SBO+: In our May 2026 issue, we announced that the American Bandmasters Association has created the Alton Adams Legacy Recognition to be presented to outstanding concert band conductors and composers who had not previously been recognized by ABA.
It was not that many years ago that many organizations were only open to membership by white men. The result was that generations of women and people of color were either denied entry to those professions or faced obstacles and challenges to their success and in the case of music education, the success of their students.
One of the two inaugural recipients of the Alton Adams Legacy Recognition is Kernaa McFarlin, a legendary Florida band director. I encourage you to read his inspiring story.
At age eleven, Kernaa D. McFarlin began his career in Tampa, Florida under the tutelage of Captain Carey W. Thomas, retired director of bands at Florida A & M University. Later, he played in the Middleton High School Band and received a scholarship to Florida A & M upon graduation.
During his college years, he was the woodwind section leader in the band and orchestra. Kernaa credits Leander Kirksey with outstanding woodwind instruction. In 1943, Mr. McFarlin was inducted into the U.S. Army and soon became a member of the famous 92nd Infantry Division Band. The 92d Infantry Division, known as the “Buffalo Division.” was the only African-American infantry division to serve in combat in WWII. During his military career, he attained the rank of Sergeant.
After leaving the Army, Kernaa returned to Florida A & M where he participated in the college bands under the direction of William P. Foster. Because of Mr. McFarlin’s experience and training, he was able to provide valuable assistance and leadership in the development of the newly re-activated college band program.
Upon graduation, Kernaa McFarlin was appointed to be the first official band director at Stanton Senior High School in Jacksonville, Florida. During his tenure as the band director, he earned a Master’s Degree from New York University. McFarlin’s bands amassed a total of nineteen consecutive years of superior ratings in the Florida Association of Band Directors and the Florida Bandmasters Association contests. Other highlights of the achievements of this band include being selected as Florida’s representative at the 1964 New York World’s Fair, participating in three Florida Governor Inaugural parades, and being selected by the Florida Department of Education to appear at the 1966 Midwest National Conference of Colleges and University Education’s “Education is for All” convention. In 1966, Mr. McFarlin’s Stanton High School band was recognized by the Instrumentalist magazine as one of the “highly regarded bands in the Southeast” and performed at the Midwest National Band Clinic (now the Midwest Clinic).
For twenty-seven years, Mr. McFarlin served as an honorary member and adjudicator of the Florida Bands Association. He received over fifty awards for musical excellence and community service.
In a speech, Mr. McFarlin described some of the hurdles he and other Black band directors faced:
Battles by local school administrators, parents, and community activists eventually forced some school board members to provide adequate funding for instruments, equipment, and practice facilities. As an example of the depravity existing during this time, Duval County did not hire its first black band director until 1948. . . . In 1948, I was appointed band director at Stanton High School. There were sixteen students who had an instrument to play. The school had five instruments which had been acquired by Coach J. P. Small.
In 1966, the Stanton Band competed in the first integrated Florida Bandmasters Association festival and was one of only six bands to receive straight Superior ratings (out of 76. As such, they were invited to perform at the convention and McFarlin described:
“There were many in the audience who doubted our merit for being there. There was some show of racism present as evidenced by the presence of waving Confederate flags, someone hollering in the audience, ‘Whatcha gonna do, play Night Train?” while some in the assemblage laughed. When our three selections were announced, Jubilee March, Phedre Overture and the finale to Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5, there were murmurs of disbelief. When our band finished playing, we received a standing ovation which lasted until after the band left the stage.”
Dr. Richard Bowles, Director of Bands at the University of Florida wrote:
Stanton “always performed last on the program, because nobody wanted to follow them.” Bowles was very impressed when he visited Stanton to have the band read through one of his compositions. Students arrived early to practice independently. The concert band of approximately one hundred students included a very well-balanced ensemble including many color instruments, double reeds, horns, and tubas. Students with school-owned instruments wore white gloves with fingertips cut out so they would not tarnish the instruments.
SBO+ joins the American Bandmasters Association in recognizing the outstanding contributions to music education by Kernaa D. McFarlin.
