Ruth Crawford (1901 - 1953)

Though Ruth Crawford left only about fifteen works, most of them composed between 1924 and 1936, her place is secure in the front ranks of American women composers. She completed a Masters of Music degree in 1929, then traveled to Germany, supported by the first Guggenheim Fellowship in composition ever awarded to a woman. Upon returning to the United States, she married the leading intellectual and theorist Charles Seeger. In 1935 she moved with her family to Washington, D.C., where she spent the rest of her life as a music educator dedicated to teaching and championing folk music.