Wonderful Women Wednesday: Dr. Luvenia A. George

Each week, the Archives features a woman who has been a groundbreaker at the Smithsonian, past or present, in a series titled Wonderful Women Wednesday.

Dr. Luvenia A. George, an ethnomusicologist, served as the program coordinator for the Duke Ellington Youth Project, 1991–2002, at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. She researched and developed a multidisciplinary curriculum for the study of Ellington based on the resources in the Duke Ellington Collection. 

George was also active in the local community. She was the president of the District of Columbia Music Educators Association and the D.C. Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association. 

She earned a bachelor’s degree in music education from Howard University and a master’s degree and doctorate from the University of Maryland. 

George is the author of Teaching the Music of Six Different Cultures (1987). 

Screenshot of a short article about George earning her Ph.D. next to an image of George.

Jet, June 1995

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