Helen Elise Smith Dett (April 1888 – 2 October 1950) was an American pianist and music educator, the wife of composer Robert Nathaniel Dett. She was the first black graduate of the Damrosch Institute of Musical Art (now Juilliard School) and co-founder of the Martin-Smith School of Music in New York.
Early life Helen Elise Smith was born in New York City, daughter of Charles Smith, a butler from Maryland, and his wife, Josephine, from Louisiana.1900 United States Federal Census She graduated from the Damrosch Institute of Musical Art in 1907,Andrea Olmstead, Juilliard: A History (University of Illinois Press 1999): 38. becoming the school's first black graduate."A Musician" The Crisis (February 1917): 188.
Career Beginning in 1912, Smith was co-founder and co-director of the Martin-Smith Music SchoolLucien H. White, "Music Notes" New York Age (December 6, 1919): 6. via Newspapers.com in New York City, with violinist David I. Martin, which aimed to "give all deserving children an opportunity regardless of their ability to pay for instruction, to train professional musicians as missionaries to work in conjunction with other educational institutions, and to make special provision for pupils of unusual aptitude and talent to continue their work in more advanced schools".Eileen Southern, The Music of Black Americans: A History (WW Norton 1997): 288-289. After marrying in 1916, she moved to the Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) in Virginia, where she taught piano and was frequently featured as an accompanist at concerts and recitals."Recital" Southern Workman (September 1920): 427-428."Soprano and Pianist Open Musical Season at Hampton Institute" New York Age (October 23, 1926) 7. via Newspapers.com She moved with her husband to Rochester, NY, and gave solo performances there while raising their two children. She also served as Secretary of the Rochester chapter of the NAACP. When her husband took a job at Bennett College"Wife of Composer, Teacher at Bennett" Pittsburgh Courier (September 11, 1937): 5. via Newspapers.com in North Carolina she also taught piano there, but the family continued residing in Rochester. She sold the family home in Rochester by 1948"United States, New York Land Records, 1630-1975", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:68Z3-W16Z : 16 October 2022), Helen E Dett in entry for Warren J Clark, 1948. and relocated to the New York City area with her daughters.
Personal life Helen Elise Smith married composer and educator R. Nathaniel Dett in 1916. They had two daughters, Helen Dett Noyes Hopkins and Josephine Dett Gregory Breelove."Miss Helen E. Dett Weds Henry Noyes at Bennett College" New York Age (June 13, 1942): 4. via Newspapers.com"Sunday in Jamaica" The New York Age (January 1, 1949): 7. via Newspapers.com She was widowed when Dett died in 1943.Marianne Hanson, "R. Nathaniel Dett" at Blackpast.org.
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