Carolyn Rebecca Black ’68 turned her degree in music education from UNCG into a distinguished career. She earned a master’s degree from Teacher’s College at Columbia University and taught music at Mount Vernon Middle School and then Ossining High School in New York. She also started an after-school music program that nurtured ages 4-17 in singing, drumming, and guitar playing. After a 30+ year career, she received the 2024 Hester Bateman Spencer Hines Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award for her commitment to equity, enthusiasm for education, and record of exceptional service to the school district.
She’s also a trailblazer, being the first African American student to sing with Dr. Richard Cox’s University Chorale, her daughter reports – she joined in 1963, in the early days of Cox’s long tenure with the University. Black also represents the ideals of the Minerva Society, as a proud supporter of UNCG over the past decades.