Music at Oakwood University

An Historical Overview  

Dan Shultz

Oakwood University was founded in 1896 as Oakwood Industrial School, a training school for African-American young people of the Seventh-day Adventist church. Renamed Oakwood Manual Training School in 1904, it became Oakwood Junior College in 1917 and a senior college in 1943. It became Oakwood University at the beginning of 2008.

The last of eight Adventist colleges to be established in the United States in the 1800's, Oakwood Industrial School was started in Alabama in 1896 to provide a training school for African-American young people of the Seventh-day Adventist church.

Located in an area still reeling from the ravages of a civil war that had ended just three decades earlier, it struggled for survival in primitive circumstances, conducting classes in its opening years in a decrepit wood-frame mansion on 360 acres of overworked land situated near a hostile Southern community.

There was no furnace for the classroom, no bathrooms, and only a limited supply of water. At one point in those early years, as many as sixteen girls were living in one room.

Students, some only one generation removed from slavery, were initially allowed to cover all their expenses by working five-hour days on campus. Within six years, however, a lack of cash flow led to a requirement that students pay at least part of their tuition expense.¹

Undoubtedly, impromptu singing helped create school spirit and sustain courage in those formative years. But, almost from the start, there was formal training, since as early as 1902, lessons in both singing and organ were being offered for 25c each. At the beginning of the school's second decade, lessons were listed in the bulletin under the heading of a "Sacred Music Course."²

In 1919, two years after a change in the school's name and identity to Oakwood Junior College, a Department of Music was created, under the leadership of Frank L. Peterson, and music offerings were expanded to include choir, band, orchestra, piano, violin, and "harmony." Peterson, first full-time black teacher at OJC, also taught history and served as dean of men. He would eventually be president of the college and the first black person to serve as a General Conference vice president.³

It is likely that the creation of the music department was the result of a two-day student strike that had occurred a year earlier to protest the undue emphasis on the work and vocational programs to the detriment of academics. The students wanted a full college program. In the end, however, few changes were made and student discontent continued.

In the following decade this unhappiness was fueled by an awakening within the black community nationwide about its status in America and the lack of opportunity to improve that standing. In the year after that first strike at OJC, young black men who had fought in World War I had returned from Europe with a greater awareness of what they were capable of, if given the same opportunities as other Americans. This heightened awareness clashed with the realities in society at that time and with how OJC was being run.

In the fall of 1931, a well-planned strike by the students would prove to be a pivotal event for the school and its future. On the day of the annual board meeting, held shortly after the school year started, the students refused to go to classes and work and gathered quietly in the assembly hall. They erected barricades to prevent persons from leaving the campus and city law officers from entering.

The students demanded an audience with the board and, following a struggle within the board as to how to react to this demand, the students were allowed to state their grievances. These included the lack of substance and expectations in the academic program and respect for achievement in that area, overly restrictive rules, prejudice on the part of some of the white teachers, and racial segregation in chapel and church seating.

They also wanted black leadership for the college and a wage scale that did not favor white teachers and employees over black. Underlying all of these issues was the fact that even though this was a black school, until now all of its principals and presidents, as well as most of its teachers, were white.

The board, now aware of how the students felt, concluded that changes were needed. Even though their response to the leadership issue was to try to hire another white president, after two declined an invitation to come, the first black president was hired in 1932. Changes were also made in the faculty and composition of the board, and other issues were addressed.⁴ 

During the 1930s, the school, under black leadership, made progress in all areas, and by the end of the decade had gained official standing as a junior college. Even as that important milestone occurred, Oakwood's leadership and faculty were working and planning for the time when the school would become a senior college.

In the music department, all of the classes associated with a typical undergraduate four-year college music theory program, as well as conducting classes and lessons in voice and all instruments, were being taught by the end of the 1930s. Even so, the first bachelor's degree program in music was not offered until 1946, three years after the school became Oakwood College.⁵

From its earliest years, outstanding singing groups were associated with the college. One of these, the Jubilee Quartet, a male quartet organized by Peterson in 1923, was the first group to do extensive traveling on behalf of the school, starting in 1925.

