The Parker Thomson Legacy Award Ruth W Greenfield
Born in Key West in 1923 to a Jewish merchant family, Ruth Miriam Wolkowsky (Greenfield) moved to Miami as an infant. From an early age she showed an impressive talent for the piano. Her musical pedigree included early studies with composer Manna-Zucca (student of Busoni), renowned Beethoven scholar-pianist Artur Schnabel at the University of Michigan, and the great French pedagogue Nadia Boulanger, Aaron Copland’s teacher.
Ruth’s 20th century Miami ranged from pristine Biscayne Bay to segregated Colored Town, today’s Overtown. As a child she recalled: “One day I walked from my house for an ice cream cone and saw a sign saying: ‘No dogs, no Jews’. In 1949, she married lawyer-artist Arnold Greenfield in Paris, a city of non-discrimination in the Arts. Returning to segregated Miami, the contrast was overwhelming. She started the Fine Arts Conservatory in 1950, one of the first fully integrated schools for music, art and dance in the South. Challenging the segregated racial status quo was daunting and took real courage. By the 1960s, FAC was incorporated into the Dade County School system with the help of Congresswoman Carrie Meek. In 1975, Ruben Askew awarded her the Governors’ Award for the Arts.
Ruth Greenfield taught Humanities at Miami Dade College for 32 years, and with the invaluable support of President Eduardo Padron, started the free Lunchtime Lively Arts Series in the late 1970s, which is credited with invigorating downtown Miami and making the arts accessible to many. Guests included: writer Isaac Bashevis Singer, comedian Dick Gregory, Broadway writer George Abbott, The Ink Spots, composer Phillip Glass, and the renowned Peking Acrobats. In 2011, the college rededicated its Wolfson Campus auditorium in her honor; two years later, the Steve Waxman documentary INSTRUMENTS OF CHANGE (You Tube) depicted her history with FAC and MDC. On January 22, 2021, Mayor Daniela Levine Cava proclaimed “Dr Ruth Greenfield Day”. And on her 99th birthday, 7th Street Road in Spring Garden Miami was co-designated RUTH GREENFIELD WAY.
On behalf of the Greenfield Family, Charles, Timothy, Frank and Alice, we gratefully thank the Arsht Center for the first Parker Thompson Legacy Award.