From the Archives: Meet choral director and cross-cultural ambassador Ann Colby Albright

This week’s dive into the archive again features a wonderful profile by Heidi Bakk-Hansen in honor of Women’s History Month: Ann Colby Albright, a choral director and “the first African-American to work as a teacher in the Duluth schools, eventually touching the lives of hundreds of Duluth singers through various choruses and lessons. She became a sort of cross-cultural ambassador wherever she went and once said, ‘Music and interracial work make such a wonderful combination. I learned, as I worked with different groups, that no matter what the color, there is always a common response to good music and a common desire to produce it. It is one of the purest forms of cooperation and understanding.’” This week more than ever — as the trial of George Floyd’s murderer unfolds on national television — is a great time to remind ourselves that we as a nation desperately need more cooperation and understanding. So please enjoy Heidi’s biography of Ann Colby Albright HERE.

Albright and the Irving Mothersingers on the road in 1951. (Image: University of Minnesota Duluth Kathryn A. Martin Library Archives and Special Collections)