{"history":[],"article":{"id":"66fc54be-32a4-488e-ac05-a46061b07d76","title":"Eileen Southern","slug":"eileen-southern","content":":::summary\n![Eileen Jackson Southern](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Eileen///Southern.jpg)\n**Birth Name:** Eileen Stanza Jackson \n**Birth Date:** February 19, 1920 \n**Birth Place:** [Minneapolis, Minnesota](https://bliptext.com/articles/minneapolis-minnesota), US \n**Death Date:** October 13, 2002 \n**Death Place:** [Port Charlotte, Florida](https://bliptext.com/articles/port-charlotte-florida), US \n**Occupation:** Musicologist \n:::\n\n# \n**Eileen Jackson Southern** (February 19, 1920 – October 13, 2002) was an American [musicologist](https://bliptext.com/articles/musicologist), researcher, author, and teacher.\nSouthern's research focused on [black American](https://bliptext.com/articles/black-americans) musical styles, musicians, and composers; she also published on [early music](https://bliptext.com/articles/early-music).\n\n# Early life\nEileen Jackson grew up around many musicians in her family; her father was a violinist; an uncle, a trumpetist; and her mother, a choir singer.\nAccording to music scholar Samuel A. Floyd, Jr., \"In childhood, as she developed as a [pianist](https://bliptext.com/articles/pianist), young Eileen was introduced to and became partial to the music of those she calls the 'piano composers,' including [Johann Sebastian Bach](https://bliptext.com/articles/johann-sebastian-bach), [Ludwig van Beethoven](https://bliptext.com/articles/ludwig-van-beethoven), and [Claude Debussy](https://bliptext.com/articles/claude-debussy). In addition, her piano teachers, mostly white, were concerned that she wouldn't know music by black composers and introduced her to [R. Nathaniel Dett](https://bliptext.com/articles/robert-nathaniel-dett)'s In the Bottoms, among other such compositions.\"\nJackson attended [public schools](https://bliptext.com/articles/public-school-government-funded) in her hometown, Minneapolis, Minnesota, in [Sioux Falls, South Dakota](https://bliptext.com/articles/sioux-falls-south-dakota), and in [Chicago, Illinois](https://bliptext.com/articles/chicago).\nShe majored in commercial art at [Lindblom High School](https://bliptext.com/articles/lindblom-math-and-science-academy) in Chicago.\nDuring the same period, she won piano-performance and essay competitions, taught piano lessons, and directed musical activities at the [Lincoln Community Center](https://bliptext.com/articles/lincoln-community-center).\nShe gave her first piano recital at the age of twelve and made her debut in [Chicago Orchestra Hall](https://bliptext.com/articles/chicago-orchestra-hall) at age eighteen, playing a [Mozart](https://bliptext.com/articles/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart) concerto with the [symphony orchestra](https://bliptext.com/articles/symphony-orchestra) of the [Chicago Musical College](https://bliptext.com/articles/chicago-musical-college).\nShe attended and received degrees from the [University of Chicago](https://bliptext.com/articles/university-of-chicago) ([B.A.](https://bliptext.com/articles/bachelor-of-arts), 1940, and [M. A.](https://bliptext.com/articles/master-s-degree), 1941).\nHer relationship with [Cecil Smith](https://bliptext.com/articles/cecil-smith-music-professor), her master thesis advisor, encouraged her to further develop her interest in [Negro](https://bliptext.com/articles/negro) [folk music](https://bliptext.com/articles/folk-music).\nIn 1942, she married Joseph Southern, a professor of business administration.\nShe continued her studies and received a [PhD](https://bliptext.com/articles/doctor-of-philosophy) in [musicology](https://bliptext.com/articles/musicology) from [New York University](https://bliptext.com/articles/new-york-university), 1961.\nHer doctoral dissertation, \"The Buxheim Organ Book,\" was supervised by [Gustave Reese](https://bliptext.com/articles/gustave-reese).\nAt NYU, in addition to Gustave Reese, she also studied with [Curt Sachs](https://bliptext.com/articles/curt-sachs) and [Martin Bernstein](https://bliptext.com/articles/martin-bernstein).\nShe also studied piano privately at [Chicago Musical College](https://bliptext.com/articles/chicago-musical-college), [Juilliard](https://bliptext.com/articles/juilliard-school-of-music), and [Boston University](https://bliptext.com/articles/boston-university).\n\n# Career\nThroughout her career, Southern taught at various institutions across the United States.\nFrom 1941 to 1942, she was an instructor at [Prairie View University](https://bliptext.com/articles/prairie-view-university) in [Texas](https://bliptext.com/articles/texas).