• Betty Allen

    Betty Allen

    Biography Biography Betty Allen, mezzo-soprano, well known for key roles in opera and oratorio and now President of HSA, was Executive Director of The Harlem School of the Arts and chair of the Voice Department since the retirement of its founder, Dorothy Maynor, in 1979. The School offers instruction in music, dance, drama, and the…

  • Gwendolyn Brooks

    Gwendolyn Brooks

    Citation Mr. President, I am honored to present Gwendolyn Brooks, renowned American poet. Poised at a remarkable juncture in time, when Blacks and women began to impress themselves on this nation’s political conscience, Gwendolyn Brooks was willing and talented enough to give voice to a Black consciousness, to, as she modestly puts it in her…