Carmen Velma Shepperd

Carmen Velma Shepperd was born in Kingston, Jamaica, the daughter of David N. Shepperd and Theresa Ann Rodriquez Shepperd.^[1][2] She moved to the United States with her parents, and grew up in New York City. Her mother was a dressmaker.^[3]

As a young singer, Shepperd earned medals from the New York Music Education League.^[4][5] She graduated from Wadleigh High School^[6] and earned two diplomas from the Juilliard School in 1934.^[7][8] At Juilliard she studied voice with Lucia Dunham.^[6][9] She earned a bachelor's degree and a master's degree from Columbia University. She pursued further studies in France, in the class of 1947 at the Fontainebleau School of Music.^[10]

Shepperd, a pianist and mezzo soprano singer, gave several recitals at New York's Town Hall, Carnegie Hall, and other venues.^[11] She sang works by Black composer Harry Burleigh as part of "The Three Nightingales", with her Juilliard classmates Ruby Elzy and Anne Brown.^[12][13] She sang on radio and in the trio as a young woman.^[14]

In 1930,^[15] Shepperd founded the Carmen Shepperd School of Music.^[16] Her students gave annual recitals at Town Hall^[1] and Aeolian Hall.^[17] Her school was awarded a service medal in 1931 by the New York Music Week Association, at a Carnegie Hall event,^[2] and continued into the 1950s and 1960s.^[18][19][20] Among her music students was bassist Lucille Dixon Robertson.^[21][22]

Shepperd was an active member of the New York chapters of the National Council of Negro Women,^[23][24] Delta Sigma Theta, the American Association of University Women,^[25] the National Association of Negro Musicians,^[26] the American Caribbean Scholarship Fund,^[27] and several alumni associations.^[10] In 1980, she accompanied Butterfly McQueen in a performance in Brooklyn.^[28]