Mark Fax

Mark Fax (1911–1974) was a prominent African-American composer and music educator. Born in Baltimore, Fax was a child prodigy and at the age of 14, he performed as an organist at Baltimore's Regent Theater and various churches. Mark enrolled at the Syracuse University, and while working on his bachelor's degree, he won the prestigious Julius Rosenwald Fellowship. Because of the Depression era, Mark Fax decided to turn down graduate fellowship offers and accepted a chair of the music department at Paine College in Georgia. In 1942, Mark Fax returned to New York to study advanced composition at the Eastman School of Music. To support the family, he worked both as choirmaster and janitor at a Rochester church. A few years later, Fax won a rare second Rosenwald Fellowship. He taught at the Black Mountain College in 1946 and served on the Howard University faculty from 1947 to 1972, teaching music theory and working as a School of Music' director. Eventually, Mark Fax was appointed Acting Dean of Howard's College of Fine Arts. He also served as a music director at the Asbury Methodist Church. He wrote compositions for chorus, symphonic & chamber ensembles, voice, piano, and organ, as well as two operas: Christmas Miracle (1958) and 'Til Victory Is Won (1967). On the second photo: Mark Fax performs on the piano with his Howard University colleague, playwright and director Owen Dodson (circa 1960s)