S. L. Roxy Rothafel, who selected Dawson’s Tuskegee Choir for the Radio City Music Hall opening, also introduced Dawson’s work to infamous conductor Leopold Stokowski.

Dawson completed the Negro Folk Symphony in 1932, the same year his Tuskegee Choir sang at the opening of Radio City Music Hall. S. L. “Roxy” Rothafel, who had orchestrated the Radio City Music Hall opening, gave Dawson's manuscript to Leopold Stokowski, conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Stokowski soon led the renowned Philadelphia Orchestra in the symphony’s 1934 world premiere at the Philadelphia Academy of Music on November 14. The audience broke into spontaneous applause after each movement, breaking with classical concert customs. Their enthusiasm following the final movement was so great that Stokowski invited Dawson to take the stage with him (Brown, 76-77). This was the first performance of an African American composer’s symphony by a major U.S. symphony orchestra.