\nFrom 1943 to 1945 and 1949 to 1951, she was an assistant professor at [Southern University](https://bliptext.com/articles/southern-university) in [Louisiana](https://bliptext.com/articles/louisiana).\nFrom 1954 to 1960, she worked as a teacher for the [New York City Public School district](https://bliptext.com/articles/new-york-city-public-school-district).\nShe returned to higher education from 1960 to 1968 as an assistant professor at [Brooklyn College](https://bliptext.com/articles/brooklyn-college), [CUNY](https://bliptext.com/articles/city-university-of-new-york), and then as an associate and full professor at [York College](https://bliptext.com/articles/york-college-city-university-of-new-york), [CUNY](https://bliptext.com/articles/city-university-of-new-york), from 1968 to 1975, where she established the music program.\nIn 1974, she became a lecturer at [Harvard University](https://bliptext.com/articles/harvard-university).\nTwo years later, she became the first black woman to be appointed a tenured full professor at Harvard University, where she taught until 1987.\nWhile at Harvard, she served as the chair of the department of Afro-American Studies from 1975 to 1979.\nHer best-known book is the seminal history The Music of Black Americans (1971).\nHer other work is Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians (1982).\nShe founded The Black Perspective in Music in 1973, with her husband, Prof. [Joseph Southern](https://bliptext.com/articles/joseph-southern).\nIt was the first musicological journal on the study of black music, and she was its editor until it ceased publication in 1990.\nThrough her academic work, she raised the profile of [Frank Johnson](https://bliptext.com/articles/frank-johnson-bandleader), a black bandleader from [Philadelphia](https://bliptext.com/articles/philadelphia), Pennsylvania, who rose to fame at the end of the eighteenth century, beginning of the nineteenth century.\nHe led [Frank Johnson's Colored Band](https://bliptext.com/articles/frank-johnson-s-colored-band), and by 1818, he had taken his band as far south as [Richmond, Virginia](https://bliptext.com/articles/richmond-virginia), playing dances for white southerners.\nJohnson had played a command performance at [Buckingham Palace](https://bliptext.com/articles/buckingham-palace), where he received a silver bugle in appreciation.\nThroughout her career, Southern worked with various professional societies.\nFrom 1974 to 1976, she served on the board of directors and then editorial board from 1976 to 1978 for the [American Musicological Society](https://bliptext.com/articles/american-musicological-society).\nShe was a member of the [International Musicological Society](https://bliptext.com/articles/international-musicological-society), [College Music Society](https://bliptext.com/articles/college-music-society), and [Association for the Study of Negro Life and History](https://bliptext.com/articles/association-for-the-study-of-negro-life-and-history).\nFrom 1980 to her retirement, she served on the editorial board for the [Sonneck Society for American Music](https://bliptext.com/articles/sonneck-society-for-american-music) and as a member of the Board of Directors from 1986 to 1988.\nIn 1987, she retired as a professor emeritus to live in [St. Albans, New York](https://bliptext.com/articles/st-albans-new-york).\n\n# Awards\nSouthern's professional achievements were much lauded in the academic and artistic communities.\nSouthern received a [National Humanities Medal](https://bliptext.com/articles/national-humanities-medal) in 2001 for having \"helped transform the study and understanding of American music.\"\nShe also received a [Lifetime Achievement Award](https://bliptext.com/articles/lifetime-achievement-award) from the [Society for American Music](https://bliptext.com/articles/society-for-american-music) in 2000.\nHer portrait, by artist [Stephen E. Coit](https://bliptext.com/articles/stephen-e-coit) was commissioned by the Harvard Foundation at Harvard University.\n\n# Personal life\nOn August 22, 1942 Eileen Jackson married Joseph Southern, a co-founder of the journal the Black Perspective in Music.\nThey had a daughter, April, and a son, Edward.\n\n# Selected publications\n\n## Books\n

1st ed., 1971.\n; [ISBNs](https://bliptext.com/articles/isbn), , ,

French ed., 1976.\n

Chinese ed., 1983.\n

1992 French ed.\nof the 1976 ed.\n; [ISBNs](https://bliptext.com/articles/isbn),

3rd ed., English, 1997.\n; [ISBNs](https://bliptext.com/articles/isbn) ,\n

