Ulysses Kay: Twentieth Century Composer

"Markings" was commissioned by the Meadow Brook Festival, Oakland University. Written in memory of U.N. Secretary Dag Hammarskjold and dedicated to Oliver Daniel, it received its premier performance on August 18, 1966 in Rochester, Minnesota, at the Meadow Brook Fesetival, with the Detriot Symphony, Sixten Ehrling conducting. Howard Klein, writing in the New York Times of August 20, 1966, called the work "A masterpiece of conservative modern orchestral writing."

In 1972, WNET-TV (Channel 13) featured "Markings" on a program entitled "The Black Composer," that included scenes from the life of Hammarskjold.