Black Artists as Interpreters of Black Expressive Culture

Note to Floyd: How about one sentence about Tony's significance to this section?

Antonio "Tony" Zamora was director of Purdue University' Black Cultural Center (BCC) and Assistant Director of the Purdue Memorial Union for more than 22 years. He is an accomplished jazz saxophonist and jazz ensemble leader.  Born, raised and educated in Chicago, Illinois, Tony Zamora attended DuSable High School where his interest in music was initially stimulated and eventually developed.  During the mid-sixties, Tony and his Jazz Ensemble were the most visible and successful group to bring people from various cultural, racial and religious backgrounds in Champaign-Urbana and Central Illinois together. (Read Tony's "Musical Journey")

Zamora was appointed a research associate in the School of Music and served as Director of the Afro-American Cultural Program at the University of Illinois from 1970-1972.  Prior to that time, he founded and coordinated the Uhuru Ensemble, a collective of writers, poets, dancers and musicians who performed mini-concerts at elementary and high schools throughout lllinois. Tony also was one of the first music ensemble leaders to successfully coordinate and present performances in non-traditional settings in the State of Illinois. In addition, he established a free music tutorial program for children and young adults at the Frederick Douglass Community Center in Champaign-Urbana.

In 1973, Tony came to Purdue as the first Director of the Black Cultural Center (BCC). The Center thrived for more than 22 years under Zamora's leadership, becoming a nationally acclaimed organization that brought to campus many dignitaries, such as Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni, James Baldwin, John Hope Franklin, Lerone Bennett and Muhammad Ali.  Zamora was the driving force behind the creation of the Helen Bass Williams Scholarship Fund, the first scholarship established for an African-American female educator at Purdue University.

ln October 1999, at the 30th anniversary celebration of the African-American Cultural Program at the University of Illinois, Zamora was a recipient of the past director's award for the "Promotion and Maintenance of the Culture of Africans in America, Generally and the University of Illinois Campus Specifically." Long before retiring with emeritus distinction in 1995, Zamora had put into works plans for a new BCC building, which was completed and dedicated in October 1999. 

Since retiring, Zamora has volunteered his service to the Lafayette "Learning for Life" program where he speaks to Junior and High School students throughout the Central Indiana area, offering counseling in careers and the performing arts. Additionally, he speaks to various civic organizations and advises Purdue students. Tony continues to empower/advocate for students of all colors and continues to lead the Tony Zamora Jazz Ensemble, where the group performs jazz concerts at colleges and universities, conventions, festivals and for a variety of special events and entertainment venues. He and his wife Betty reside in Lafayette, Indiana.

For more about Tony Zamora, a complete biography is available at http://www.purdue.edu/bcc/library/zamora/bio.html .