Rebecca Cureau papers

Collection

Identifier: 763

Staff Only

Content Description

The collections contains 1 linear foot of correspondence, newspaper clippings, musical programs, ephemera, newsletters,” manuscripts, and an unpublished portion of a Master’s thesis and a complete doctoral dissertation. All items detail Cureau’s professional involvement in teaching and researching music, her professional affiliations and relationships, performances, and her participation with institutions and conferences dedicated to Black musical genres, folk music and ethnomusicology. Of note is her dissertation titled, “Willis Laurence James—Musician, Music Educator, Folklorist: A Critical Study;” a chapter of her Master’s thesis titled, “Teaching Moral and Spiritual Values Through Public School Music;” an essay titled “Rationale and Justification for Retaining the Music Department at Southern University;” and a published manuscript titled, “Alain Locke and Afro-American Culture: Toward an Aesthetic of Black Folk Expression.”

Dates

Other: 1954-2000

Creator

Cureau, Rebecca (Person)

Biographical Note

Dr. Rebecca T. Cureau is a music educator and scholar who holds a Bachelor of Arts in music from Bennett College, a Master of Music from Northwestern University and a Doctor of Arts from Atlanta University. She taught at Southern University, Baton Rouge for 35 years as a Professor of Music and served as chair of the Department of Visual and Performing Arts at the university. She received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1982 to study African American folk music, focusing on the folklorist Willis Laurence James. She served as a member of the National Black Music Caucus and on the Board of Trustees for the Sonneck Society for American Music and the Baton Rouge Symphony. Over her career Cureau worked with many institutions including the Smithsonian Institution, the Center for Black Music Research at Columbia College Chicago, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Non-violent Social Change.