931- ) premiers his cantata, Black America: To the Memory of Martin Luther King.

James Brown (1928- ) records "Black Is Beautiful: Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud."

Composer Olly Wilson's Cetus wins first prize at the First International Electronic Music Competition at Dartmouth, New Hampshire.

Rev. James Cleveland (1931-1991) founds the Gospel Music Workshop of America, training singers in the art of black gospel music.

1969

Undine Smith Moore founds the Black Music Center, Virginia State University, Petersburg, Virginia.

Singer Jessye Norman makes her operatic debut as Elisabeth in Wagner's Tannhauser in Berlin.

Eubie Blake records The Eighty-Six Years of Eubie Blake

The Jackson Five sign a contract with Motown Records and record "I Want You Back."