Undine Smith Moore (1904–1989) was regarded as the "Dean of Black Women Composers." She was originally trained as a classical pianist, but developed a compositional output of mostly vocal music, her preferred genre. Much of her work was inspired by black spirituals and folk music, and her pieces range from arrangements of spirituals to large works for chorus, soloists, and orchestra. Although she composed more than one hundred pieces between 1925 and 1987, only twenty-six were published during her lifetime.

Moore was outspoken on her thoughts surrounding the Civil Rights Movement and the impact it had on her music. In later life, she stated: "One of the most evil effects of racism in my time was the limits it placed upon the aspirations of blacks, so that though I have been ‘making up’ and creating music all my life, in my childhood or even in college I would not have thought of calling myself a composer or aspiring to be one."