The touring continued when Joseph Dent expanded membership of the quartet in 1931 to create a Male Chorus. Four years later, its new director, Otis B. Edwards, who was serving as department head, named the chorus the Alabama Singers, an identity it retained until the 1950's.⁶

Although by the 1960s the name had been dropped, a male chorus continued as an important ensemble. Conductors during those decades included O. A. Troy; Calvin E. Mosley, Jr., who also served as head of the religion department and church pastor; Frank Hale, and others. For many of those years the male chorus, which specialized in spirituals and was assisted by talented women soloists, was the primary touring group for the college.⁷

All through the 1930s and 1940s choral groups other than the college choir and male chorus were formed. Some of these included the Nightingales, a women's chorus; an a cappella choir; the Aeolians; and many male quartets. Because of the tours of these groups to many of the principal cities in the country, the school's ensembles gained both regional and national recognition for their superb, spirited singing.

The love of singing, evident in the music groups and the inspired singing of the student body and faculty in its convocations and church services since the school's beginnings, did not preclude interest in instrumental groups. The earliest known band, a brass group of 14, is pictured in a 1912 photograph. Photographs of bands and orchestras from the 1916-1917 school year and other years also exist.

The bands ranged in size from twelve to nineteen members. A 1917 photo of an instrumental ensemble with four string players in a group of thirteen is identified as the first orchestra at the school.⁸

In subsequent years, instrumental groups were organized when players were available. In spite of the ongoing lack of specialists teaching in these areas, the school has had a number of good bands and orchestras, as well as some noteworthy instrumentalists.

In recent years cooperative arrangements between OC and the University of Alabama and Alabama A & M University, both located in Huntsville, along with the hiring of adjunct faculty with string, wind, and percussion specialties, have enabled the music program to provide opportunities for instrumental study and performance.

In 1944, a year after the school claimed senior college standing, Eva Beatrice Dykes was hired to chair the English department and division of humanities, and to direct the College Choir. She would be an important addition to OC's faculty as it sought to develop an accredited senior college program.

Dykes was one of the first of three African-American women to earn a doctorate, having completed it 25 years earlier at Radcliffe. She most recently had taught with distinction at Howard University, then the most famous college for African-Americans in the U.S. Although her formal study was in English, Latin, German and Greek, she was also a versatile musician who had been a child prodigy in piano.⁹

Two years after her arrival, she organized from within the church choir a smaller group of 16, a double octet of eight women and eight men that could also perform separately, if needed, and named it the Aeolians. The ensemble was a success and was enthusiastically received on campus. During her decade of leadership the group performed in churches and schools and made an annual trip to Chicago.¹⁰

In the years following the founding of the Aeolians, other smaller groups were created that flourished and then ended within a few years. While the achievements and activities of the Aeolians in the first few years were inconsistent, by the beginning of the 21^st century they would become world famous, the best-known choral group ever associated with OC.

Dykes also made another contribution to music traditions at OC when she scheduled the first performance of portions of the Messiah by the Oakwood Oratorio Society in December 1946. This seasonal favorite quickly became a popular annual event that attracted hundreds of people from the community and region. It also became an important contact with musicians in Huntsville when its symphony musicians later assisted in the presentation.¹¹

Another innovation from that time in which Dykes played a role was the lyceum series at OC. In subsequent years and up to the present, a wide variety of programs have been scheduled, including concerts or recitals by famous musicians of the time, OC musicians who have gained national and international notoriety, and unusually successful campus ensembles.¹²

Male Quartets continued to be formed during the 1950s and 1960s, when quartet singing became the rage on all the Adventist college campuses, due in part to the popularity of the Voice of Prophecy quartet, The King's Heralds. In 1956, OC's Cathedral Quartet appeared on NBC's Strike it Rich, a popular national television show, where they won $500. Echoes of Harmony, Jubilee, Summertones, Chordsmen, and Excelsian, were just a few of the numerous OC quartets.

Other student ensembles in the 1970s and 1980s included women's trios and groups with names like Assurance, Positive Images, and Dynamic Praise, one of several large student-led choirs. All have been an important part of music at OC.¹³

Joni Mae Pierre-Louis joined the music faculty in 1954 as voice instructor. In 1955, she assumed direction of the College Choir, which had been led since 1951 by Samuel Jackson, and the Aeolians, which was still being led by Dykes. Pierre-Louis increased the Aeolians membership to 40 and toured extensively with them during the next nine years.

