Carrie Beatrice Holloway Collins

The first Black woman to work as a vocal music teacher in Littleton, Colorado’s school district, Carrie Beatrice Holloway Collins was a pianist, composer, poet, civil rights and community activist, and elementary school music educator. Collins and her husband founded the Rocky Mountain Musicians Association chapter of the National Association of Negro Musicians, Inc. in 1976.

Photo: Carrie B.H. Collins, photograph from Denver Post, courtesy of Renee Collins.

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Born in Meridian, Mississippi on November 14, 1930, Carrie Beatrice Holloway Collins was perhaps most well known for being the first Black woman to work as a vocal music teacher in Littleton, Colorado’s school district. Education was a core value for Collins, and her daughter emphasized how Collins viewed it as a “ticket to a better life.” Collins’ own education included a B.S. from Tennessee A & I State College, an M.S. from Tennessee A & I State University in music education with an emphasis on elementary vocal music, and an M.A. from the University of Denver in librarianship.

Over the course of her life, Collins worked a variety of jobs as a music educator. From 1950–57, she taught in the Meridian Separate School District in Meridian, MS. She also worked as a music specialist for Jones County Schools in Laurel, MS from 1959–61. In the early 1960s, Collins and her family relocated from Mississippi to Denver, Colorado at Collins’ suggestion, as she had taken a liking to the city after visiting it for a National Baptist Convention in the 1950s. Collins began teaching in the Littleton, CO school district in 1965, and she worked there until her retirement in 1986. In her autobiography Love, Endurance, and Perseverance (2004), Collins’ wrote that she took a multicultural approach to teaching during her years at the Littleton Schools, which she found both productive and rewarding: “Whenever possible, I would expose my students to cultural experiences from other sources.”

In addition to making strides as the first Black woman vocal music teacher in the Littleton Schools, Collins was the first Black Colorado choral director, exhibitor, clinician, and composer to present at meetings for the Colorado Music Education Association. She presented public lectures as well, often centering Black music in presentations such as “A Taste of Classical and Art Music by Composers of African Descent.” Along with teaching about Black music, Collins sought to support fellow Black musicians, and so she and her husband founded the Rocky Mountain Musicians Association chapter of the National Association of Negro Musicians, Inc. in 1976. Over just a few decades, the Rocky Mountain Musicians Association provided thousands of dollars in scholarships to Black students from the Denver area. It also created many opportunities for local Black musicians, such as the University of Denver’s first program of music entirely by Black composers, performed by a string quartet of Black musicians in 1989.

Collins also saw success as a composer and poet. She wrote and self-published a book of poetry entitled Gems (1995), as well as four songs which set her own poetry: “Look to Jesus,” “Love for Mankind,” “Mother Dear,” and “Two Hundred Years Ago.” The Field Elementary choir performed her composition “Two Hundred Years Ago” at Colorado’s state capitol in 1976 in celebration of America’s bicentennial, and the poem itself was later recited aloud on the floor of the House of Representatives in 1995. 

By the end of her life, Collins accumulated a wide variety of honors, including a certificate of appreciation for being a community leader from Colorado’s governor in 1976, the National Association of Negro Musicians Achievement Award in 1978, the Colorado Music Educators Honor Award in 1982 and 1989, and the Rocky Mountain Musicians Association Outstanding Service Award in 1985. She continued to self-publish her poetry and compositions until her death on August 24, 2016.

Sophia Janevic

This profile was created in 2021 as part of the Song of America Fellowship Program, a project of the Classic Song Research Initiative between the Hampsong Foundation and the University of Michigan, School of Music, Theatre, and Dance.

Sources:

“Guide to the Carrie B. H. Collins collection, 1970–2000,” Carrie B. H. Collins collection, American Music Research Center, University of Colorado, Boulder.

Rubino, Joe. “Remembering Carrie Collins, Littleton Teacher and Figure in Colorado Black Music Community.” The Denver Post. The Denver Post, September 24, 2016. https://www.denverpost.com/2016/09/20/remembering-carrie-collins-littleton-teacher-and-figure-in-colorado-black-music-community/.

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