Zelma George contributed much of her time and energy to both the arts and philanthropy in her adopted hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. The later opera singer, diplomat, and philanthropist was born December 8, 1903 in Hearne, Texas.
George moved to Topeka, Kan. with her family, completing her high school studies there. She graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in sociology in 1924. She then studied at Northwestern University and the American Conservatory of Music, obtaining a Rockefeller Grant in 1942 to study African-American music. George went about a long process of fortifying her education by obtaining her master’s in personnel administration from New York University and a Ph.D in sociology.
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In 1949, George was the first Black woman to sing the lead role in Gian-Carlo Menotti’s “The Medium” at the Karamu House in Cleveland, the oldest Black theater in the nation. It was an all-Black production that made waves as the lead role was crafted for a white woman. George reprised the role at New York’s Edison Theatre and starred in other Menotti’s works.
George shifted from music in the ‘50s, becoming an advisor to President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and was appointed to the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Armed Forces and the Executive Council for the Society of African Culture.
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In 1960, George was part of the U.S. delegation for the 15th General Assembly of the United Nations. In 1966, she was named the executive director of the Cleveland Job Corps Center, working until her retirement in 1974. She continued her philanthropic work in Cleveland and taught at the Cuyahoga Community College. A community center is named after her in Cleveland, along with a skating rink.
Zelma George passed in 1994.
PHOTO: Schlesinger Library, Harvard
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