Helen Eugenia Hagan (January 10, 1891 – March 6, 1964) was an American composer, pianist and music educator of African descent.

[5][6] She received the Samuel Simmons Stanford scholarship to study in Paris, with Blanche Selva and Vincent d'Indy, and graduated from Schola Cantorum in 1914.

In early 1919 she left for France to entertain black troops of the American Expeditionary Forces, along with spirituals singer Joshua Blanton and the Rev.

[9] A 1917 Tulsa newspaper article publicizing her 12 February appearance there excerpted Hagen’s recent reviews from Chicago, Quincy (IL), Dallas, Mobile, Birmingham (AL), Parkersburg (WV), and New Haven.

[16] She taught at the Mendelssohn Conservatory of Music in Chicago and pursued a Masters of Arts degree from Teachers College, Columbia University.

[20][21] The only known video footage of Helen Hagen is in the 1954 New York Board of Education documentary Let Us Break Bread Together, where she is shown performing in a school context.

[24] Composer and Yale School of Music alum Soomin Kim has re-orchestrated the work based on the existing sources.