In 1963, they traveled to the Southwest and the West Coast, singing for the Pacific Union Youth Congress in Long Beach, California, at the Loma Linda University Church, churches in the San Francisco Bay area, and at Pacific Union College. That tour's success led to numerous appearances on the East Coast and in the Midwest. In 1965, they sang at the New York World's Fair and, while in New York, appeared on the Strike it Rich television program.

Joyce Bryant, a noted singer who had attended OC a decade earlier and had sung with the Aeolians as a student, appeared with them on that program, during which they sang and talked about their need for new choir robes. Funds sent in response to this appeal, along with those raised on tours, led to the purchase of new robes.¹⁴

Harold Anthony, a recent convert to the church who had been teaching at Pine Forge Academy in Pennsylvania, succeeded Pierre-Louis as director of the choral program when she left in 1965. In his second year at OC, he traveled with the Aeolians to California, where they performed ten concerts in eight days. After three years during which voice students in the department had tripled, Anthony took a graduate study leave.¹⁵

From the beginning, the school had offered study in both organ and piano. Inez Booth, first full-time music teacher, was hired in 1940 to teach keyboard. She would teach until her retirement in 1983, the longest tenure of any music teacher in the school’s history.

Through the years, others who taught in that area have included Evelyn Jackson and Lucille Herron, in organ; Ruby Bontemps-Troy, Anne Galley, Jon Robertson, Shirley Beary, Audley Chambers, Frank Contreras, Beatrice Renee Collins Williams, and Wayne Bucknor in piano; and Lucile C. Lacy and Eurydice Osterman in both areas.¹⁶

Booth became chair of the department in 1951, a position she held with distinction until 1967. She was known for her graciousness and ability to nurture developing young teachers and foster teamwork.

During her years in leadership she presided over two moves of the department. In 1951 the department was relocated to an older building that had been used by administration and then the library.¹⁷ In 1964, the department made a final move, this time into its present facility, one designed for music. The building, named after George F. Peters, early 20^th century noted black evangelist, includes seven teaching studios, two rehearsal areas, five practice rooms, four classrooms, and a 90-seat auditorium.¹⁸

Jon Robertson followed Booth as chair when he joined the faculty in 1967 at age 24. He was a gifted musician and charismatic leader who, with his high ideals and standards in performance and a vision of what he wanted to do with the program, created excitement in his three years in that position.

When Anthony left in 1968 for graduate study, Robertson became director of the choral program. He would later observe,

I vividly remember the first day of school when auditions were held. One glorious voice after another entered my studio, leaving me overwhelmed by the wealth of musical talent with which the Lord had blessed Oakwood.

After selecting the best of the best, we had 110 voices consisting of 40 basses, 10 of which could sing low C's, 30 tenors, 20 sopranos, [and] 20 altos. At rehearsal, the sound of this ensemble was magnificent. When I recall those voices - that sound - chills still overtake me.¹⁹

From the first appearance of the choir at the opening worship service that fall until the last note sounded two years later, the choir under Robertson was enthusiastically received wherever and whenever it sang. In its year-end concert in May of that first year, the choir performed the Verdi Requiem assisted by the Huntsville Symphony.

The unqualified success of that concert led to a critically acclaimed repeat performance of it on Easter Sunday of the following year at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. A few weeks later, the choir presented both the Beethoven Choral Fantasia, Opus 80, and Rossini's Stabat Mater in its concluding concert of the year, Robertson's last at OC.

During his three years at OC, he had also established a select choir known as the Ars Nova Singers and helped several students gain admission to the Juilliard School of Music, where he had earlier completed his undergraduate and graduate degrees. The campus was deeply disappointed when Robertson left in 1970 to chair the music program at Atlantic Union College.²⁰

The years immediately following Robertson's departure would be transitional and uneasy ones both in music and for the campus at large. The unrest that had developed on college campuses nationwide as students had rebelled against convention and authority in the 1960s, combined with the turmoil arising from the struggles of the civil rights movement in the South, made teaching and the making of music more challenging than in previous times.

