Kappa Alpha Psi’s William Grant Still Became the First Black Person to Conduct a Major American Symphony Orchestra

Did you know that the composer known as the “Dean of African American Composers” was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. who got his start at a historically Black university? His name was William Grant Still, and he broke one barrier after another in the world of American classical music.

William Grant Still was born on May 11, 1895, in Woodville, Mississippi, and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas. In 1911 he enrolled at Wilberforce University, the historically Black university in Ohio, where he conducted the university band, learned to play several instruments, and began to compose. It was at Wilberforce that he was initiated into Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. through the Delta Chapter. He later continued his training at the Oberlin Conservatory.

Still’s music made history again and again. In 1931, his Symphony No. 1, the Afro-American Symphony, was performed by the Rochester Philharmonic under Howard Hanson, making him the first African American to have a symphony performed by a major American orchestra. As the Library of Congress notes, in 1936 he became the first African American to conduct a major American symphony orchestra when he led the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

The barriers kept falling. In 1949, his opera Troubled Island became the first opera by an African American to be produced by a major opera company when it was staged by the New York City Opera. In all, Still composed more than 150 works across symphonies, operas, ballets, and chamber pieces.

William Grant Still died on December 3, 1978, in Los Angeles. Long celebrated as the Dean of African American Composers, he opened the concert hall and the opera house to the Black artists who followed him.

From Wilberforce University to the great concert stages of America, Kappa Alpha Psi’s William Grant Still proved that Black genius belonged in every corner of American music.

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