Bea Breaks Barriers!
How Florence Beatrice Price’s Music Triumphed Over Prejudice
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- USD 10.99
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- USD 10.99
Publisher Description
2025 NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies Book Winner
Here is the little-known story of Florence Beatrice “Bea” Price, who faced many obstacles, including systemic racism and sexism, as she pushed forward to become one of the greatest Black classical composers.
Florence Beatrice “Bea” Price loved music from a young age. When she wasn’t practicing on the piano, she tapped her feet, drummed her fingers, and whistled. Growing up in Little Rock, Arkansas, she was surrounded by Negro spirituals, classical music, Juba dance rhythms, and folk songs and even had the chance to play piano with John William “Blind” Boone. But as a young Black girl living in the South, Bea wasn’t offered the same chances as white children. Not allowed to perform in public, Bea’s first recital was in her living room. But Bea was not deterred. She studied hard, rose to the top of her class, and was accepted to the New England Conservatory of Music—one of two Black students—and majored in both music and composition. Bea never forgot her roots and wove all kinds of musical genres into her musical compositions and spirituals.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Florence Beatrice Price (1887–1953) grew up in Little Rock, Ark., listening to "Juba dance and jammin' banjo rhythms." Leaving the segregated South to pursue opportunity, she attended the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, one of only two Black students at the time. There, she "crammed in music theory and harmony... Dug deep into her roots... And spun a classical music style all her own." Across experiences of prejudice and violence, and the Great Depression, Bea continued writing and teaching music—eventually connecting with legendary contralto Marian Anderson, who brought Bea's work to the limelight. Through snappy sentences and sonorous diction, DeLems imbues this text with musicality, while Engel's acrylic and oil paintings emphasize movement and light in a biography that zooms in on the figure's career triumphs. Creator notes and more conclude. Ages 7–10.