Marcus Aurelius Thompson, who had just completed a doctorate at Juilliard in violin and viola performance, was Robertson's immediate successor as director of choirs. Harold Anthony also returned to the campus that year to briefly chair the department. When Thompson left in 1971 after one year, Anthony assumed direction of the choral program.²¹

Two years later, in 1973, Anthony invited Alma Montgomery Blackmon, who had just arrived on campus to teach in the English department, to assist in the choral program, more specifically to revive the Aeolians, a group which had been neglected since Pierre-Louis had left eight years earlier. She accepted the invitation.

When the school year started, she was only able to recruit and audition a group of mostly freshmen, since the upperclassmen, for the most part, were more interested in singing in the College Choir which had been doing the touring. Nevertheless, under Blackmon's leadership the group quickly reasserted itself as the premier music ensemble for the college.

As she became director, the plan was for Aeolian touring to play a major role in recruitment as the college set out to increase enrollment to a thousand students. Within two years they had helped accomplish that goal.

In her first year, she took the choir on two major tours, a five-week tour to the West Coast and a shorter tour on the East Coast and in the Midwest. A reporter from Jet Magazine observed that the group "took Chicagoans by storm" and praised their versatility and the breadth of their repertoire.

While doing a series of telecasts in Los Angeles, in response to a suggestion by a producer they wore colorful African dashikis when performing spirituals. The response was so positive they wore them in subsequent concerts whenever they sang spirituals.

A number of high profile experiences by the Aeolians during her twelve years as director laid the foundation for an enduring national and international reputation. These included appearances at banquets for the United Negro College Fund, two joint performances with the University of Alabama Wind Ensemble, and presentations at the 1980 and 1985 General Conference Sessions.

Successful tours were also taken to Romania and Great Britain under the sponsorship of Friendship Ambassadors, and to Canada, Bermuda, the Virgin Islands and The Bahamas. Yet another initiative that helped increase awareness of both the choir and college was the release of records and CDs, which have enjoyed wide distribution.²²

Inez Booth became chair again in the early 1970s and continued in that role until 1983 when she retired. Her previous years of service, combined with this second stint, made her, with 29 years of leadership, the longest serving music chair at OC since the school was founded.

In her final years as chair, Booth presided over a group of highly qualified and effective teachers, including Blackmon, Anthony, Lacy, Osterman, and Stanley Ware, a teacher of voice. As in earlier years, her leadership created a united and productive department.

Two years before Booth's retirement, John Dennison, a former OC student and member of the Aeolians who was teaching at Lynnwood Academy in California, was invited to be chair at OC, with the condition that he complete a doctorate. Following completion of all coursework for a DMA at the University of Southern California, he moved to OC in 1983 to begin his work as chair of the program.

Although OC had achieved regional accreditation for its four-year offerings in 1958, and been accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education in 1982, there was a perceived need to review and update the degree programs in music. Dennison was charged with this responsibility.

During his four years as chair, he made changes in the curriculum, purchased needed equipment and instruments, modified the facilities, and expanded the choral music library. Adjustments in teaching assignments were also made to more closely match areas of expertise, and new adjunct teachers were added. Lloyd B. Mallory, a gifted student, assisted in choir rehearsals.²³

When Blackmon retired in 1985, after 42 years of teaching, Dennison assumed leadership of the Aeolians for the next two years. In each of those years he presented a program of spirituals titled Jubilee I and II. These highly praised presentations, given in consecutive years in the college church, were dramatic combinations of acting, narration, and singing.

Dennison also formed a group known as the Chamber Singers and established the Inez L. Booth Choral Society in honor of Booth's many years of service. In April 1985, the society, formed by combining the Chamber Choir, Aeolians, and College Choir, traveled to Washington, D.C. where he directed it in a highly praised performance of spirituals and Rossini's Stabat Mater at Kennedy Center.²⁴

Lucile Lacy succeeded Dennison as chair in 1987, a position she would hold until 1994, when Osterman became chair. Lacy again led the program from 1996 until 2004. The music program flourished under her well-organized leadership and nurturing influence. Audley Chambers succeeded her as chair, a position he still holds.

