Page 34 - CJSept24

William L. Dawson’s Legacy of Care

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ed to do their part to maintain the best.” enrollment accessible to all students regardless of their
Dawson’s care for his students extended beyond mu- ability to pay. In other words, it was a school that took
sic. He was especially sensitive to the needs of those seriously the distinctive backgrounds and needs of its
who lacked money, giving them advice about finding students. These factors enabled the thirteen-year-old
affordable clothing and maintaining a personal budget. Dawson to enroll, persist, and thrive. By his gradua-
He even pulled strings to enable at least one student tion at twenty-one, Tuskegee had instilled in him the
to afford enrollment at Tuskegee. According to Elinor self-confidence and sense of mission that would fuel his
Hastings Foster: storied career.
While welcoming and affirming, the Institute was
I had to be out of school for a quarter in also uncompromising. It subjected Dawson and his fel-
1935. My family was large, with three sisters low students to a strict discipline that included daily
in school. When I went to pay the tuition for room inspections, a rigid daily schedule from morning
that year, I found I only had enough for two to night, and an exacting code of personal conduct.
quarters. So I decided to let my sisters go and I Washington and other authority figures regularly gave
would stay out for a quarter. Nobody knew the speeches exhorting students to live virtuous and pro-
reason why I wasn’t in school. Mr. Dawson was ductive lives. Dawson’s older roommates held him to
passing by one day and asked my father, “Why account, scolding him when his efforts were “not good
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isn’t your daughter in school this quarter?” My enough for Tuskegee.” Finding himself capable of
father told him we did not have the money this excelling in such an environment, he won the esteem
quarter, but I would be back next quarter. The of teachers and classmates alike. He always remem-
next day Mr. Dawson called my father and bered his rigorous Tuskegee experience with affection
said, “She can go to school this quarter! Send and pride.
her on up here!” I know Mr. Dawson made Returning to his alma mater as a faculty member in
some kind of financial arrangements for me to 1930, Dawson amplified the twin components of sup-
go to school, but we have never talked about port and discipline that had shaped his own Tuskegee
it. 13 experience—components that were (and remain) essen-
tial in music education. Although the Institute stopped
As the oldest of seven children born to parents of limit- offering music majors in 1937, Dawson was able to
ed means, Dawson empathized. He worked to support sustain his top-notch choir because he welcomed ev-
the educational, social, and financial needs of students ery interested student to join, then required them to
like Foster, and did so with discretion and respect. rise to his demands. For a quarter century, hundreds of
To understand Dawson the educator, it helps to ap- students chose to spend hours every week in the choir
preciate how Tuskegee Institute shaped him as a stu- rehearsal room with Dawson, trusting that beneath his
dent. Founded in 1881 under the leadership of Booker chalk-throwing exterior lay a caring heart and an un-
T. Washington, Tuskegee was unusual among HBCUs shakeable belief in their potential for excellence.
for putting African Americans in top leadership posi-
tions from the beginning. It lifted up Black achievement
by celebrating the academic and professional accom- The Composer
plishments of its faculty. It paid tribute to Black history Dawson’s creative and original choral arrangements
and culture, requiring the singing of spirituals at meals, of spirituals, particularly those from the 1930s and ‘40s,
assemblies, and chapel services. Like its model, Hamp- set the standard for the choral spiritual genre. These
ton Institute, Tuskegee initially emphasized practical works accomplish three important tasks at once: they
skills and careers that could quickly be put to use for preserve the heritage of the African American religious
the benefit of Black communities. For many years ev- folk songs created during slavery, provide rich opportu-
ery student was required to work on campus, making nities for the musical and vocal development of ama-

32 CHORAL JOURNAL September 2024 Volume 65 Number 2