Florence Beatrice Price was an American classical composer, pianist, organist and music teacher. She is noted as the first African-American woman to be recognized as a symphonic composer, and the first to have a composition played by a major orchestra.[1]
Florence Beatrice Smith was born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1888.[2] She was the daughter of dentist James Smith and Florence Gulliver.
Florence married Pusey Dell Arnett in 1931 in Chicago.[4] Pusey was an insurance agent; he was widowed and had two grown sons. They were only together for a short time. By 1940 Florence declared "Divorced" on her U.S. Census record.
She died in 1953 from a stroke while preparing for a music tour.[5] Florence is buried in Lincoln Cemetery, Blue Island, Illinois. [6]
↑ "Arkansas, Birth Certificates, 1914-1917," Ancestry.com, Florence Beatrice Smith, Race: Colored (Black), Birth Date: 9 Apr 1888, Birth Place: Little Rock, Pulaski, Arkansas, USA, Father: James H Smith, Mother: Irene Gulliver, Certificate Number: 5960; Arkansas Department of Vital Records. Birth Certificates. Little Rock, AR, USA., Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2019, Lehi, UT, USA
↑ "Arkansas, County Marriages, 1837-1957," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FQT1-943 : 18 March 2019), Florence B. Smith in entry for Thomas J. Price, 9 Sep 1912; citing Marriage, Pulaski, Arkansas, United States, county offices, Arkansas; FHL microfilm 495,035.
"United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XSTM-QZK : accessed 1 April 2023), Florence Price in household of Thomas Price, Chicago (Districts 0001-0250), Cook, Illinois, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 76, sheet 6B, line 73, family 133, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 418; FHL microfilm 2,340,153.
"United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KWTR-N5N : 8 January 2021), Florence Price, Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 103-220, sheet 62A, line 32, family 18, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 928.
Jackson, Barbara Garvey. “Florence Price, Composer.” The Black Perspective in Music, vol. 5, no. 1, 1977, pp. 31–43. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1214357. Accessed 1 Apr. 2023.
Naxos Digital Services, Ltd. PRICE, F.: Songs of the Oak / Concert Overtures Nos. 1-2 / The Oak / Suite of Dances (Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen, Jeter)[1]
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