Dorothy Maynor, founder of Harlem School of the Arts, 1st black Met board member, dies at 85

Jet, March 25, 1996

Dorothy Maynor, a soprano recitalist who founded the Harlem School of the Arts in New York and later went on to become the first Black member of the Metropolitan Opera Board, recently died following a brief illness at the Chester County Hospital in West Chester, PA. She was 85.

Ms. Maynor founded the Harlem School of the Arts in 1963 where she taught and served as executive director until 1979. In 1977 she raised more than $2 million to build a new facility for the school, which originally served 20 students, but it now has more than 1,000 students.

"In most schools, if you don't have a piano, you can't take lessons," Ms. Maynor once said. "But we say, `Good, you come here and practice,'" she said regarding how her school would lend or rent instruments to students who didn't own one.

In 1975, Ms. Maynor made history by becoming the first Black to serve as a board member of the prestigious Metro-Opera in New York.

The pioneering vocalist is credited with opening the way for other Black females such as famed operatic singers Marian Anderson and Leontyne Price. Although she learned 100 operatic roles, the highly regarded soprano recitalist could never sing them on an opera stage because there were no such opportunities in the late '30s and '40s for Black singers.

She is survived by her husband, Rev. Shelby Rooks.