National Negro Opera Company

Mary Cardwell Dawson established the National Negro Opera Company (NNOC) in 1941 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Born in North Carolina, Dawson graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music in 1925, and was the only African-American in her class. Facing discrimination in her aspiration for her own career as an opera singer, Cardwell Dawson chose instead to become an advocate for other Black musicians.

Mary Cardwell settled Pittsburgh and in 1927 married Walter Dawson, an electrician. The couple began operating two businesses, Dawson Electrical Company and the Cardwell Dawson School of Music. By 1939, Cardwell Dawson had established the nationally recognized Cardwell Dawson Choir, which performed at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York City. Cardwell Dawson by this point had became a successful promoter and manager of young African American artists and also served as president of the National Organization of Negro Musicians.

In 1940 Cardwell Dawson began auditioning and rehearsing singers on the third floor of the Queen Anne home at 7101 Apple Street, in the Homewood section of Pittsburgh. By 1941 the performers who participated in those rehearsals were organized by Cardwell Dawson into the National Negro Opera Company. The NNOC’s first performance was a production of Aida, held at Pittsburgh’s Syria Mosque concert hall in October 1941. The NNOC quickly grew from a training ground for Black performers and musicians into a host organization for classical music's elite, including Lillian Evanti, an African-American soprano well known in Europe. Because of her race Evanti had been repeatedly rejected by the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, but she sang the lead role in the National Negro Opera Company’s 1943 production of La Traviata. The NNOC also left a lasting legacy for later Black musicians by training artists such as Robert McFerrin Sr., father of jazz musician Bobby McFerrin and the first male Black soloist to perform with the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

As the NNOC’s popularity grew, in 1942 Cardwell Dawson and her husband moved to Washington, D.C., establishing a second NNOC chapter there. By 1945 the organization boasted active chapters in Chicago, New York City, and Cleveland. In 1955 the NNOC became the first independent company and the first African American company to perform at the Metropolitan Opera House. President John F. Kennedy had appointed Cardwell Dawson to the National Music Committee in 1961, but she died of a heart attack shortly after in 1962. The NNOC disbanded shortly after her death, but left an incredible history behind.

Fletcher-Brown, Charlene. NATIONAL NEGRO OPERA COMPANY (1941-1962), BlackPast. April 16th 2014. Accessed July 29, 2020. https://www.Blackpast.org/african-american-history/national-negro-opera-company-1941-1962/.

No Author. THE FIRST NATIONAL NEGRO OPERA COMPANY ABANDONED SINCE 1962: THE LEGACY OF MARY CARDWELL DAWSON, Architectural Afterlife. January 3rd, 2019. Accessed July 29, 2020. https://architecturalafterlife.com/2019/03/13/national-negro-opera-company/.