The Dean of Black Classical Music
William Grant Still
By Carl Van Vechten, United States Library of Congress Prints and Photographs division
While listening to WDPG Discover Classical Radio, I heard the program host say that the lovely piece I’d just heard, a work by composer William Grant Still, had been chosen in honor of Black History Month. I am embarrassed to admit that until that moment, I had no idea that Still was black, that he has an Ohio connection, or that his work is deemed to have changed American classical music forever; here is some of what I learned about this amazing man.