- unitid
-
{"value"=>"186371", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"*MGZMD 577", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"b23698744", "type"=>"local_b"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1940-2016", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1940/2016"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Angela Bowen collection"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"10 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"3.96 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear_feet"}]}
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"24 computer files", "unit"=>"computer_files"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"102.9 megabytes", "unit"=>"megabytes"}]}
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"1 audio recording", "unit"=>"audio_recordings"}]}
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"33 moving image recordings", "unit"=>"moving_image_recordings"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Jerome Robbins Dance Division</span>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Dr. Angela Bowen (1936-2018) was a Black dance educator, lesbian rights and feminist activist, writer, and professor. The collection, dated 1940 to 2016, illustrates Bowen's career as a dance school owner and teacher, and her impact on her students and community in New Haven, Connecticut. The Angela Bowen collection consists of concert programs, correspondence, dance programs, flyers, newspaper articles, and video recordings of performances."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Bowen, Angela, 1936-2018", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Dr. Angela Bowen was a Black dance educator, lesbian rights and feminist activist, writer, and English professor. She was born on February 6, 1936, in Boston, Massachusetts. Her mother, Sarah Allen Bowen, enrolled fourteen-year-old Angela in a dance program at the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts in Boston to help correct Angela's posture. She remained with the school until she was twenty-two, helping teach younger dancers and keep the books.</p> <p>Bowen attended Roxbury Memorial High School, and later, Emerson College. She began dancing professionally at age 19 and left college to travel, studying at the New York Ballet Theatre School and Carnegie Hall. Bowen then toured Europe with the Jazz Train, a musical revue that depicted the history of Black American song and dance.</p> <p>When Bowen was twenty-four, she returned to the United States and briefly worked with Elma Lewis again. She married conga drummer Kenneth (Ken) Ivan Peters, whom she met at the Elma Lewis School, in 1961. They had three children together: Kippy, Jomo, and Ntombi Peters. Kippy was killed in a car accident in 1966, just before his fourth birthday.</p> <p>On September 1, 1963, the Bowen/Peters School of Dance opened its doors in New Haven, Connecticut and the first classes were held on October 3, 1963. The school provided instruction to many low-income Black students at no cost, and was active until 1982. For the first few years, Peters worked three jobs and Bowen worked two to support the school and its costs. Bowen taught Afro-Haitian dance, ballet, jazz, and tap; Peters instructed the students in conga drumming. The drum students would often make their own drums for performances, and accompanied the dancers.</p> <p>The school almost closed in the aftermath of the death of Kippy Peters in 1966, but kept going due to a promise Bowen had made in 1965 to a student, Larry Ferrell, to devote at least two years to Ferrell's dance career. Ferrell would go on to teach at the B/P School; perform in <span class=\"title\">Hello, Dolly!</span> on Broadway from 1964 to 1970; and eventually open his own dance school in New Haven.</p> <p>The Bowen/Peters Dancers, a group of thirty teenage students of the school, began in 1974. Primarily an African dance and drum group, the Dancers performed throughout the Northeast. In 1975, the Bowen/Peters Company was formed, made up of older high school graduates who were able to travel more than the younger group.</p> <p>In 1976, the non-profit Bowen-Peters Cultural Arts Center was created in a large, renovated former fire house. The upgraded space and increased capacity for students was needed: by 1978, total enrollment at the School reached 230, with a waitlist of over 400. Peters' mounting health struggles forced him to step away from the artistic direction, management, and executive responsibilities in 1980. Bowen hired staff in 1980 and 1981 to help run the organization, while Peters continued to teach.</p> <p>On August 25, 1982, the Board of Directors passed a resolution to suspend operations of the School, citing expenses, economic uncertainties, and declining student enrollment.</p> <p>After the dance school closed, Bowen and Peters separated amicably. They remained close until Peters' death in 2009. Bowen came out as a lesbian and moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Bowen met her partner, Jennifer Lynn Abod, at a Take Back the Night rally in 1979. She served as a board member of the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays, and eventually became the co-chair of the organization. She also served as editor for the organization's magazine, <span class=\"title\">Black/Out</span>.</p> <p>In 1992, Bowen graduated from the College of Public and Community Service at the University of Massachusetts at Boston with a bachelor's degree in human services. She then went on to earn a master's degree in 1994 and a doctorate in 1997, both in women's studies, at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. After completing her studies, Bowen and Abod moved to Long Beach, California, where Bowen joined the faculty of the California State University, Long Beach, as a professor of English and Women's Studies. She was the first Black woman to join the staff of the Women's Studies department. Abod was also a member of the Long Beach faculty.</p> <p>Abod and Bowen married in 2013, after more than thirty years together. Three years later, Abod directed a documentary about Bowen's life, <span class=\"title\">The Passionate Pursuits of Angela Bowen</span>. The film won Best Documentary in the \"Women's History U.S.\" category at the To The Contrary Film Festival in 2017.</p> <p>Dr. Angela Bowen died on July 12, 2018 in Long Beach, California. She was eighty-two years old.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Angela Bowen collection dates from 1940 to 2016 and chronicles Bowen's career as a dance teacher and co-operator of the Bowen/Peters School of Dance, alongside her then-husband, drummer Ken Peters. The collection is arranged into materials related to the Bowen/Peters School, and personal materials.</p> <p>The Bowen/Peters School of Dance files include copies of the school's by-laws; awards recognizing Bowen for her role at the school; mass mailers sent to students' families about yearly schedules and announcements; letters from former students; recital flyers and programs; video recordings of rehearsals and performances; and newspaper articles about the school, its students, or Bowen.</p> <p>Photographs are particularly well represented and include shots of Bowen and Peters teaching; both dance and drum students during practice, dress rehearsals, and performances; and the renovated fire house that housed the school during its final years. Some photographs are annotated with notes for use in programs, flyers, or newspaper articles.</p> <p>Personal Materials include some juvenilia for both Angela and her daughter, Ntombi; video recordings of performances by Ken Peters after he and Angela separated in 1983; Bowen's certificates in labanotation; memorial videos for Peters and Larry Ferrell, both produced by Dr. Jennifer Abod; and promotional flyers and posters for Abod's documentary about Bowen, <span class=\"title\">The Passionate Pursuits of Angela Bowen</span>.</p> <p>Of particular note are the artifacts from Bowen's time with the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts. These include a program cover featuring a young Bowen in the role of Odette for <span class=\"title\">Swan Lake</span>, and a plaster mold of Bowen's foot for pointe shoes.</p>"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p>The collection is arranged into Bowen/Peters School and Personal. Files are arranged alphabetically within each topic.</p>"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Purchased from Dr. Jennifer Abod in 2023.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by <span class=\"name\">Em Longan</span> in <span class=\"date\">2025</span>.</p>"}
- date_start
-
1940
- keydate
-
1940
- date_end
-
2016
- date_inclusive_start
-
1940
- date_inclusive_end
-
2016
- extent_statement
-
3.96 linear feet (10 boxes). 102.9 megabytes (24 computer files). 1 audio recording. 33 moving image recordings
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"Angela Bowen collection, *MGZMD 577. Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts"}