Arlein Ford Straw
{{short description|American composer}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Arlein Ford Straw
| image = ArleinFordStraw1967.png
| alt = A Black woman with dark hair cut in a short bob with bangs
| caption = Arlein Ford Straw, from a 1967 publication
| other_names = Arlene Ford Straw
| birth_name =
| birth_date = January 15, 1920
| birth_place = New York City
| death_date = February 10, 2009 (aged 89)
| death_place = New York City
| occupation = Music teacher, composer
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse(s) = Irving Straw
| parents = Arnold Josiah Ford, Olive Nurse Ford
| relatives =
}}
Arlein Ford Straw (January 15, 1920 – February 10, 2009) was an American music teacher and composer. She helped create The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) songbook.
Early life and education
Ford was born in New York City, the second daughter of Arnold Josiah Ford and Olive Nurse Ford. Her father was from Barbados, a musician and religious leader known as "Rabbi Ford".{{Cite news |date=1930-12-09 |title=Negroes of Harlem Seek Financial Pilot for Craft |pages=15 |work=The Knoxville Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/96592205/negroes-of-harlem-seek-financial-pilot/ |access-date=2022-02-27 |via=Newspapers.com}} After her parents separated in 1924, she lived in Barbados for a few years, then in Harlem, where she played piano with her father and her sister Enid.{{Cite book |last=Dorman |first=Jacob S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DucRDAAAQBAJ&dq=Arlene+Ford+Straw&pg=PA118 |title=Chosen People: The Rise of American Black Israelite Religions |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-049009-6 |pages=118–121 |language=en}}
Ford graduated from Wadleigh High School for Girls in 1936, and won a Rachel Herstein Scholarship from the NAACP to attend Hunter College.{{Cite journal |date=September 1936 |title=Win College Scholarships |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-mvpAAAAMAAJ&dq=Arlein+Ford&pg=PA271 |journal=The Crisis |pages=271}}{{Cite news |date=1936-08-08 |title=NAACP Awards 2 N.Y. Scholarships |pages=2 |work=The New York Age |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/96568468/naacp-awards-2-ny-scholarships/ |access-date=2022-02-27 |via=Newspapers.com}} She graduated from Hunter in 1940,{{Cite news |date=1940-07-06 |title=21 Harlem and Bronx Residents Among 900 Graduates at Hunter |pages=3 |work=The New York Age |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/96560762/21-harlem-and-bronx-residents-among-900/ |access-date=2022-02-27 |via=Newspapers.com}} and earned a master's degree there in 1962; her thesis was a composition, a musical setting of Psalm 139.
Career
During and after college, Ford and her older sister Enid played piano for children's shows called Ella Gordon's "Peter Pan Kiddies".{{Cite news |last=Finger |first=Mary |date=1939-01-21 |title=Ella Gordon's Peter Pan Kiddies Captivate Large Number at Heckscher Theatre Recital |pages=7 |work=The New York Age |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/96593595/ella-gordons-peter-pan-kiddies/ |access-date=2022-02-27 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1940-06-15 |title=Ella Gordon's Peter Pan Kiddies Shine in Renaissance Recital |pages=4 |work=The New York Age |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94693407/the-new-york-age/ |access-date=2022-02-27 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |last=Finger |first=Mary |date=1942-03-07 |title=Winter Wonderland is Background for Semi-Annual Revue of Peter Pan Kiddies |pages=7 |work=The New York Age |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/96593860/winter-wonderland-is-background-for/ |access-date=2022-02-27 |via=Newspapers.com}} She taught music at schools in Queens,{{Cite news |last=Feingold |first=Ben |date=1951-06-09 |title=Broadway Patrol |pages=9 |work=The New York Age |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/96560299/broadway-patrolben-feingold/ |access-date=2022-02-27 |via=Newspapers.com}} and chaired Negro History and Brotherhood Week observances for the Jamaica branch of the NAACP.{{Cite news |date=1958-01-25 |title=Jamaica NAACP Plans History Celebration |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-new-york-age-jamaica-naacp-plans-his/138198920/ |access-date=2024-01-07 |work=The New York Age |pages=6 |via=Newspapers.com}} In 1952, her work was performed at the annual meeting of the National Association of Negro Musicians.{{Cite news |last=Diton |first=Carl |date=1952-08-15 |title=For N. Y. Honors Musicians Slated |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-st-louis-argus-for-n-y-honors-mus/138198072/ |access-date=2024-01-07 |work=The St. Louis Argus |pages=17 |via=Newspapers.com}} She contributed music to a 1958 event organized by composer Margaret Bonds, in tribute to poet Langston Hughes.{{Cite news |date=1958-05-03 |title=Musical Tribute to Poet, Author Langston Hughes |pages=19 |work=The New York Age |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/96559870/musical-tribute-to-poet-author/ |access-date=2022-02-27 |via=Newspapers.com}} She served on the committee to develop Lift Ev'ry Voice, the NAACP's official songbook.{{Cite journal |date=November 1972 |title=NAACP Songbook Sales on Rise |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yAAlzjrUdxQC&dq=Arlein+Ford+Straw+NAACP&pg=PA319 |journal=The Crisis |pages=319}} She was a church music director in her later years.
Straw composed several works, including "Sudan" (1951), "Lullaby Little One" (1953), with Rena Greenlee Govern,{{Cite book |last=Office |first=Library of Congress Copyright |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9zEhAQAAIAAJ&dq=Rena+Greenlee+Govern&pg=PA682 |title=Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series |date=1953 |pages=682 |language=en}} "Crucifixion" (1957) for three female voices,{{Cite news |date=1957-11-22 |title=Harlemites Pay Tribute to a Pioneer Musician |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-call-harlemites-pay-tribute-to-a-pio/138198685/ |access-date=2024-01-07 |work=The Call |pages=9 |via=Newspapers.com}} "Two Songs of Freedom" (1967), with lyrics by her NAACP colleague Florence V. Lucas,{{Cite news |date=December 30, 1967 |title=New Song Published |pages=7 |work=Indianapolis Recorder |url=https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=INR19671230-01.1.7&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN------- |access-date=February 27, 2022 |via=Hoosier State Chronicles}}{{Cite news |date=1987-09-09 |title=Florence Lucas Dead at 71; Worked for Rights Division |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/09/obituaries/florence-lucas-dead-at-71-worked-for-rights-division.html |access-date=2022-02-27 |issn=0362-4331}} and Bent Twig (1998), a "folk opera" with lyrics by her neighbor, social work professor Helen Roberts Williams.{{Cite news |last=Green |first=Judith |date=1998-02-05 |title=It's a Grand Weekend for Singing |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/96560141/its-a-grand-weekend-for-singingjudith/ |access-date=2022-02-27 |work=The Baltimore Sun |pages=1E, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-baltimore-sun-weekends-modern-opera/138197738/ 5E] |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=2008-10-09 |title=Bent Twig |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/96560581/bent-twig/ |access-date=2022-02-27 |work=The Baltimore Sun |pages=C6 |via=Newspapers.com}} When Bent Twig was performed in Baltimore in 1998, she and other members of her church in Queens took a bus together to attend the performance.
Personal life
Arlein Ford married railroad worker Irving Straw in 1940. They had two children, Clyde and Gerald. She died in 2009, at the age of 89, in New York City.
References
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Category:American women composers