Colored Music Settlement School
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Colored Musical Settlement School. In general, the term “settlement school” is to be understood within the context of the settlement movement started in 1884 in London. Growing concern in Victorian England concerning poverty gave rise to a movement whereby those connected to universities settled students in slum areas to live and work alongside local people. Through their efforts “settlement houses” were established for education, savings, sports, and arts. “Settlement schools” are, thus, adjuncts of those organizations, founded to provide education in various disciplines to the needy. In the United States, the two largest and most influential settlement houses were Chicago's Hull House (founded by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr in 1889) and the Henry Street Settlement in New York (founded by Lillian Wald in 1893).
Specifically, the Colored Musical Settlement School in New York city, founded as “The Music School Settlement for Colored People” was founded by white violinist David Mannes and other citizens of New York City during the 1911-12 season…
- “…making available for the first time in the history of the nation the opportunity for talented black youngsters to obtain excellent musical training at nominal fees.” [1]
In keeping with institutionalized segregation of the times, the school was founded to be an African American version of the already existing Music School Settlement, which did not accept Black students. [2] The Colored Musical Settlement School is a small chapter in the much larger history of African American education in the early 20th century, a thorough treatment of which can be found in Luker (1984). [3]
[edit] references and reading
- Walton, Lester A. et al (Spring, 1978). "Black-Music Concerts in Carnegie Hall, 1912-1915". The Black Perspective in Music 6 (1): 71-88. ISSN 0090-7790.
- Volk, Terese M. (Winter, 1994). "Folk Musics and Increasing Diversity in American Music Education: 1900-1916". Journal of Research in Music Education 42 (4): 285-305. ISSN 0022-4294.
- Luker, Ralph E. (Summer-Autumn, 1984). "Missions, Institutional Churches, and Settlement Houses: The Black Experience, 1885-1910". The Journal of Negro History 69 (3/4): 101-113. ISSN 0022-2992.