2002 Spanish ed.\nof the 1997 3rd ed.\n; [ISBNs](https://bliptext.com/articles/isbn), \n\n## Articles","current_revision":null,"created_by":"kACnuQmH5k9Nr5VNVEpVeg7XpvUmMctD","created_at":"2025-01-25T21:16:14.508Z","updated_at":"2025-01-25T21:16:14.508Z","search_vector":"'eileen':1 'southern':2","search_content":" \n \n**Birth Name:** Eileen Stanza Jackson \n**Birth Date:** February 19, 1920 \n**Birth Place:** [Minneapolis, Minnesota](https://bliptext.com/articles/minneapolis-minnesota), US \n**Death Date:** October 13, 2002 \n**Death Place:** [Port Charlotte, Florida](https://bliptext.com/articles/port-charlotte-florida), US \n**Occupation:** Musicologist \n \n\n# \n**Eileen Jackson Southern** (February 19, 1920 – October 13, 2002) was an American [musicologist](https://bliptext.com/articles/musicologist), researcher, author, and teacher.\nSouthern's research focused on [black American](https://bliptext.com/articles/black-americans) musical styles, musicians, and composers; she also published on [early music](https://bliptext.com/articles/early-music).\n\n# Early life\nEileen Jackson grew up around many musicians in her family; her father was a violinist; an uncle, a trumpetist; and her mother, a choir singer.\nAccording to music scholar Samuel A. Floyd, Jr., \"In childhood, as she developed as a [pianist](https://bliptext.com/articles/pianist), young Eileen was introduced to and became partial to the music of those she calls the 'piano composers,' including [Johann Sebastian Bach](https://bliptext.com/articles/johann-sebastian-bach), [Ludwig van Beethoven](https://bliptext.com/articles/ludwig-van-beethoven), and [Claude Debussy](https://bliptext.com/articles/claude-debussy). In addition, her piano teachers, mostly white, were concerned that she wouldn't know music by black composers and introduced her to [R. Nathaniel Dett](https://bliptext.com/articles/robert-nathaniel-dett)'s In the Bottoms, among other such compositions.\"\nJackson attended [public schools](https://bliptext.com/articles/public-school-government-funded) in her hometown, Minneapolis, Minnesota, in [Sioux Falls, South Dakota](https://bliptext.com/articles/sioux-falls-south-dakota), and in [Chicago, Illinois](https://bliptext.com/articles/chicago).\nShe majored in commercial art at [Lindblom High School](https://bliptext.com/articles/lindblom-math-and-science-academy) in Chicago.\nDuring the same period, she won piano-performance and essay competitions, taught piano lessons, and directed musical activities at the [Lincoln Community Center](https://bliptext.com/articles/lincoln-community-center).\nShe gave her first piano recital at the age of twelve and made her debut in [Chicago Orchestra Hall](https://bliptext.com/articles/chicago-orchestra-hall) at age eighteen, playing a [Mozart](https://bliptext.com/articles/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart) concerto with the [symphony orchestra](https://bliptext.com/articles/symphony-orchestra) of the [Chicago Musical College](https://bliptext.com/articles/chicago-musical-college).\nShe attended and received degrees from the [University of Chicago](https://bliptext.com/articles/university-of-chicago) ([B.A.](https://bliptext.com/articles/bachelor-of-arts), 1940, and [M. A.](https://bliptext.com/articles/master-s-degree), 1941).\nHer relationship with [Cecil Smith](https://bliptext.com/articles/cecil-smith-music-professor), her master thesis advisor, encouraged her to further develop her interest in [Negro](https://bliptext.com/articles/negro) [folk music](https://bliptext.com/articles/folk-music).\nIn 1942, she married Joseph Southern, a professor of business administration.\nShe continued her studies and received a [PhD](https://bliptext.com/articles/doctor-of-philosophy) in [musicology](https://bliptext.com/articles/musicology) from [New York University](https://bliptext.com/articles/new-york-university), 1961.\nHer doctoral dissertation, \"The Buxheim Organ Book,\" was supervised by [Gustave Reese](https://bliptext.com/articles/gustave-reese).\nAt NYU, in addition to Gustave Reese, she also studied with [Curt Sachs](https://bliptext.com/articles/curt-sachs) and [Martin Bernstein](https://bliptext.com/articles/martin-bernstein).\nShe also studied piano privately at [Chicago Musical College](https://bliptext.com/articles/chicago-musical-college), [Juilliard](https://bliptext.com/articles/juilliard-school-of-music), and [Boston University](https://bliptext.com/articles/boston-university).\n\n# Career\nThroughout her career, Southern taught at various institutions across the United States.\nFrom 1941 to 1942, she was an instructor at [Prairie View University](https://bliptext.com/articles/prairie-view-university) in [Texas](https://bliptext.com/articles/texas).