This article was first published in Bostonia on February 9, 2022. By Doug Most
EXCERPT
In honor of Black History Month, Bostonia looked back through the years to identify 10 Black Boston University alumni who left an indelible mark on the nation, and on society. The list could have been much longer, and it certainly could have included the most noteworthy of them all, Martin Luther King, Jr. (GRS’55, Hon.’59), but for this list we wanted to reach beyond King for other figures deserving of remembrance for their contributions, their challenges overcome, and their lasting legacies.
And for those wondering why Howard Thurman (Hon.’67), dean of Marsh Chapel from 1953 to 1965, the first Black dean at a mostly white American university, is not on the list: Thurman was an honorary degree recipient, but not a BU alum.
CFA feature: Grace Bumbry (CFA’55) b. 1937:
In the arts, awards don’t get much bigger than the Kennedy Center Honors. In 2009, internationally celebrated mezzo soprano Grace Bumbry was among those honored by the Kennedy Center. Her voice, sultry and wide-ranging, may have defined her on stage, but off stage she was equally influential as a world-leading vocal teacher who created the Black Musical Heritage Ensemble. Bumbry broke a color barrier at the Bayreuth Festival in Germany in 1961, when the grandson of Richard Wagner cast her as Venus in a performance of the opera Tannhäuser, and she received 42 curtain calls. Just 24, she was the first Black singer at the festival, and it caught the attention of Jackie Kennedy, who later invited her to sing at the White House. “It was an enormous success, and a wonderful feeling that my efforts were not in vain,” Bumbry said of her Bayreuth performance.