Dr. Barbara Ann Teer gave up a promising career in commercial entertainment to concentrate on developing African-American culture in Harlem and founded the National Black Theater. A dancer and actor who appeared frequently in New York productions, on Broadway and off, she had grown tired of being offered stereotypical roles by white producers and became a fierce and eloquent advocate for Black artists and a Black culture independent of the white-dominated mainstream. Ms. Teer was born in East St. Louis, Ill., on June 18, 1937, and moved to New York City after earning a Bachelor of Arts in dance from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. On Broadway, Ms. Teer was dance captain in “Kwamina,” a 1961 show choreographed by Agnes de Mille, and appeared in 1966 as an actor in William Inge’s comedy “Where’s Daddy?” In the 1960s, Barbara Ann began teaching at Harlem's Wadleigh Junior High School. Her methods helped to develop the Group Theatre Workshop, which became the foundation for the world renowned Negro Ensemble Company. In 1968, she founded the National Black Theatre with the aim of maintaining and developing African American cultural traditions. In 1983, Teer expanded the purpose and vision of the National Black Theatre by purchasing a 64,000 square foot city block of property on 125th Street and Fifth Avenue, creating the first revenue generating black art complex in the country by housing several entrepreneurial businesses. Barbara Ann was an award-winning performer, director, visionary entrepreneur and champion of the Black Arts Movement. Forged out of an original company of artists known as The Liberators, and directed and trained by Dr. Teer, NBT generated a new way of releasing the Soul Energy inherent in the Black lifestyle called “The Five Cycles of Evolution'' to move participants from “self-conscious art to god conscious art.” This pyramid process of performing and training evolved to be called TEER: The Technology of Soul. In May 1994, she was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Rochester, New York; in 1995, she received an honorary doctorate degree of humane letters from the University of Southern Illinois. Teer is included in Who's Who Worldwide, which recognizes her as a global business leader and has received more than sixty awards and citations.

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