The First Black Appointed to the Grinnell College Faculty

Despite the abolitionist background of Grinnell, until the late twentieth century Grinnell College graduated few Black men and women and had no Blacks on its faculty. Even when the college arranged to exchange students with Black colleges, as it did with Hampton Institute in the 1940s and with LeMoyne College in the 1960s, the Grinnell campus remained very white. The apparent contradiction between the abolitionist history and contemporary reality led Cynthia Armbrust '49, who took part in the Hampton Exchange, to observe in the campus newspaper in 1949 that Grinnell has "no Negroes on our faculty and very few in our student body. This indicates that the administration, alumni, and student body have a race attitude that is not satisfactory" (S&B 2/11/1949).

Grinnell was not alone in this respect. As the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education pointed out in 2004, many of the nation's most highly-respected liberal arts colleges were slow to admit Black students and even slower to appoint Blacks to their faculties. Grinnell did have an early Black graduate—Hannibal Kershaw who graduated in 1879—but the college does not appear in the list of first Blacks appointed to the faculty because, like Bowdoin, Claremont McKenna, Macalester, and Middlebury, "archivists...could not determine the identity of those college's first black faculty member" ("The First Black Faculty Members at the Highest-Ranked Liberal Arts Colleges," 45[October 2004]:108).

Undated Photograph of Denis de Coteau
(https://www.sfballet.org/take-a-bow-celebrating-denis-de-coteaus-legacy-at-sf-ballet/)

Today's post supplies the Grinnell data to this survey. College records report that Denis de Coteau (1929-1999) was appointed to the Grinnell College faculty in 1964, making him the very first Black to teach at Grinnell. For his first three years at Grinnell, de Coteau was the only Black on the faculty, pioneering racial integration on the faculty and joining a small group of Black students. As a result, in addition to his work with music and musicians, de Coteau (and his family) also had to deal with racial bias. Happily, de Coteau's encounter with race in mid-America did not keep him from making the music he loved, and over the course of his Grinnell stay he established an enviable reputation that helped propel him to outstanding achievement. 

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Norbert de Coteau (1899- ) and Deanis Gittens (1901-1988) were both born in Grenada in the British West Indies, but migrated to the United States separately in 1923. The two met and joined their lives in late 1928, marrying in New York City. The following June they welcomed twin boys—Norbert, Jr. (1929-2005) and Denis—to their family; their sister Shirley (1931- ) arrived two years later. According to the 1930 US Census, Norbert, Sr. at the time had a humble occupation, working as a laborer in a dress-making factory; Deanis, who had listed her occupation as seamstress, remained at home with the children. In 1930 Mr. and Mrs. de Coteau were living on one floor of a three-story home at 367 Putnam Avenue in Brooklyn, a mixed but predominantly Black neighborhood. Ten years later, as the children grew and made their way through school, the family was renting in the 2300 block of Brooklyn's Pitkin Avenue, a primarily white, working-class neighborhood. Norbert, Sr. told census-takers in 1940 that he was a "musician" who earned a living as a "tutor." 

The fact that their father was a musician had an early and decisive influence on the twins, both of whom began playing the piano at age three, taking lessons at the Portnoy Music School in downtown Brooklyn. Denis told interviewers many years later that he had tired of his twin brother's greater success at piano, and therefore had taken up the viola when he was six. According to a 1978 article, Denis played his viola at grade school commencement from PS 154, and later attended Junior High School 64. Both brothers then attended the High School of Music and Art in Manhattan, continuing their musical education (Eliot Cohen, "Ballet brings San Francisco music man back to Brooklyn," The Brooklyn Paper 10/78). According to Denis's recollections, when the boys were still young, their father often took them to concerts "at the Brooklyn Museum, Carnegie Hall, and the NBC Studio 8H, where Toscanini used to conduct" (Anne Lundy, "Conversations with Three Symphonic Conductors," The Black Perspective in Music 16, no. 2[Autumn 1988]:213-14). One of these concerts featured Dean Dixon (1915-76) conducting the New York Philharmonic. Seeing a Black man with the conductor's baton "...just overwhelmed me," Denis later recalled. "At that point I decided [that] that's what I wanted to do..." (ibid., 214).

As the careers of numerous Black musicians confirm, gaining the conductor's rostrum in America is not easy for a Black, and Denis de Coteau's route to the baton was no easier than others'. After completing public school in New York, de Coteau did his undergraduate study at New York University, taking his B.S. in 1954 (interrupted by two years of military service) and an M.A. in 1957. That year he took his first college post at Morgan State College (now University). Later he taught at high schools in Florida, New York, and California, and embarked on study for his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree at Stanford University (S&B 9/18/64).

