Composition in Black and White: Life of Philippa Schuyler - The Tragic Saga of Harlem's Biracial Prodigy Book

A pianist and composer at the age of four, Philippa Schuyler was often compared to Mozart. In the 1930s and 40s, she graced the pages of Time and Look and grew up under the adoring gaze of an entire nation. She was the role model and inspiration for a generation of African-American children, but as an adult she mysteriously dropped out of sight, leaving her fans to wonder what had happened to "that little Harlem genius." In fact, she had grown up to become a world class performer, a talented composer, an author, and a journalist. But Schuyler was rejected by the elite milieu of classical music in the United States and forced to find an audience for her talents abroad. Suffering under the dual sting of racism and her own conflicted identity, she assumed an elaborate false persona when she did return home. She was still in search of herself when her life was cut short by a helicopter accident in war-torn Vietnam. The first authorized and complete biography of Philippa Schuyler, Composition in Black and White draws on previously unpublished letters, diaries, and interviews, to tell the story of a turbulent, adventurous life and a complex personality. Philippa Schuyler was born of the controversial interracial marriage of George Schuyler, a renowned journalist of the Harlem Renaissance, to Josephine Cogdell, a Texan heiress and granddaughter of slave owners. Influenced by behavioral psychology and by theories of "hybrid vigor," her parents brought Philippa up so strictly that later she would speak of herself as their "puppet" and would struggle to escape their influence. Kathryn Talalay describes Philippa's early successes as a concert pianist and composer in the United States until she began to encounter racism, and details her sojourns through South America, Europe and Africa, where she performed for kings, queens and presidents. Composition in Black and White also explores Schuyler's decision to pass as Caucasian and describes how she reinvented herself as an Iberian-American named "Felipa Monterro" who lectured and wrote for the ultra-conservative John Birch society. We witness Schuyler's growing interest in writing and follow her exploits as a traveling journalist. Finally, we see how the tragedy of her untimely death was compounded by the fact that her journalistic work in Vietnam had forced her to come to terms with who she was and what she believed in. Extensive research and first-hand interviews make Composition in Black and White not only the definitive chronicle of Schuyler's troubled life but also a vivid history of the tumultuous times she lived through from the Great Depression, through the early Civil Rights movement, to the Vietnam war. Talalay has created a highly perceptive and provocative portrait of a fascinating woman.Read More