By: Alexandria Ruschman, Bicentennial Intern, Class of 2021, International Studies and Central Eurasian Studies, IU Bloomington
Edited by: Ellie Kaverman and Bre Anne Briskey, Bicentennial Graduate Assistants
“I began singing for the civil rights movement when it was not fashionable to do so. I was never paid for it. I just did it because it was right.”–Camilla Williams
Camilla Williams redefined the image of who could be an opera singer with her own signature style and glamour. She was internationally known as the first African-American soprano to perform in mainstream opera companies and theaters.
Williams broke color barriers in operahouses around the world throughout her decades-long career. From New York City to Vienna to Beijing, Williams put her memorable signature on legendary works such as Madama Butterfly and La Boheme. After retiring, Williams became the first African-American faculty member in the voice department at Indiana University’s School of Music in 1977.
Early Life and Education
Camilla Williams was born in Danville, Virginia in 1919. Williams first began performing in a church choir by age eight.[1]] Later, Williams wrote of her upbringing, “My grandparents and parents were self-taught musicians; all of them sang, and there was always music in our home.”[2]
Williams graduated at the top of her high school class and continued her education at Virginia State College in Petersburg, VA.[3] She earned her Bachelor of Arts in music education in 1941.[4] After graduation, Williams moved to Danville, VA to begin a career as a primary school music teacher.
However, her immense talent was not easily forgotton by colleagues at her alma mater. After the 1942 school year, the Virginia State College Alumni Association offered Williams a specialized scholarship to study with renowned voice teacher Madame Marian Szekely-Freschl in Philadelphia.[5] Williams accepted, moved to Philadelphia, and supported herself by working as an usherette in a theater.[6]
During 1943, her first year in Philadelphia, Williams won the inaugural Marian Anderson Award, a scholarship given by the namesake and famous African-American singer to young artists.[7] Williams went onto win the award again the following year.[8]
“The Heroine of the Evening”
In 1945, Williams made an important acquaintance: famous opera singer, Geraldine Farrar. Williams’s powerful performance impressed Ferrar when she was in the audience of a December 1945 concert. She wrote to Arthur Judson, Williams’s manager, “I was quite unprepared for this young woman’s obvious high gifts…I should like to voice my unsolicited appreciation and hope that, under careful management and encouragement, the rich promise she shows will mature to even higher artistic endeavors.”[9] Williams became Ferrar’s protégé.
Camilla Williams made history in May 1946 with her debut performance in the title role of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly with the New York City Opera, making her the first African-American to perform with a major U.S. opera company.[10] Her iconic role as Cio-Cio-San was an “instant success” and broke long-standing barriers for people of color in her industry.[11] Critics wrote that Williams’s performance was “unmatched by any other artist who has assayed the part here in many a year.”[12]
Between 1946 and 1948, Williams appeared in other shows at the New York City Opera, including as Mimi in Puccini’s La Boheme and as Nedda in Pagliacci. One New York Times critic called Williams the “heroine of the evening” in regards to her performance as Mimi.[13]
In 1951, Columbia Records released the first full recording of the famous opera, Porgy and Bess, featuring Williams as Bess.[14] The same year, the Chicago Defender celebrated Williams for “bringing democracy to opera.”[15]
Williams’ singing career went international in the early 1950s. She embarked on a concert tour of Venezuela, the Caribbean, Panama, and the Dominican Republic, as well as an opera tour throughout South America.[16] Her 1955 Madama Butterfly performance at the Vienna State Opera broke yet another color barrier as Williams became the first African-American to sing a major role at the venue.[17]
Williams was a frequent soloist, including appearances with the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra.[18]
Ambassadorship, Activism, and Awards
The late 1950s and early 1960s marked a new role for Williams: serving as a cultural ambassador for the United States. In 1959, Williams went on a U.S. State Department tour of 14 African countries, where she performed 24 concerts, including one for the Emperor of Ethiopia.[19] She performed at the White House in 1960 for the Crown Prince of Japan.[20] Williams made a second State Department tour in 1961, this time visiting Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, New Zealand, and Australia. Later, in 1983, Williams continued her cultural ambassadorship when she was a guest professor at Beijing’s Central Conversatory of Music. She became the school’s first African-American professor.[21]
Not only was Williams a trailblazer for breaking opera’s color barrier, but she also played a role in the civil rights movement. Most notably, Williams sang the national anthem to 200,000 people at the 1963 March on Washington, minutes before Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have A Dream” speech.[22] In 1964, Williams again sang for Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremonies.[23]
Returning to her hometown in 1963, she organized and performed a benefit concert to raise money to free jailed civil rights demonstrators.[24] Williams was married to prominent civil rights attorney, Charles T. Beavers who was on Malcolm X’s defense team.[25]
Williams was honored around the world for her barrier-breaking career. Just a few of her innumerable awards and honors include a 2009 “Tribute to Camilla Williams” program by the New York City Opera, the 2009 Indiana University President’s Medal of Excellence, and an Indiana Sagamore of the Wabash Award. In addition, Williams has been honored by the New York Philharmonic and Philadelphia Pro Arte Society.