1964 Photo of Denis de Coteau directing Grinnell College Orchestra Rehearsal
(Scarlet & Black 10/9/64)

Denis de Coteau accepted appointment to Grinnell's faculty in June 1964; directing the college orchestra was his primary duty (S&B 6/5/64). From the start de Coteau's enthusiasm and musical knowledge attracted musicians to the orchestra, which had nearly gone defunct prior to his arrival. In de Coteau's first year more than half the 58 players were freshmen, but gradually the ensemble attracted more musicians so that by the time he resigned in 1968 the college orchestra had 100 members. His first orchestra performance (November 1964) had Beethoven's "Egmont" overture at its center, and included Schubert's Symphony No. 3 in D Major and Vivaldi's Concerto Grosso in D Minor, Opus 3, No. 11 (S&B 11/25/64). The following spring de Coteau programmed an all-Mozart concert, featuring the Requiem Mass in D Minor with four professional soloists (S&B 4/30/65). That fall the orchestra, now expanded to 71 musicians, performed Mozart's "Magic Flute" overture; Haydn's Concerto in D Op. 101 (with guest cellist, Donald McCall); Handel's A-minor Concerto grosso, Op. 6/4; and more modern works by Peter Sacco (1928-2000) and Paul Creston (1906-1985) (Des Moines Register 11/7/65).

In April 1966 the college officially inaugurated Glenn Leggett (1918-2003) as President, and de Coteau helped celebrate the occasion with an orchestral program that featured Hungarian pianist Istvan Nadas (?-2000) in Beethoven's Concerto No. 3, Op. 37. In addition, de Coteau directed the orchestra in Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony No. 8 and the Symphony in E flat of Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-87), a violist like de Coteau (Des Moines Register 4/10/66). Autumn 1966 de Coteau directed a 20-member string ensemble in Handel's Concerto Grosso in G Major, Opus 3, No. 3 (S&B 10/21/66). Later that autumn he directed the full orchestra in three works: Carl Maria von Weber's "Der Freischutz"; Mozart's Concerto in A Major, k. 622; and Beethoven's Symphony in C Major, Opus 21 (S&B 11/25/66). 

One of the highlights of de Coteau's time at Grinnell was the performance of Verdi's Requiem, featuring three soloists from the Metropolitan Opera and a fourth from the New York City Opera. Performed on two successive nights by the 100-person orchestra and 125-voice Grinnell Choral society, the concert drew attention well beyond Grinnell's boundaries (Cedar Rapids Gazette 10/22/67; Des Moines Register 10/22/67), a clear compliment to the musicianship that the director brought to the college orchestra. 

Deborah Feir '68
(1968 Cyclone, p. 50)

The repertoire that de Coteau programmed over these few years speaks powerfully to his success both as a teacher and as a conductor. As several college alumni told me, de Coteau related well to orchestra members who, in turn, responded well to his baton. Deborah Feir '68, for example, remembers his sense of humor which came with a demand for the best from everyone: "we wanted to exceed his expectations because we loved him and couldn't bear the thought of disappointing him" (personal email 4/30/23). Apparently the maestro held similar regard for his musicians, remembering them long after their Grinnell collaboration. Kathy Schaff Broadwell '70, who had been concertmaster of the college orchestra under de Coteau, tells of a time in the 1980s when she attended an orchestral concert in New York which de Coteau directed. Afterwards, she visited backstage; as she walked  into the  room, de Coteau immediately recognized her: "well if it isn't my first concertmaster!" he said (personal email 4/29/23).

Betsy Power '69
(1969 Cyclone, p. 94)

Less happy was the burden that local racism brought to his time in Grinnell. Married and a father (Michele, his oldest was born in November 1965, and Nadine, their second child, was born in October 1967), de Coteau had to negotiate the boundaries of race not only in a very white college but also in a town in which race relations remained contentious. Betsy Power Moore '69 remembers encountering de Coteau at a Twin Cities performance by the San Francisco Ballet years after he left Grinnell. During intermission she visited her college orchestra director who remembered her, and also remembered how difficult life in Grinnell had been for him and his family because they had felt so isolated (personal email 4/30/23). 

All across America the 1960s saw conflict between white and Black Americans, a struggle that grew more heated as the decade wore on. Grinnell College made some attempts to address the issue on campus, for instance initiating a student exchange with LeMoyne College of Memphis in 1964. The plan intended to increase Black enrollment at Grinnell, and two grants from the Rockefeller Foundation helped significantly add to the Black proportion of the student body (Cedar Rapids Gazette 10/8/67). If in 1949 there were only two or three Black students on campus, the Scarlet and Black reported in 1968 that there were "approximately 56 Negro students on campus" (2/2/68). The appointment of de Coteau to the faculty signaled the beginning of integration of the college's teaching staff. 

