Price, Florence, 1887-1953

Florence Beatrice Price (b. April 9, 1887, Little Rock, AK–d. June 3, 1953, Chicago, IL) was born to a well respected interracial couple. Her first piano performance was at age four and her first composition was published at 11. At 14, Price graduated from Capitol High School as valedictorian and enrolled in the New England Conservatory of Music. There she studied with George Chadwick and Frederick Converse, and graduated in 1906 with honors. In 1910, she became the head of Clark Atlanta University's music department. With her husband, Thomas J. Price, and her family, Price moved to Chicago as part of Great Migration.

In Chicago, Price studied composition, orchestration, and organ with leading teachers in the city including Arthur Olaf Andersen, Carl Busch, Wesley La Violette, and Leo Sowerby, and continued to write music compositions. After her divorce, Price lived with friend and student Margaret Bonds. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Frederick Stock, premiered her Symphony in E minor in 1933, making it the first composition by an African-American woman to be played by a major orchestra.