While the dominance of the choral program at OC is due in large part to the depth of the vocal and musical talents of its students, the tradition in quality voice instruction provided by supporting faculty in voice and most of those who have directed the choral groups at OC has led to the unusual success of its singers. Teachers who supported the work of the choir directors through the years have included Harvey Huggins, Alyne Dumas Lee, Lacy, Ware, Ginger Beazley, Katherine Nevins, Angelique Clay, Julie Moore, LaToya Lain, and others.²⁵

Ricky Little, a graduate of OC and an acclaimed recitalist and opera singer, succeeded Dennison as director of the Aeolians. During his five-and-a-half years of leadership, the ensemble toured extensively.

They also performed numerous times on television, including an appearance on Good Morning America, and played for the governor of Bermuda during their tour to the island in 1993. In 1994, they sang as a featured group at the 50^th anniversary dinner of the United Negro College Fund in New York, where President Bill Clinton was keynote speaker.²⁶

Through the years, the College Choir had also gained widespread recognition as an outstanding ensemble. This reputation continued under Eurydice Osterman, who directed it from 1978 to 1990.

Although the choir sang mostly on campus and in the local community during Osterman's years, it also toured once a year, mostly on the East Coast. During her tenure the choir sang as a featured group at the 1982 and 1984 World's Fairs and the 1985 and 1990 General Conference Sessions of the church.

They also recorded an album and assisted on two others, one being a recording featuring music written by Wintley Phipps and arranged by Osterman, who is also known as a gifted arranger and composer. These activities, along with several memorable performances of landmark choral works with the Huntsville Symphony, further enhanced the image of OC and its music program.

Osterman became director of the Aeolians in 1994. For the next two years she toured with them on the East Coast, did combined concerts with The University of Alabama in Huntsville, and recorded an album in the spring 1996, OC's centennial year, titled The Aeolians Live: A Centennial Celebration.²⁷

Lloyd B. Mallory, a 1989 OC graduate who had been producing award-winning choirs at Pine Forge Academy in Pennsylvania for seven years, returned to the college in 1996 to direct the Chamber Singers, College Choir, and the Aeolians, a total of 200 singers. He quickly established rapport with the students and audiences, who delighted in the richness of what had become known over the years as the "Aeolian Sound," described by Mallory as "Powerful! Strong! Spirit-filled!"²⁸

One of his first acts was to prepare the choir for an appearance that fall with the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra doing Adolphus Hailstork's cantata, I Will Lift Up My Eyes, at the final concert of OC's centennial year. The success of that concert led to a request for a repeat performance a year later, in 1997, at the Von Braun Center Concert Hall in Huntsville, where Mallory again was tenor soloist. The audience responded to this presentation of the work with a six-minute standing ovation.

Success followed success as Mallory led the choirs until 2001, when he took a three-year study leave. In those five years, they had sung at the White House and Crystal Cathedral, been recorded by PBS during a competition for choirs from nationally known black colleges, toured in the Caribbean, and made a CD.²⁹ During Mallory's leadership a writer at the Huntsville Times observed that "The Aeolians could sing passages from the phone book, and still make you feel the presence of the Divine."³⁰

It was during this period, from 1996 to 2001, that an orchestra was organized and successfully led by Beatrice Renee Collins Williams. Its first public performance, given during the Sabbath service of the OC centennial Finale Celebration, was followed by a number of successful concerts.

During its five years, it sponsored a concerto competition and at one concert, in 1998, featured music by Hailstork, including a premiere performance of his Two Romances for Viola and Orchestra, with the composer conducting. This was the first time that a full orchestra had existed on campus for an extended period.³¹

While Mallory was on leave, Julie Moore, who had been teaching voice and diction at OC since 1999, led the Aeolians, touring widely throughout the East Coast. They produced a CD, A Joyful Noise, which led to an invitation for them to tour in Poland in August 2003, where they performed thirteen concerts in seven days. One of these was as the only American choir chosen to sing at the annual international music festival in Wratislavia, a concert that was televised nationally and internationally on the internet.

