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Dawson insisted that those enslaved in
America suffered inhuman treatment, yet
not a word of hate emerged from the Ne-
gro Folk Songs. Rather, the enslaved felt
a oneness with Jesus Christ, who bore no
malice toward His persecutors.
In 1956, Dawson was invited by the U.S.
State Department to travel to Spain as a
cultural emissary to conduct his own com-
positions. The spirituals were to be merged
in concert with the music of Spanish Re-
naissance composer Tomas Luis de Victo-
ria at the behest of Spain’s cultural minis-
ter. Dawson’s personal host while in Spain,
Antonio Gonzales de la Peña, admitted that
leaders of the church as well as choir mem-
bers in the projected choral workshop loca-
tions were skeptical at first about inviting
Dawson. Whether the reluctance was due
to working with a Black man or attempt-
ing to perform African American music
in ancient cathedrals was unclear. Yet, in
his final report, Peña referred to William
Dawson as an ambassador who would take
the beautiful Iberian music back to share
in America and claimed he left an ineffable
mark on the hearts of Spaniards. 16
Dawson remained in demand as a guest
Photo 3. Dawson in Africa experiencing African folk music for the first time and recording
examples using the first portable reel-to-reel tape recorder, 1953. William Levi Dawson conductor for choirs and orchestras for
papers, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University. over forty-five years following his retire-
Used with permission. ment from Tuskegee. As early as 1939, well
before he left employment at the Institute,
offered an explanation for the language of the enslaved: Dawson began accepting invitations to serve as guest
conductor for his own works. Yet, a re-designed, retired
It is a mistake to think that the dialect of the Dawson rocketed into importance in 1956 as a highly
Negro is only a crude attempt to pronounce desired conductor for choral festivals, speaking engage-
Anglo-Saxon words. Careful examination will ments, and choral clinics/workshops both domestically
reveal that instead, it is an instinctive modifi- and internationally. 17
cation of their harsh and guttural sounds to In 1986, at my invitation, Dawson appeared as
satisfy his preference for soft and euphonious headliner for the first-ever state conference of the Mis-
vocables characteristic of his native African sissippi Chapter of the American Choral Directors
speech. Instead of the diphthongal “I,” he uses Association at the University of Mississippi in Oxford,
“ah”; for the sharp aspirated “th” in “thee,” he during which I served as his chauffeur and escort. It
uses “de”; for the final “th” in “with,” he says, was a moving moment when he was introduced with
“wid.” 15 the honor and dignity he deserved, which was in direct

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