Scarlet and Black 2/2/68

Elsewhere in America, racial conflict was accelerating and Grinnell College was not immune to these winds. Things came to a head in February 1968 when the S&B interviewed Black students and faculty about their experiences in town. Those interviewed reported numerous instances of verbal abuse as well as cases of physical threat and assault. A campus poster alleged that "There have been many instances of derogatory name-calling ('Nigger,' 'Jigaboo,' etc.) from high school kids..." (S&B 2/2/68). Howard Ward '69 told the S&B that "Whenever you're downtown you get sneered at, "mostly from high school students" (ibid.). Zelte Crawford, at the time a Black resident advisor on campus, told the college newspaper that "he did not know of a single Negro student here who has not been subjected to some harassment" (ibid.).

Grinnell Herald-Register 11/15/65

Although the newspaper claimed that "other Negro members of the faculty have also reported being threatened," Denis de Coteau was the only Black faculty member identified in the story by name. "Professor Denis de Coteau," the Scarlet and Black said, "while with his two-year-old daughter, has on several occasions been challenged to fight by a town resident...[Moreover,] de Coteau has been nearly run down by townspeople in cars" (2/2/1968). De Coteau himself recalled for the newspaper a conversation he had had with the owner of McNally's who had imagined that Grinnell had no problems of racial antagonism. De Coteau undertook to straighten him out: "I told him an hour and a half of incidents that I had heard about, and by the time I was done he was nearly crying" (ibid.).

2013 Photo of 1312 Main (right side), de Coteau Home 1964-68

Black students took their complaints to the City Council, one person telling councilmen that, "Unless something is done now by the City Council and the Police Department, things are going to get a lot worse around here and somebody is going to get hurt" (S&B 2/10/68). More than 25 Black students attended, and several offered testimony about their encounters with townsfolk. Lucy Pollard '70, for example, "told of being propositioned [by whites she did not know] while [she was] walking downtown" and Greg Coggs '70 told council members that he had been called the n-word by a three-year-old girl. Grady Murdock '70 said that a white townsman had threatened him with a baseball bat. Others reported similar encounters with Grinnell racism.

Clarence "Bill" Peters, Crinnell Chief of Police 1964-83
(Johnson's 1972 Grinnell City Directory, p. 12)

City officials responded with sympathy and incredulity. Police Chief Bill Peters (1921-1996) "admitted that he 'didn't believe it was as bad as it was,'" and Mayor Floyd Beaver (1920-90) claimed that this "is the first time in the 115-year history of the city of Grinnell that anything of this nature has arisen." Professor Alan Jones (1927-2007), who at the time was also a member of the City Council, noted that, because the college now had many more Black students than ever, "until now the people of Grinnell have been sheltered from the problems of Negro students" (S&B 2/10/68).

Dr. Floyd Beaver, Grinnell Mayor 1964-84
(Johnson's 1972 Grinnell City Directory, p. 3)

And then Martin Luther King was murdered. In a textbook case of bad timing and poor decision-making, when King fell dead college president Glenn Leggett was meeting with officials of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest at a former plantation converted into a resort in Pascagoula, Mississippi. According to the S&B, Leggett's visit "provoked...furious controversy on campus." When Leggett returned to Grinnell a smirking editorial welcomed "Colonel Leggett back from the Plantation." De Coteau and visiting Baptist Chaplain at Harvard, Ed Wright, met with Leggett, telling him that "they didn't think his trip to Pascagoula 'was a very good idea at all.'" Citing student concerns, de Coteau said that "it's one thing...for him to vacation on the Gulf Coast. But it is quite another for him—as the official representative of the College—to attend a meeting all the way down in a state noted for what Mississippi is noted for" (4/12/68). Observing that "Mississippi is still part of the U.S.," Leggett could not undo the trip to a state made infamous by the murders of Emmett Till and Medgar Evers.

Another tripwire went off when campus Blacks organized a rally, collecting money to be sent to the striking garbage workers whose cause had brought King to Memphis. Those attending the rally contributed $200, but Grinnell churches proved unresponsive to students' request to allow "a team of one black girl and one white girl" to attend Sunday services to collect money for the memorial. According to organizers, eight of the twelve Grinnell churches contacted "... gave a flat 'NO' and hung up the phone." Three churches combined to contribute $50 and a Gilman church donated another $40. Although various individuals and groups in town added money to the fund, the churches' refusal added to the sense of separation between white Grinnell and campus Blacks (S&B 4/12/68).

