Jazz and the Civil Rights Movement
This talk will explore how legendary jazz vocalists Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, and Ella Fitzgerald used their acclaim to raise their voices in protest during the Civil Rights Movement. Their performances often brought fans of all races together while drawing attention to the segregation, inequality, and rampant racism that was flourishing across America. From Holiday’s haunting protest song “Strange Fruit” to Fitzgerald’s trailblazing success in opening previously segregated venues, this lecture examines how the jazz musicians worked to improve the lives of other working black artists and their fellow Americans.
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ROCHELLE ELLIS, D. M. A., is a Lecturer of Voice at Princeton University and a recent retiree, after 28 years, as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Voice at Westminster Choir College of Rider University. At Princeton, she teaches private studio voice and a class, Art Songs from the African Diaspora. As a performer, she has sung with leading conductors and venues around the world, including New York City Opera and Carnegie Hall. She is returning this summer as a Teaching Artist with the Princeton Festival.
Active in community outreach in music, Dr. Ellis is currently a Faculty Fellow with Trenton Arts at Princeton, a Saturday morning program in partnership with Trenton High School. Through the years, she has served as the New Jersey Governor for The National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), held masterclasses for VOICES Chorale, conducted a pre-concert lecture with African American composer Jasmine Barnes for Princeton Pro Musica, and spotlighted composer Joseph Bologne at the Garden Theater in Princeton for the premier screening of the movie, Chevalier. She taught frequently in the summer Westminster Conservatory High School and Middle School Vocal Institutes. She has also served as a vocal coach with Princeton Girlchoir of the Westrick Music Academy and as an interim director with Trenton Children’s Chorus.
The St. Louis native received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Voice from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, a Master of Music Education degree from Westminster Choir College of Rider University and a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music.
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