In 1972, Williams was named a “Distinguished Virginian” by the state of Virginia.[26] Williams was honored by both her hometown and alma mater, with a park in Danville in her honor in 1979 and a Virginia State University residence hall named for her in 1980.[27]
Camilla Williams, Professor of Voice
When Williams retired from her opera career in 1971, she began a new career as a voice professor. During the early 1970s, she taught at various universities in New York City.[28]
In 1977 she was recruited by Indiana University and became the first African-American professor of voice in the School of Music.
During her tenure at IU, Williams helped refine and uplift hundreds of student voices. She was beloved by her students, some of whom became “the daughters she never had.”[29] After two decades of service to the School of Music, she retired as professor emeritus in 1997.
Williams reflected on her role in the opera community, as well as her larger role in society. She once wrote, “It was not easy to be a singer in my time, break down barriers and maintain standards. I came before my time. The world was not ready for me. But I am not bitter, not mad, not mean, not small-minded. I just sit back and embrace my life.”[30]
On January 29, 2012 Camilla Williams passed away at the age of 92.[31]
In February 2020, as part of the Bridging the Visiability Gap project, Indiana University honored Camilla Williams with a portrait which is now on display in the east lounge at the Indiana Memorial Union. [32]
At the portrait unveiling, IU’s Provost Lauren Robel said, “The voice of Camilla Williams was not only powerful. It was by measures complex, touching, charming, sensitive.”
As an accomplished singer, trailblazer, and teacher, Williams left a diva-sized legacy on Indiana University and the world.
Bibliography
- “In Memory of Camilla Ella Williams,” Obituary for Camilla Ella Williams. The Funeral Chapel, 2012. https://thefuneralchapel.net/book-of-memories/2259379/williams-camilla/obituary.php
- Marian Anderson Papers Finding Aid, University of Pennsylvania. http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/ead/detail.html?id=EAD_upenn_rbml_MsColl200
- Camilla Williams papers, 1944-1975 | Amistad Research Center. Mossialand Novena Williams and Lester Sullivan, Jr. Tulane University
- “Our Cover,” Opportunity Journal of Negro Life” Winter Issue, 1947. National Urban League. P. 42
- Associated Press. “Camilla Williams dies at 92; opera singer broke racial barriers,” Los Angeles Times. January 31, 2012. https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-camilla-williams-20120131-story.html
- Fox, Margalit. “Camilla Williams, Barrier-Breaking Opera Star, Dies at 92,” New York Times. Feb. 2, 2012. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/03/arts/music/camilla-williams-opera-singer-dies-at-92.html
- “Camilla Williams, 1919-2012,” Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History. http://www.danvillemuseum.org/content/uploads/PDF/halloffame/camilla_williams.pdf
- “Camilla Ella Williams,” Exploring Danville’s Past. http://www.dangene.net/people/camillawilliams.html
- Camilla Ella Williams, Virginia Changemakers. https://edu.lva.virginia.gov/changemakers/items/show/269
- Williams, Camilla. “The Life of Camilla Williams: African American Classical Singer and Opera Diva.”
- “Portrait of Camilla Williams unveiled at IMU,” Indiana University Bicentennial. https://200.iu.edu/media/news/2020/20200205-02.html
- Duncan, Art. “Camilla Williams Effective U.S. Good Will Ambassador,” The New York Age (New York, New York), 1 Feb 1958, Sat, p. 17
Notes
[1] “In Memory of Camilla Ella Williams,”
[2] Ibid
[3] Ibid
[4] Ibid
[5] Duncan, Art.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Marian Anderson Papers Finding Aid
[8]Duncan, Art.
[9] “Our Cover”
[10] “In Memory of Camilla Ella Williams,”
[11] Ibid
[12] Ibid.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Associated Press
[16] “Camilla Williams, 1919-2012,”
[17] Camilla Williams papers, 1944-1975
[18] Fox, Margalit.
[19] Camilla Williams papers, 1944-1975
[20] Ibid.
[21] “In Memory of Camilla Ella Williams,”
[22] Ibid
[23] “Camilla Ella Williams,”
[24] Camilla Ella Williams, Virginia Changemakers.
[25] “In Memory of Camilla Ella Williams,”
[26] Ibid
[27] Camilla Williams papers, 1944-1975
[28] “Camilla Ella Williams,”
[29] “In Memory of Camilla Ella Williams,”
[30] Williams, Camilla, p.245
[31] Fox, Margalit.
[32] “Portrait of Camilla Williams unveiled at IMU,”