From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)

Young, Aurelia J. Norris

(born: 1915 - died: 2010) Aurelia Young was a musician, composer, performer, writer, and educator. She was formerly a music professor at Jackson State College [now Jackson State University], a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, and an original charter member of the Jackson (MS) Alumnae Chapter, serving as the first president of the chapter, 1941-1943. In 2008, she attended the chapter's "Legacy of Leadership" program.

Aurelia J. Norris was born in Knottsville, KY, the daughter of John H., a farmer, and Hilda A. Stone Norris [sources: Kentucky Birth Index and the 1920 U.S. Federal Census]. By 1930, the family of five had moved to New London, OH, where John was employed as a mechanic. Aurelia studied piano and violin and was a top graduate of her high school class. She was a 1937 graduate of Wilberforce University, where she studied music theory, organ, and French horn. She moved to Mississippi, intending to teach for one year then leave, but she stayed after she married Jack Harvey Young, Sr. in 1938. Jack Young (1908-1976) would become a distinguished civil rights lawyer in Mississippi. Aurelia Young described her role in the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement as a supporter of her husband's efforts.

In 1955, Aurelia Young earned her Master of Music degree at Indiana University, then continued her studies in Europe and Africa. She held copyright [PAu002421668] to Trilogy, created in 1995. Aurelia Young died in Los Angeles, California on October 17, 2010 [source: Social Security Death Index].

For more see the Aurelia Norris Young entry in Accomplishments of Mississippi Women, funded by the National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year; Mississippi Black History Makers, by G. A. Sewell and M. L. Dwight; P. Jenkins, "PTA hears panelist: accept me as human," Delta Democrat-Times, 10/14/1970, p. 10; Mississippi, America [videorecording] by J. McCray; and J. Irons, "The Shaping of activist recruitment and participation: a study of women in the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement," Gender and Society, vol. 12, issue 6, Special Issue: Gender and Social Movements, Part 1, (Dec. 1998), pp. 692-709.