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Choral Music Contributions

  • Photograph of the Tuskegee School of Music faculty, 1934-1935
  • Photograph of the Tuskegee Choir and Orchestra performing "The Death of Minnehaha" at the Tuskegee Institute Chapel on April 1, 1939,
  • "One of the greatest choral organizations in the world," relays the Dunbar News of the Tuskegee Choir in January 1933.
  • The Tuskegee Institute Choir in Carnegie Hall, January 1933.
  • Listen to Dawson speak about some of the concerts his Choir gave, including Sunday radio shows, a performance at the New York residence of President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, and a performance for President Hoover at the White House. (3:20 min.)
  • Wedding photograph of Cecile Demae Nicholson
  • William Levi Dawson and Ed Sullivan on the set of the Ed Sullivan Show, 6 April 1952.
  • Listen to selections from the Tuskegee singers' first performances for the NBC network in 1937 (29:55 min.).
  • The Tuskegee Choir performing on the NBC television show “Coke Time,” December 1950.
  • Inscription in Invisible Man from Ellison to William Levi Dawson
  • Photograph of Dawson conducting, 1979
  • The Tuskegee Choir at Carnegie Hall with Leontyne Price, March 20, 1955
  • "There Is a Balm in Gilead," sheet music, 1967
  • "Ain'-a That Good News," manuscript
  • "Ain'-a That Good News," in Folk Songs of the American Negro, 61
  • Paul Laurence Dunbar
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Portrait photograph of the Tuskegee School of Music faculty, 1934-1935

Photograph of the Tuskegee School of Music faculty, 1934-1935

Tuskegee Principal Robert Russa Moton traveled to Chicago to meet with Dawson in 1930. Moton pledged his support to Dawson for a new School of Music at the Tuskegee Institute if Dawson would serve at its helm. When Dawson began directing the new school in 1931, he assumed control over admissions, curriculum, faculty and the ensemble program. While the conservatory model informed Dawson's arrangement of the music curriculum, the School of Music’s primary aim, as stated in the 1931-1932 Bulletin, was to train “practical musicians and teachers" (Monroe 60-61; Johnson, 18, 52).