Early life and education Perry was born Zenobia Powell on October 3, 1908, in the once-predominantly African-American town of
Boley, Oklahoma, to physician Calvin B. Powell and Birdie Thompson Powell (who had
Creek Indian heritage). Her family was well educated and middle class. Her grandfather, who had been a
slave, sang her traditional
spirituals as a child, which later influenced her work. As a child, Perry met
Booker T. Washington and sang for him at his appearance in Boley on August 22, 1915, where he "declared she was a future
Tuskegegian." Perry took piano lessons as a child with
Mayme Jones, who had been taught by composer
Robert Nathaniel Dett. Perry also learned to play violin as a child. One of her biggest musical influences, however, came from the experience of hearing
Hazel Harrison in concert, after which she knew she wanted to study music. In 1935, she went on to study at the
Tuskegee Institute, and, because of her family's connection with Washington and her promise to study education as well as music, she was allowed to attend. she was already preparing arrangements for the Tuskegee Institute Chorus. Roosevelt would become a mentor and friend to Perry and even helped sponsor her graduate studies. Perry took classes at the Colorado State Teachers College and started teaching first grade in 1942. and Charles Jones.
Career Perry worked as a professor for much of her life and began seriously composing when she was in her forties.
Work Perry's music is classical and "incorporates
contrapuntal, tonal, mild
dissonance, with some
jazz and
folk influence." Perry also wrote for orchestra, bands and composed a
mass.
Archival collection Zenobia Powell Perry's papers are held at the
Center for Black Music Research at
Columbia College in
Chicago,
Illinois. The collection is titled
Zenobia Powell Perry Scores and Music Manuscripts. The collection as a whole consists primarily of original compositions and manuscripts produced by Powell herself. Her
pedagogical piano works are included in the University of
Colorado Boulder's
Hidden Voices: Piano Music by Black Women Composers.
Personal life In 1932, Zenobia Powell married
violinist "King" Earl Gaynor. While she was pregnant, Gaynor left and she raised their son on her own. They later divorced in 1933. Her son, Lemuel, died in 1944 at age 11 of a ruptured appendix. In 1941, she married Jimmie Rogers Perry and they had a daughter,
soprano Janis-Rozena Peri, in 1943. Perry was divorced again while her daughter was young. Perry raised her daughter alone while working towards her advanced degrees and studies and also while also working as a professor. Perry also supported her elderly mother for many years. In 1962, Perry joined the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to aid in the civil rights struggle. In 1989, Perry was diagnosed and treated for
breast cancer, and her health deteriorated until her death, nearly 15 years later. She died on January 17, 2004, in
Xenia, Ohio, aged 95. == Works List ==