In 1962 at New York’s Henry Street Playhouse Opera Workshop, under the direction of Felix Popper, assistant conductor of the New York City Opera, he sang the role of Aeneas to Rose Bampton’s Dido in a concert version of Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas.
The following year he created the role of Ernesto for the American premiere of Joseph Haydn’s opera Die Welt Auf Dem Monde (The World of the Moon), under Popper’s direction.
Winner of a N.Y. State Singing Teachers Award, Bidu Sayao, President, his Carnegie Hall debut was well-received in The New York Times.
Instead of returning to the South, Prettyman contributed to the Civil Rights Movement through book publishing, initially at Harper & Row, Inc. (1963-71) where he was Executive Editor for the Social and Behavioral Sciences and Humanities, College Department, as well as Consultant for History in the Elementary and Secondary School Book Department, Evanston, Ill, and Senior Editor, Trade Non-fiction.
The company focused on publishing work by diverse authors that dealt with social and behavioral science issues primarily as well as drama, poetry and fiction of the Black experience.
He served on the editorial board for Christianity & Crisis magazine, was chairman of the Minority Publishers’ Committee of the Council on Interracial Books for Children, and was a member of PEN and Pi Delta Epsilon (Journalism).
Author of numerous articles and lecturer in education, social and political thought, Prettyman presented “The New ‘Redeemers’ Recent Conservative and Liberal Assaults on Minority Rights in the U.S.” as the W.E.B.
In Pioneers of Africana Philosophy, The Center for the Humanities, City University of New York, 2021, he presented “Rending the Veil: How Do We See Each Other.” The film, “Ogun’s Fire: The Sculpture of Melvin Edwards,” (PrettySteady Productions) of which he was Executive Producer, was selected Best Film/Video in the Fine Arts XV Black International Cinema Festival 2000, Germany and USA.