|
| Identifier | george001.jpg |
| Title | Zelma George |
| Name | George, Zelma, 1903-1994
|
| Maiden Name | Zelma Watson |
| Birth Date | 1903-12-08 |
| Death Date | 1994-07-03 |
| Accomplishments | Zelma George was the daughter of a Texas Baptist minister and remembered meeting a number of prominent black leaders in her home. Issues about race were discussed and her father believed in helping other African Americans. Mrs. George earned degrees in both sociology and music. She received her Ph.D. in sociology from New York University in 1954. She came to Cleveland after receiving a Rockefeller Foundation to study African American music. Her doctoral dissertation, A Guide to Negro Music: Toward a Sociology of Negro Music, cataloged approximately 12,00 musical compositions either inspired or written by African Americans. While working on her dissertation she married her husband, attorney Clayborne George in 1944. She also wrote a musical using her research entitled, "Chariot's A"Comin!" which was telecast by WEWS(Channel 5) TV in 1949. In 1949, Mrs. George also starred in Karamu's production of Menotti's opera, "The Medium". Mr. Menotti was so captivated by her performance that he had her perform the role in a revivial of this opera off Broadway. Mrs. George was the first African American cast in the role. During the fifties she became involved with national and international political issues as an advisor to the Eisenhower administration. She served on the president's commission to plan the White House Conference on Children and Youth, was on the executive council of the American Society for African Culture from 1959 to 1971, and served as a member of the United States delegation to the United Nations in 1960. In 1966 Ms. George became the executive director of the Cleveland Job Corps Center for Women. She won the Dag Hammarskjold Award for contributions to international understanding in 1961, the Dahlberg Peace Award in 1969, and the Mary Bethune Gold Medallion in 1973. Following her retirement and death of her husband she taught at Cuyahoga Community College. Mrs. George also received honorary doctorates from Heidelberg College (Ohio) and Baldwin Wallace College in 1961 and Cleveland State University in 1974. |
| Profession | Arts
Community
Education
Government
|
| Subject | George, Zelma Watson
Opera singers
Activists
Cleveland Job Corps
Diplomats
African Americans
Karamu House
Cuyahoga Community College
United Nations
|
| Date Original | 1975-03-17 |
| Time Period | Decline and Comeback: 1960-1990
|
| Encyclopedia of Cleveland History Entry | http://ech.case.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=GZW |
| Ohio Women's Hall of Fame Biography | http://www.odjfs.state.oh.us/women/halloffame/bio.asp?ID=102 |
| Digital Collection | Famous Women of Cleveland
|
| Repository Collection | Cleveland Press |
| Repository Collection Homepage | http://www.clevelandmemory.org/press/ |
| Donor | Cole, Joseph E. |
| Repository | Cleveland State University. Michael Schwartz Library. Special Collections. |
| Repository Homepage | http://web.ulib.csuohio.edu/SpecColl/ |
| Copyright | http://www.clevelandmemory.org/copyright/ |
| Object Type | black-and-white photographs
|
| Format | JPG
|
| Digital Processing Notes | TIF File Size: 5190 K, 600 dpi |
