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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Hello, Dolly! on Broadway from 1964 to 1970; and eventually open his own dance school in New Haven.
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.
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.
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.
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, Black/Out.
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.
Abod and Bowen married in 2013, after more than thirty years together. Three years later, Abod directed a documentary about Bowen's life, The Passionate Pursuits of Angela Bowen. The film won Best Documentary in the "Women's History U.S." category at the To The Contrary Film Festival in 2017.
Dr. Angela Bowen died on July 12, 2018 in Long Beach, California. She was eighty-two years old.