An examination of Mary Lou Williams’ creative resilience against racism and patriarchy

Abstract

This dissertation set out to find out why African American jazz genius, pianist, composer and arranger Mary Lou Williams (1910-1981) and her music are unknown, forgotten, or obscured despite her celebrity during her lifetime on a national and international scale. The thesis examines the historical context of the life and career of Mary Lou Williams against the backdrop of the Civil Rights and Black arts movements, her jazz career in the context of race, and gender, conducts a critical appraisal of scholarly writings to identify the gaps in the research, evaluates the surveys from the Mary Lou Williams’ Birthday Centennial Celebration in Madison, Wisconsin in 2010 to reveal reasons for her invisibility and utilizes an artistic tool called ekphrasis to create six new poems in response to six of Williams’ compositions. The study employs archival research, an analysis of scholarly writings, and primary research where key informants were interviewed, and surveys were conducted of audiences, to increase her visibility. These surveys were of major concerts, students, teachers, band directors, committee and partner organizations representatives, the impact of classroom learning, and an analysis of the collected data. The dissertation was guided by black feminist theoretical framework because of the convergence of race, and gender in Mary Lou Williams’ life and career. The study has successfully argued, particularly in chapter 3 and 4 that Mary Lou William’s lack of appreciation of the civil rights and black arts movements was as a result of multiple jeopardies and intersectionalities that perpetuate the alienation of black women in America. In addition, we have argued that the use of feminist research methods is an appropriate tool for studying the lives and experiences of African American artists and others in various disciplines. We have also demonstrated that appropriate strategies can be used to raise the consciousness of black people and other members of the society through education, exposure to her music, and connection with the African American community to show how visibility can be brought to the forefront.