BEA BREAKS BARRIERS!

A tribute to the perseverance of an underrecognized Black composer.

Growing up in Little Rock, Arkansas, Florence Beatrice Price (1887-1953) had high musical aspirations, which were initially stymied “because Black girls did not give recitals in public buildings.” Bea (born Florence Beatrice Smith) attended a segregated public school. She played piano at her home and absorbed the rhythms of the spirituals, folk, juba, and classical music that surrounded her. She created her own compositions from an early age. In 1903, Bea was accepted to the New England Conservatory of Music—one of only two Black students among 2,000. Afterward, she taught lessons and continued to compose but couldn’t get her work published. She and her husband, Thomas Jewell Price, moved to Chicago, where she found some success while also scraping together a living to support their two daughters. Her version of the spiritual “My Soul’s Been Anchored in de Lord,” famously sung by contralto Marion Anderson at the Lincoln Memorial in 1939, finally, if briefly, brought her the recognition she deserved. DeLems’ narrative reads more like a resume than a story, succumbing to cliches and a profusion of unwarranted sentence fragments. Nevertheless, Bea Price’s contributions to the musical world surely merit a biography, and this one makes a strong case for her impressive body of music. Relying on a pastel palette and precise period details, Engel’s delicate illustrations bring both warmth and energy to the narrative.

A much-needed account, though not without its shortcomings.