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Early Years and Education

  • The proximity of Anniston to major rivers and railways provided it with ample trade routes.
  • Tuskegee’s Band playing at Tuskegee’s 25th Anniversary celebration in 1906.
  • In 1913, the Tuskegee campus had its own train depot.
  • Booker T. Washington.
  • In keeping with Booker T. Washington's philosophy, all Tuskegee students worked on campus as part of their education and as a contribution to the school.
  • Among his other activities, Dawson was a student cadet at Tuskegee.
  • Listen as Dawson remembers Tuskegee and Booker T. Washington (3:13 min.).
  • Booker T Washington's memorial on Tuskegee’s campus.
  • Dawson at Tuskegee in uniform with his trombone.
  • William Levi Dawson and the Tuskegee Institute Singers
  • This promotional flyer for the Redpath Chautauqua lists the Tuskegee Singers.
  • Dawson’s 1921 graduation photograph.
  • This historic map of Topeka, Kansas provides a geographical context for where Dawson lived and worked.
  • "Forever Thine" demonstrates Dawson’s early compositional skills.
  • Photograph of the orchestra from the Lincoln High School yearbook
  • This Christmas card, sent to Dawson in 1954, features Douglas’s artwork.
  • Dawson’s "Trio in A," which was performed at the Horner Institute of Fine Arts’ 1925 graduation ceremony.
  • This photograph shows the predominantly African American 18th Street area of Kansas City, MO, in the 1920s.
  • An original score of "Jump Back."
  • Weidig was a prominent teacher who also taught composer Ruth Crawford Seeger.
  • Dawson’s appointment to the 51st Precinct of the 2nd Ward, April 10, 1928.
  • William Levi Dawson and Cook’s Orchestra.
  • A receipt for the trombone Dawson rented while playing with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.
  • Newspaper clipping about Cornelle Derrick Lampton Dawson
  • Program for the Semi-Finals Century of Progress (World's Fair) Band Concerts (Soldier's Field, Chicago, Illinois), 1 September 1929
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Autograph score for "Sonata No. I (A Major)" [for violin and piano], undated

Dawson’s "Trio in A," which was performed at the Horner Institute of Fine Arts’ 1925 graduation ceremony.

While teaching at Lincoln, Dawson pursued his college degree. When the Horner Institute of Fine Arts rejected his application, citing school policy that prohibited African-Americans from attending classes, Dawson convinced the school to allow him to work privately in the evenings with professors, including Regina Guimetta Hall. His connection with Professor Hall would later deepen, as he studied with both of her highly accomplished professors, Sir Carl Busch and Adolph Weidig. Ultimately, his composition “Trio in A” (possibly a version of his “Sonata in A” on which he worked subsequently while at the American Conservatory of Music) was selected and performed for his own 1925 commencement. However, when the audience applauded his work, he was not permitted to acknowledge it. Nor was he allowed to accept his diploma on stage. He instead watched the ceremony with Roy Wilkins and other friends from the Negroes-only balcony (Monroe 49-50; Spady, M2).