Having already resigned his Grinnell post for an appointment at the College of San Mateo, De Coteau had only two months to remain in Grinnell, and the situation remained tense. He might have chosen to concentrate upon packing and his future. Instead, he tried to help. He and Professor of History, Raymond Betts (1925-2007), separately proposed a new program in African and Afro-American Studies (S. Eugene Thompson, "Black Programs at Grinnell," Grinnell Magazine 2, no. 1[Sep-Oct1969]:5). With the sanction of the college's Executive Council, a committee of faculty, students and administrators planned a program for 1968-69 that would include on-campus performances by the Malian Dancers and the Cecil Taylor Quintet, films on the Harlem ghetto and racism in South Africa, and other special events (ibid.). Later this proposal developed an accompanying curriculum and faculty appointments in history and English.

But for Denis de Coteau, the difficult days of being Black in an overwhelmingly white Midwestern world were over. The family moved to South San Francisco where de Coteau's musical career blossomed. After San Mateo, he accepted appointment to California State University at Hayward (now East Bay) where he directed the orchestra. By 1970 he was directing the Oakland Symphony Youth Orchestra, developing a core of outstanding musicians, many of whom followed him to the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra where de Coteau was named Assistant Conductor in 1968; six years later he was made Conductor and Music Director, a position he held until 1998, when he was named Music Director Emeritus. He gained a similar title at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music after having served on the faculty there for years.

Along the way, de Coteau accumulated numerous honors for his conducting, including the Pierre Monteux Conducting Prize in 1969, the year after he left Grinnell. In 1976 he won the ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) award for adventurous programming and in 1992 won the Prix de Martell award. Between 1977 and 1983 he held the post of Music Director of the Flagstaff Festival of the Arts and throughout his career he guest conducted orchestras all over the world, including the BBC Scottish Symphony, the Tokyo City Philharmonic, the St. Louis Symphony, and the Seattle Symphony. As these accomplishments indicate, Denis de Coteau achieved great success as a musician.

For a Black man, that success was especially difficult to reach. As his brief Grinnell sojourn suggests, Denis de Coteau proved adept in navigating a world of racial antagonism. In 1978 he told an interviewer that as a youth in Brooklyn he had "learned to live with all kinds of people. There was a marvelous mix of people in East New York—Italians, West Indians, Germans, Jews. Everyone was an immigrant" (Cohen, "Ballet brings San Francisco music man"). His years in Grinnell certainly challenged his experience with other people, but he did not let that experience defeat him. "For me," de Coteau continued, "the only way to deal with discrimination has been to be excellent. I have to be better than anyone else musically to have my job and I have to continue to work hard to be better to keep the job" (ibid.). Although we might regret the truth of that statement, little in de Coteau's years in Grinnell contravenes the thought. 

Robin Weiner photo for San Francisco Chronicle
(https://www.ctinsider.com/entertainment/article/Knowing-the-Score-Ballet-orchestra-conductor-3005851.php)

Illness sabotaged all this excellence. Diagnosed in 1995 with a benign brain tumor that obstructed vision in one eye and soon thereafter afflicted with cancer in his liver, colon, and right leg, Denis de Coteau kept wielding the baton, seasoning rehearsals of the ballet orchestra with humor, just as he had done with the Grinnell College orchestra thirty years earlier (Laura Evenson, "Knowing the Score: Ballet Orchestra Conductor Denis de Coteau's sense of humor helps him face down racism, cancer," San Francisco Chronicle 5/12/98). But the battle with cancer was not winnable. In 1998 he retired, no longer able to provide the energy that conducting required and in July 1999 he passed away. He was buried in Colma, California, a continent away from his New York birthplace. Tributes poured in and admiring obituaries remembered de Coteau, in whose name the San Francisco Conservatory and San Francisco Ballet established a fellowship "to advance opportunities for Black musicians." 

Grinnell was an early and relatively brief stop on this Black man's life of achievement. But Denis de Coteau, pioneering a Black presence on the Grinnell College faculty in an era shot through with racial hatred, helped brighten the path for Blacks who followed him onto the college campus. More than that, de Coteau taught all those around him about that beauty that inhabits persons just as it inhabits music.

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I was the beneficiary of comment from numerous college alums who played in the orchestra or had other contact with the events considered here. Special thanks to Merryll Penson '70 who solicited memories from a network of alumni of that era. Since I myself never met de Coteau, I learned an immense amount from those who studied under him and knew him.