The String Queens
Who Are They?
The String Queens are an award-winning ensemble of three gorgeous Black women musicians and educators: Kendall Isadore, Dawn Johnson, and Élise Sharp. Formed in 2017, they created the group after recognizing how rarely Black women were seen in prominent classical music spaces. Their mission is to inspire people to love, hope, blend classical music with jazz, gospel, R&B, hip-hop, and popular music while expanding who gets to be seen as a classical musician. (Read)
What makes them significant is that they are not simply performers. They are educators, mentors, and cultural ambassadors who use music to challenge stereotypes about who belongs in classical music and whose stories deserve to be heard. (Read)
Why They Matter in the Black Freedom Tradition
For centuries, Black artists have been told that there were spaces they could enter and spaces they could not.
Nina Simone wanted to be a classical concert pianist but encountered barriers that redirected her path so sang in clubs. The String Queens represent a generation that refuses to accept those boundaries and carved a different path. Rather than choosing between classical music and Black musical traditions, they embrace both.
Their work says:
Blackness belongs in every room.
Black musicians have never been visitors to classical music. They are creators, interpreters, educators, and innovators within it.
By performing everything from Beethoven and Mozart to Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, and contemporary artists, they challenge the false divide between “high art” and Black culture by blending them. (Read)
Their Work is Advocacy
One of the most important lessons from the Civil Rights Movement is that representation is not cosmetic—it can change what people believe is possible.
When young Black children see three beautiful Black women commanding a concert stage with violins, viola, and cello, they see themselves reflected in a place where previous generations were often excluded.
That is advocacy.
That is movement work.
That is cultural resistance.
The String Queens have often described their work as “music with a mission.” They use performance and education to build equity, access, and representation in the arts. Their commitment extends beyond the stage into classrooms and communities.
A Reflection
From spirituals sung in secret, to Nina Simone’s protest songs, like “Mississippi Goddam”- to The String Queens reclaiming space in classical music, Black music has always been more than entertainment.
It preserves memory.
It challenges power.
It has expanded possibility.
The struggle for freedom is not only fought in courtrooms, legislatures, and the streets. It has also been fought in concert halls, classrooms, churches, clubs, and recording studios.
Every generation has its own freedom songs.
The String Queens remind us that sometimes advocacy looks like a protest march, and sometimes it looks like three Black women walking on stage and playing music in a space that was never designed with them in mind.
That’s not just performance.
That is representation. That is resistance. That’s joy. ✊🏾🎻🖤🎶
Our ancestors turned survival into art, struggle into song, and hope into action. That is a legacy no one can erase.
Stay Informed — Stay Engaged — Be Empowered
“A strong democracy requires more than voters — it requires vigilant citizens.”
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Thank you so much for sharing this!! So much joy and beauty. Loved the teaching moment with the young teenager singing his song. I am blown away. All of this lifted me up. Thanks Ms Dee!!
The world needs more of this. Bravo ♡☆♡