Also in 2003, the Aeolians' many accomplishments were recognized when they were honored with induction into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. Moore led the Aeolians in a performance at the time of that ceremony.³²

Following completion of his doctorate, Mallory returned to OC in 2004 to lead the choirs for two more years before accepting a position at Sligo Church in Takoma Park, Maryland. Norman Crarey, whose high school choirs had won numerous superior ratings in festivals for over two decades, became director of OC choral activities for one year, to be followed in 2008 by Jason Max Ferdinand, a former accompanist and arranger for the choir and its student conductor. He studied conducting with Mallory and subsequently completed a master's degree at Morgan State University.  While there he accepted a position at Pine Forge Academy where he taught for eight years before coming to Oakwood. While at OU, he completed a D.M.A. at the University of Maryland in 2015. In his time as director of the Aeolians, the group has received a record number of national and international awards.

Another addition to the music faculty in 2008 was Adriana Perera. A native of Uruguay, she had had a natural talent and had become an accomplished pianist and gifted improvisor and prolific composer.  She had completedfour two master's degrees before being hired and would complete a fourth the year after she was hired by OU. 

Although in the its first years the nearby small town of Huntsville had viewed the school with hostility, those feelings changed as the school's success of in revitalizing the land and introducing innovations in agriculture became known. Over that first century, as Huntsville grew and then surrounded OC, it developed a sense of ownership and pride in the college's achievements, especially those in music.

The city has also taken note of the many outreach activities sponsored by OC. Probably one of the most vivid examples of that outreach was demonstrated following the September 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York in 2001. A small group of college students, which included a small ad hoc marching band, sponsored by the OC chapter of the National Association for the Prevention of Starvation (NAPS), immediately left for New York to assist in any way possible.

Although they took shovels, hoping to assist in recovery efforts, they quickly found that their impromptu marching band was the greatest balm they could provide for New Yorkers. People responded to both the music and the caring hugs offered by the group by, in turn, reaching out to others. Their efforts attracted national attention, bringing praise for them - and their school and the Huntsville community.

While the role of the NAPS marching band is an important part of its ministry and only a peripheral activity within the context of music at OC, it is representative of the tradition in spontaneous music making that has been part of the college from the beginning.³³

From the first year, with an enrollment of sixteen, to the present, when nearly 2,000 are enrolled, OU has played an important role in Adventist music education. Today, it has one of the larger music departments in Adventist colleges and universities, with nine full-time award-winning music faculty, 61 music majors, and 31 minors. It offers a wide range of options, including a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science in music education, and a Bachelor of Music in theory and composition or vocal pedagogy and performance.

Although OU's choral groups have largely shaped its music reputation, several of its musicians have also gained recognition for the school, achieving fame in diverse musical areas ranging from classical to popular music. A partial listing would include Alyne Dumas Lee, Shirley Verrett, Janice Chandler, Jon Robertson, Angelique Clay, and Angela Brown - all of whom have become notable figures in opera and classical music. A listing of the many musicians who attended OU and went on to excel in other areas of musical endeavor would include Charles L. Brooks, Wintley Phipps, T. Marshall Kelly, Take Six, Joyce Bryant, Richard Penniman (Little Richard), and others.

While music has always been an important part of worship and the social experience on all Adventist college campuses, music at OU has been more than that. It permeates all aspects of campus life, is part of the very essence of the institution, and is at its spiritual core.

Whether it be a group of students spontaneously making harmony while waiting in line at the cafeteria³⁴ or students singing in one of the school's ad hoc or academic vocal ensembles, music is a unique and indispensable part of that school's life and ministry.

Music at OU has enabled the school to far exceed its founders' vision of service in a distant and more restrictive time. Through the years it created opportunities for the school which helped prepare it for the expanded role in service that it plays in today's more open society.

2009/Updated in 2018

Endnotes

^{1 The detail in the opening section is based on information found in a cluster of articles titled "Days of Small Beginnings," as printed in the 1946 50th anniversary edition of The Acorn, Oakwood College yearbook; Articles in Adventist Heritage, March, 1996; and Make Bright the Memories, Eugenia Isabella Cunningham with Sara Sprout Morrow, 1954, Southern Publishing Association, 54-58.}

^{2 Lucile C. Lacy and Eurydice V. Osterman, "Music at Oakwood," Adventist Heritage, March 1996, 38-43. This article was an important factual source for this article.}

