Florence Price: The Sound of Resilience and Representation
Updated: 43 minutes ago
Lorelai Howenstine
Music Major, Capital University | Class of 2029
In the great Merriam Webster Dictionary, it defines music as to be “the science or art of ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity.” But who decides how a piece of music should sound? The answer: composers! Throughout history, specialized artisans of music have devoted their lives to the study and comprehension of writing music; a language that transcends spoken words. While in our modern world, classical music is sadly left out of many conversations. There is still so many perspective-altering stories about composers that are still untold, many of which affect the current culture of classical music. One of those people being Florence Price.
Born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1887, Florence Price was born into a musical household, learning to play the piano from her mother. She was an adaptive learner and committed student, and her efforts were awarded once she became a graduate in the year 1906 at the prestigious New England Conservatory, just being only 19 years old at the time. Despite her obvious talent, Price struggled to find performance opportunities in which her compositions would be taken seriously, instead she took a job as the head of the music department at Clark University from 1910 to 1912, then moved back to Arkansas to teach private piano lessons into the 1920s. During this time, Price married her husband, Thomas Price, and had two children together. Soon enough, it became apparent that Price and her husband would not be able to stay in Arkansas for much longer.
Through the late 1920s, the racial tension in Little Rock began to get worse. Consequently, tensions even caused the professional aspirations of Florence Price to deter as she was denied admission from the Arkansas Music Teachers Association because of her racial identity, despite her impeccable academic and teaching credentials. Little Rock at the time became more frightening and unsafe as African Americans were being lynched and left without police protection. Soon after, accusation arose that an African American man allegedly killed a white child; this caused the white community to go out with a vengeance. Florence Price daughter was met with an exuberant amount of death threats. Fearful for their lives, the Price family fled to Chicago because at the time it was considered the land of opportunity for many African Americans.
While Chicago’s vibrant community brought the Price family a sense of comfort and hope, that feeling was stripped away when the Great Depression hit. “Thomas Price went for long stretches without working which put a lot of financial strain on the family. This financial strain took a toll on Thomas Price and his frustration and anger led to violence when he struck Florence with his fist, slapped her face, and knocked her down. On another occasion, he even threatened to kill her. As time followed, Florence Price went on to file for divorce from Thomas Price. After the courts came to conclusion, Florence won the case and was able to take custody of her children, get $25 a week in alimony and child support, and paid an additional $100 in court fees.
In 1931, Florence Price relieved herself of the turmoil Thomas had been putting her through, taking on a new pain, being a single mother, and facing scrutiny for filing for divorce as a woman. Despite these hardships, Price’s perseverance is obvious, as in 1932, her very first symphony was selected for performance by the conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra after the piece had won first prize in a competition for African American musicians the year prior. “Florence Beatrice (Smith) Price became the first black female composer to have a symphony performed by a major American orchestra when Music Director Frederick Stock and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra played the world premiere of her Symphony No. 1 in E minor on June 15, 1933, on one of four concerts presented at The Auditorium Theatre from June 14 through June 17 during Chicago’s Century of Progress Exposition.” (Rivers, 2020). While this performance didn’t immediately grant Price the swell of success that she had been working her whole life towards, she had cemented herself in history as the first person of her identity to have a major symphonic work premiered and performed by a prestigious symphony orchestra. Twenty years later, “Florence Price died on June 3, 1953, after suffering a stroke at age 66. Sadly, her work was performed less frequently following her death, and some of it was lost forever. However, in 2009 a collection of her work was found in a run-down house on the outskirts of St. Anne, Illinois, including two violin concertos and a fourth symphony. In 2018, the music publishing company G. Schirmer announced that they own the exclusive worldwide rights to Price’s complete catalogue and even acquired more of Price’s lost manuscripts in 2019.” (Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, 2020).
In a country that shunned her gifts, Florence Price lived her life dedicated to music. Meaning much more to her than the "science or art of ordering tones," Price’s music spoke about her heritage, her experiences, and the everlasting hope she continued to have despite suffering. “Wherever Florence Price would go, she would create. As shown by the aforementioned compositions, her passion for teaching never ceased, rather, it metamorphosized. Moreover, Florence’s creativity and love for the stage and performing also endured, even with being on the move seemingly constantly, and dealing with two children, this woman kept doing what she loved to do. That is what Florence Price represents.” (Mitchell, 2020).
Sources
Brown, R. L., & Ramsey, G. P. (2020). The heart of a woman: The Life and Music of Florence B. Price. University of Illinois Press.
Florence Price. (2024, October 18). https://florenceprice.com/
Florence Price. Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra. (2026, July 25) https://oxfordphil.com/news/florence-price/
“Music.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/music. Accessed 6 Aug. 2026.
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