Undine Eliza Anna Smith Moore (25 August 1904 – 6 February 1989), the "Dean of Black Women Composers", was an American composer and professor of music in the twentieth century. Moore was originally trained as a classical pianist, but developed a compositional output of mostly vocal music—her preferred genre. Much of her work was inspired by black spirituals and folk music. Undine Smith Moore was a renowned teacher, and once stated that she experienced "teaching itself as an art". Towards the end of her life, she received many awards for her accomplishments as a music educator.

Undine Eliza Anna Smith was born the youngest of three children to James William Smith and Hardie Turnbull Smith. She was the granddaughter of slaves. In 1908, her family moved to Petersburg, Virginia. Her hometown of Jarratt, Virginia, consisted of a large African-American population, and she would later recall memories of the community singing and praying at the Morningstar Baptist Church. Of her childhood, she said that "above all else, music reigned." She was also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.

At age seven, Undine Smith began taking piano lessons under Lillian Allen Darden, who later encouraged her to attend Fisk University, where she studied piano and organ with Alice M. Grass and theory with Sara Leight Laubenstein. Smith turned down a scholarship to Petersburg's Virginia Normal Institute in order to enroll at Fisk, a historically black college. In 1924, the Juilliard School granted Smith their first ever scholarship to a student at Fisk, allowing her to continue her undergraduate studies. Moore graduated cum laude in 1926.

In 1931, during the Harlem Renaissance, Smith received a Master of Arts and professional diploma in music at Columbia University's Teachers College. From 1952–53, Moore studied composition with Howard Murphy at the Manhattan School of Music, and would often attend composition workshops at the Eastman School of Music.

Although her teachers encouraged her to continue her studies by enrolling at the Juilliard School, Undine Smith Moore instead took a job as supervisor of music in the public schools in Goldsboro, North Carolina. In 1927, Moore was hired as piano instructor and organist at Virginia State College (now Virginia State University) in Petersburg, where she was also assigned with teaching classes in counterpoint and theory, for which she was "particularly renowned". The college appointed Moore director of the D. Webster Davis Laboratory High School chorus, and due to the school's low budget, Moore would write her own music to cater towards the students' needs.

In 1938, Smith married Dr. James Arthur Moore, the chair of the physical education department at Virginia State College. The couple often performed together in recitals, as James Moore was a trained vocalist. On January 4, 1941, Moore gave birth to her only child, a daughter, Mary Hardie Moore.

In 1969, Smith Moore and Altona Trent Johns become co-founders of the Black Music Center at Virginia State College, which aimed to educate members about the "contributions of black people to the music of the United States and the world." Aside from teaching, Moore considered the Center to be her "most significant accomplishment. In 1972, the Black Music Center closed after Smith Moore retired from Virginia State College. She traveled widely as a professor and lectured on black composers and also conducted workshops. Moore was a visiting professor at Carleton College and the College of Saint Benedict, and an adjunct professor at Virginia Union University during the 1970s.

She continued her teaching career as a distinguished professor at Virginia Union University until 1976, meanwhile teaching at multiple colleges in Minnesota. She taught various musicians including Camilla Williams, Billy Taylor, and Phil Medley.