^{3 1963 Acorn, 14; Lacy and Osterman, 38; Minneola Dixon, "100 Brief Facts about Oakwood College," Adventist Heritage, March 1999, 51; Byron Dulan, "Joseph Hermanus Warrington Laurence, Pioneer Black Adventist Evangelist and Pastor," North Pacific Union Gleaner, October 2006.}

^{4 Information for this part of the article is based on an article written by Zeola B. Allston and C. J. Barnes, "The Student Strike of 1931," Adventist Heritage, March 1996, 30-32.}

^{5 Lacy and Osterman, 38.}

^{6 "Oakwood's World of Music," 1946 OC Acorn, and other Acorn yearbooks in the 1950s and 1960s.}

^{7 1950 Acorn.}

^{8 1946 Acorn; Lacy and Ostermann, 39; 1957 Diogenes Lantern, Pacific Union College 75th anniversary yearbook, a page describing President Erwin's relationship to Oakwood College has two photos of bands at OC.}

^{9 IAMA Website biography; Roy E. Malcolm, editor, Jannith Lewis and Francis Bliss, writers, The Aeolians, 1999, Oakwood College Publishing Association, 3. This book, which contains biographies of all the directors of the Aeolians and their recollections (except for Dykes), was the primary source for information about the Aeolians and their directors.}

^{10 Malcolm, Minneola Dixon, 5.}

^{11 Malcolm, Dixon, 5,6.}

^{12 Lacy and Osterman, 40.}

^{13 1950s-1980s OC Acorn yearbooks.}

^{144 Malcolm, Joni Pierre-Louis, 14-21.}

^{15 Malcolm, Harold Anthony, 26-31.}

^{16 Lacy and Osterman; Acorn listings; OC Website.}

^{1717 1940s and 1950s Acorn.}

^{18 "Significant 20th Century SDA Music Buildings: a Chronology," IAMA Notes,Winter/Spring 2002, 6. The building was later renovated to seat 125.}

^{19 Malcolm, Jon Robertson, 39.}

^{20 Malcolm, Robertson, 33-43.}

^{21 Malcolm, Anthony, 31; Malcolm, Marcus Aurelius Thompson, 47-55.}

^{22 Malcolm, Alma M. Blackmon, 56-87.}

^{23 Malcolm, John T. Dennison, 91-101.}

^{24 Malcolm, Dennison, 96, 99.}

^{25 1950s-1980s Acorn; Lacy and Osterman.}

^{26 Malcolm, Ricky Little, 106-114.}

^{27 Malcolm, Eurydice Osterman, 119-131.}

^{28 Malcolm, Lloyd B. Mallory, Jr., 138.}

^{29 Malcolm, Mallory, 135-159.}

^{30 The Huntsville Times, November 1997.}

^{31 The Spring 1998 issue of Notes, official publication of the International Adventist Musicians Association, 21}

^{32 Interview, Julie Moore, 1 October 2006.}

^{33 The Summer/Autumn 2001 issue of Notes featured articles from the National Review and the Birmingham Post-Herald about the impact of this group on New York and the rest of the country. A brief overview by the writer of music at OC was also provided in that issue.}

^{34 A recollection of Standley Gillineau, student at OC in the 1950s and 1960s.}

^{Events on campus and in music from the 1960's to the present are based on conversations/interviews with persons and sources listed below and the OC website.}

^Sources

^{Conversations/Interviews: Alma Blackmon, 22 October 2006: Inez Booth, 1, 16 October 2006; Audley Chambers, 25 September 2006; John Dennison, 27 September and 12 October 2006; Minneola Dixon, 3 October 2006; Standley Gillineau, 28 September and 3 October 2006; Julie Moore, 1 October 2006; Lucile Lacy, 21 November 2006; Eurydice Osterman, 11, 12 October 2006.}

^{Oakwood Acorn yearbooks, 1946, 1950-1959, 1961-1965, 1980-1984.}

^{IAMA website biographies prepared by the author in consultation with the person, his/her family and/or other sources.}

^{A Special thank-you to Audley Chambers, Lucile Lacy, and Eurydice Osterman; Lisa Moncur, OC Music Department Secretary, and Minneola Dixon and Joyce Williams, archivists, Oakwood College Eva B. Dykes Library.}

  ^{Copyrighted by Dan Shultz and IAMA}