Capitola Dickerson
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Capitola Dickerson | |
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File:Capitola Dickerson Summit NJ.JPG | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Capitola Dickerson |
Born | [1][2] Urbana, Ohio, USA |
September 21, 1913
Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist.[2] |
Occupation(s) | Teacher, Music educator, Performer, TWIN award 2009[3] |
Instruments | Piano |
Years active | 78 |
Capitola Leodra Dickerson, also known as Cappie Dickerson,[2] (September 21, 1913 – June 15, 2012) was an American piano instructor in Summit, New Jersey and graduate of the Juilliard School in Manhattan who was notable for teaching several generations of students. She was revered by local authorities for her volunteer service and civil rights contributions and community leadership.[1][3] Some of her pupils have become renowned such as Tom Varner and Lawton C. Johnson, and she was friends with renowned jazz singer Bill Robinson. In 2011, she was presented with a Key to the City by Summit mayor Jordan Glatt.[1][2] According to business executive Frank Bolden, she was a "quiet, unselfish person" who lived by the Golden Rule of treating others as one wished to be treated oneself.
Contents
Early life
Dickerson was born in Urbana, Ohio to Amanda and Lee Dickerson, but she made Summit, New Jersey her home where she lived for more than 78 years.[1][4] Her mother died when she was a teenager, and she lived with her father until she graduated from high school in 1930. She lived with relatives including her grandfather, Benjamin, an ex-slave, who had witnessed a Civil War battle at the age of ten in the state of Virginia. She was denied entrance to the Diller-Quaile School because of racial discrimination but studied piano with Helen Chrystal Bender of the Summit School of Music. She worked as a domestic, and at one point, she worked at Bell Labs before becoming a music teacher. She attended Columbia University[2] and New York University and graduated from the Juilliard School in New York City.[1][2] She was a member of the Wallace Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church for 80 years and served as the church's historian.[2]
Music educator
Dickerson taught piano to thousands of students[2] over a period of seventy-eight years. She emphasized precision, sticking strictly to piano compositions as written, and practice; in 2004, she was quoted in the Los Angeles Times for stressing the benefits of practice.[5] She taught New Jersey preschoolers in Cranford[6] and Millburn and she taught music to the hearing impaired.[2] According to one estimate, her students live in all fifty states in the United States.[2]
Dickerson taught some notable students. She taught local resident Lawton C. Johnson of Summit who became a church organist as well as a locally recognized educational administrator; in 2004, the Summit Board of Education decided to rename the middle school after him.[4] She taught Graeme Cowen and composer Carolyn Schmidt, who became director of the musical group named the Hickory Tree Singers.[2] She taught piano to New Jersey's French hornist Tom Varner[7] who formed the Tom Varner Quartet.[8] Varner wrote "I loved my teacher Ms. Capitola Dickerson–she would play 78s of Art Tatum for me."[8]
Dickerson loved teaching children, including kindergartners and preschool children.[9] She taught music to hearing impaired children at the Summit Speech School for thirty years.[10] She taught preschoolers at the Westfield Day Care Center from 1978 to 2000, teaching rhythm, movement, songs and music appreciation to thousands of children.[11][12] Sally Rogers, one of her pupils, wrote:
"I remember singing in kindergarten and how important that was. And I also remember a woman in our town named Capitola Dickerson. I went to one class she did at the Y where she was sharing rhythm instruments with us. When she handed me a tambourine, her manner communicated kindness and inclusion. It may seem hard to believe because of how young I was, but she changed my life. I actually sought her out ten years ago and called her up and put her on the CMN quilt. She respected me, shy kid that I was, and modeled how to invite children to come into music their own way."[13]
Honors and recognition
Dickerson was regularly honored by the city of Summit. She played on Martin Luther King day in 2008.[14] She played piano and sang along with the protégé performers in honor of one of the Tuskegee airmen George Watson, in a program of remembrance, sponsored by Summit Supports Our Troops.[15] She received a Keeper of the Dream Award from the city of Summit, New Jersey.[2][16] In 2011, she was honored by the City of Summit; in a speech before the Common Council, Mayor Glatt described how Dickerson, who was in a shelter during a power outage, made a phone call from the shelter to ask if her neighbors needed help.[1] Mayor Glatt said:
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...as soon as she sat down, she pulled out her phone to call her neighbors to see if they had heat or needed help. This type of concern for others is typical of Dickerson, who has lived in Summit for more than 70 years.
— Mayor Jordan Glatt, December 2011[1]
Dickerson's contributions have been honored by various organizations including the Summit Area YMCA, The Connection for Women and Children, the United Way, the Tri-City Branch of the NAACP, the Summit Chamber of Commerce, Church Women United, Soroptimist International, Links, The Boy Scouts, The A.M.E. Zion Church, and the Wallace Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church.[2]
Civil rights and community service
Dickerson was described as a strong leader in efforts to promote affordable housing in Summit in cooperation with the first Sponsors Committee.[2] She led by example[2] and attended many committee meetings and active demonstrations.[17] In mid-century, she was one of the first African-American women employed at Bell Laboratories.[2] She encouraged women to "develop and use their gifts and talents in every aspect of society," according to a report in the Star-Ledger.[2] She worked with Habitat for Humanity.
Gallery
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Capitola Dickerson And Penny Bolden 2011.jpg
With pupil Penny Bolden]]
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Capitola Dickerson memorial 1 awards and clippings.jpg
Awards
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Capitola Dickerson memorial 3 plaques and certificates.jpg
Plaques
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Capitola Dickerson memorial 6 Reverend Doctor Denison D Harrield Jr.jpg
Reverend Dr. Denison Harrield, Jr.
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Capitola Dickerson memorial 9 Race Unity Day plaque.jpg
Race Unity Day plaque
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Capitola Dickerson memorial 11 piano student Leslie Carson with display.jpg
Piano student Leslie Carson next to table display
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Capitola Dickerson memorial 13 NAACP award.jpg
NAACP award
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Capitola Dickerson memorial 16 pianist and vocalist Elijah Griffith.jpg
Student pianist Elijah Griffith
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Capitola Dickerson memorial 20 executive Frank Bolden delivers eulogy.jpg
Executive Frank Bolden delivers the eulogy at the memorial service
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Capitola Dickerson memorial 29 Urbana high school program.jpg
1930 Urbana High School commencement program
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Capitola Dickerson memorial 35 Samuel Sulcer playing before service.jpg
Pianist Samuel J. Sulcer performing during the memorial service
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Capitola Dickerson memorial 30 buttons.jpg
Political buttons
References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.. |
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- ↑ September 25, 2015, TAPInto Summit, A Lifetime of Service, Retrieved September 24, 2015, ".... 78-year Summit resident Capitola Dickerson, Juilliard graduate, piano teacher, devoted volunteer, and civil rights contributor...."
- Pages with broken file links
- Articles with hCards
- Pages using Template:Infobox musical artist with unknown parameters
- People from Summit, New Jersey
- Voice teachers
- American music educators
- African-American classical pianists
- American classical pianists
- Columbia University alumni
- Juilliard School alumni
- 1913 births
- 2012 deaths
- People from Urbana, Ohio
- New York University alumni
- African-American classical musicians
- Women classical pianists
- 20th-century pianists
- 20th-century American musicians