University of Illinois Press Blog: "Heart of a Woman: The Life and Music of Florence B. Price" by Rae Linda Brown

University of Illinois Press Blog

June 15, 2020

Florence B. Price was a composer whose career spanned both the Harlem and Chicago Renaissances, and the first African American woman to gain national recognition for her works. This June, we’re delighted to publish Rae Linda Brown’s biography, The Heart of a Woman: The Life and Music of Florence B. Price. Few read a biography without at least a little prior knowledge about the biographical subject, so before you dive in, here are five things you should know about Florence Price.  

Florence Price was the first African American woman composer to have her symphony performed by a major orchestra.

• Symphony No.1 in E. Minor was performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1933.

• Symphony No. 3 in C. Minor is the symphony Rae Linda Brown first heard, sparking her interest in writing about Price in 1979.

Florence Price grew up a part of the Black elite in Little Rock, Arkansas in the Reconstruction Era of the late-nineteenth century.

• She moved to Chicago after the Jim Crow laws were put into place.

• Her maternal grandparents were part of the small percentage of free blacks in the antebellum south, and they could read and write.

• Her mother was a pianist, singer and businesswoman while her father was a dentist.