\nFrom 1943 to 1945 and 1949 to 1951, she was an assistant professor at [Southern University](https://bliptext.com/articles/southern-university) in [Louisiana](https://bliptext.com/articles/louisiana).\nFrom 1954 to 1960, she worked as a teacher for the [New York City Public School district](https://bliptext.com/articles/new-york-city-public-school-district).\nShe returned to higher education from 1960 to 1968 as an assistant professor at [Brooklyn College](https://bliptext.com/articles/brooklyn-college), [CUNY](https://bliptext.com/articles/city-university-of-new-york), and then as an associate and full professor at [York College](https://bliptext.com/articles/york-college-city-university-of-new-york), [CUNY](https://bliptext.com/articles/city-university-of-new-york), from 1968 to 1975, where she established the music program.\nIn 1974, she became a lecturer at [Harvard University](https://bliptext.com/articles/harvard-university).\nTwo years later, she became the first black woman to be appointed a tenured full professor at Harvard University, where she taught until 1987.\nWhile at Harvard, she served as the chair of the department of Afro-American Studies from 1975 to 1979.\nHer best-known book is the seminal history The Music of Black Americans (1971).\nHer other work is Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians (1982).\nShe founded The Black Perspective in Music in 1973, with her husband, Prof. [Joseph Southern](https://bliptext.com/articles/joseph-southern).\nIt was the first musicological journal on the study of black music, and she was its editor until it ceased publication in 1990.\nThrough her academic work, she raised the profile of [Frank Johnson](https://bliptext.com/articles/frank-johnson-bandleader), a black bandleader from [Philadelphia](https://bliptext.com/articles/philadelphia), Pennsylvania, who rose to fame at the end of the eighteenth century, beginning of the nineteenth century.\nHe led [Frank Johnson's Colored Band](https://bliptext.com/articles/frank-johnson-s-colored-band), and by 1818, he had taken his band as far south as [Richmond, Virginia](https://bliptext.com/articles/richmond-virginia), playing dances for white southerners.\nJohnson had played a command performance at [Buckingham Palace](https://bliptext.com/articles/buckingham-palace), where he received a silver bugle in appreciation.\nThroughout her career, Southern worked with various professional societies.\nFrom 1974 to 1976, she served on the board of directors and then editorial board from 1976 to 1978 for the [American Musicological Society](https://bliptext.com/articles/american-musicological-society).\nShe was a member of the [International Musicological Society](https://bliptext.com/articles/international-musicological-society), [College Music Society](https://bliptext.com/articles/college-music-society), and [Association for the Study of Negro Life and History](https://bliptext.com/articles/association-for-the-study-of-negro-life-and-history).\nFrom 1980 to her retirement, she served on the editorial board for the [Sonneck Society for American Music](https://bliptext.com/articles/sonneck-society-for-american-music) and as a member of the Board of Directors from 1986 to 1988.\nIn 1987, she retired as a professor emeritus to live in [St. Albans, New York](https://bliptext.com/articles/st-albans-new-york).\n\n# Awards\nSouthern's professional achievements were much lauded in the academic and artistic communities.\nSouthern received a [National Humanities Medal](https://bliptext.com/articles/national-humanities-medal) in 2001 for having \"helped transform the study and understanding of American music.\"\nShe also received a [Lifetime Achievement Award](https://bliptext.com/articles/lifetime-achievement-award) from the [Society for American Music](https://bliptext.com/articles/society-for-american-music) in 2000.\nHer portrait, by artist [Stephen E. Coit](https://bliptext.com/articles/stephen-e-coit) was commissioned by the Harvard Foundation at Harvard University.\n\n# Personal life\nOn August 22, 1942 Eileen Jackson married Joseph Southern, a co-founder of the journal the Black Perspective in Music.\nThey had a daughter, April, and a son, Edward.\n\n# Selected publications\n\n## Books\n 1st ed., 1971.\n; [ISBNs](https://bliptext.com/articles/isbn), , , \n French ed., 1976.\n \n Chinese ed., 1983.\n \n 1992 French ed.\nof the 1976 ed.\n; [ISBNs](https://bliptext.com/articles/isbn), \n 3rd ed., English, 1997.\n; [ISBNs](https://bliptext.com/articles/isbn) ,\n 2002 Spanish ed.\nof the 1997 3rd ed.\n; [ISBNs](https://bliptext.com/articles/isbn), \n\n## Articles","revisionCount":0},"hasMore":false,"nextCursor":null}