BiographyThe National Negro Company, the first black opera company, was established in William “Woogie” Harris’ house in Homewood, Pittsburgh. The company was founded by Mary Cardwell Dawson in 1941 and was disbanded in 1962 upon the death of Dawson. In the company’s operating years, Mary Dawson strived hard to create productions of original works by black composers such as R. Nathaniel Dett’s “The Ordering of Moses” and Clarence Cameron White’s “Ouanga”.
