Oberlin grad shares her life in memoir
By: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Issue date: 2/21/07 Section: State
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The Assoicated Press
OBERLIN, Ohio - To overcome her fear of flying in the late 1970s, Frances Walker-Slocum read voraciously, primarily autobiographies.
Her genre choice was deliberate. Someday she planned to write a memoir about how she overcame the obstacles of being a black classical pianist and college professor married to a white man.
Her book, "A Miraculous Journey," was published last year.
"I was so angry. I was getting rid of a lot of chips off my shoulder," said Walker-Slocum, who turns 83 next month.
As the snow swirled out the back window of Walker-Slocum's spacious living room in Oberlin last week, she talked about a life of sadness, survival and success. It is a story she has been sharing this month as part of Black History Month.
Walker-Slocum was severely burned at the age of 5 while playing with matches, just a few months after she had started piano lessons. During her yearlong recuperation in her hometown of Washington, D.C., where he father was a medical doctor, she dreamed of being hailed from the stage.
The 1945 Oberlin College graduate made her musical debut in 1959 at Carnegie Hall in New York City. She returned there and performed at other New York and D.C. theaters over the years, while teaching at Rutgers University and later Oberlin College. She also toured Europe twice.
But racism was rampant during those years. When children of prominent musicians called her "monkey," the children were not reprimanded. She did not venture out of her neighborhood because the stores and restaurants would not allow a black person inside. She wanted to study music at an unsegregated college, but she had few choices.
"Oberlin was the only place to think about going," she said.
Her older brother, George Walker, also graduated from Oberlin. He won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1996.
At Oberlin she roomed with another black student. The house mother did not conceal her dislike of black students. During Thanksgiving break, Walker-Slocum stayed at Oberlin. When the holiday meal was served, she went to sit at the house mother's table, but the woman yelled for her to leave.
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