Composition in Black and White: The Life of Philippa Schuyler

By Kathryn Talalay

Book Overview

George Schuyler, a renowned and controversial black journalist of the Harlem Renaissance, and Josephine Cogdell, a blond, blue-eyed Texas heiress and granddaughter of slave owners, believed that intermarriage would "invigorate" the races, thereby producing extraordinary offspring. Their daughter, Philippa Duke Schuyler, became the embodiment of this theory, and they hoped she would prove that interracial children represented the final solution to America's race problems.
Able to read and write at the age of two and a half, a pianist at four, and a composer by five, Philippa was often compared to Mozart. During the 1930s and 40s she graced the pages of Time and Look magazines, the New York Herald Tribune, and The New Yorker. Philippa grew up under the adoring and inquisitive eyes of an entire nation and soon became the role model and inspiration for a generation of African-American children. But as an adult she mysteriously dropped out of sight, leaving America to wonder what had happened to the "little Harlem genius." Suffering the double sting of racism and gender bias, Philippa had been rejected by the elite classical music milieu in the United States and forced to find an audience abroad, where she flourished as a world-class performer and composer. She traveled throughout South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia performing for kings, queens, and presidents. By then Philippa had added a second career as an author and foreign correspondent reporting on events around the globe--from Albert Schweitzer's leper colony in Lamber n to the turbulent Asian theater of the 1960s. She would give a command performance for Queen Elisabeth of Belgium one day, and hide from the Viet Cong among the ancient graves of the Annam kings another.
But behind the scrim of adventure, glamour, and intrigue was an American outcast, a woman constantly searching for home and self. "I am a beauty--but I'm half colored...so I'm always destined to be an outsider," she wrote in her diary. Philippa tried to define herself through love affairs, but found only disappointment and scandal. In a last attempt to reclaim an identity, she began to "pass" as Caucasian. Adopting an Iberian-American heritage, she reinvented herself as Felipa Monterro, an ultra-right conservative who wrote and lectured for the John Birch Society. Her experiment failed, as had her parents' dream of smashing America's racial barriers. But at the age of thirty five, Philippa finally began to embark on a racial catharsis: She was just beginning to find herself when on May 9, 1967, while on an unauthorized mission of mercy, her life was cut short in a helicopter crash over the waters of war-torn Vietnam.
The first authorized biography of Philippa Schuyler, Composition in Black and White draws on previously unpublished letters and diaries to reveal an extraordinary and complex personality. Extensive research and personal interviews from around the world make this book not only the definitive chronicle of Schuyler's restless and haunting life, but also a vivid history of the tumultuous times she lived through, from the Great Depression, through the Civil Rights movement, to the Vietnam war. Talalay has created a highly perceptive and provocative portrait of a fascinating woman.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195113934
• ISBN13: 9780195113938
• Release Date: April 1997
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 360 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.5" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

More than I hoped for

I was very happy with my copy of this book. Not only because I finally got to read about my very famous cousin who died a few weeks after I was born, but because of the fantastic service I received. I expected the book to arrive at the end of the 14-day shipping window. Then -- bam! -- it was hear about four days after the e-mail notification. Considering that the post office was already having quality control issues before they asked Congress if they could shut down a slew of processing centers, lay off thousands of workers and cut out Saturday deliveries, I was just hoping I'd receive the package. The book was as advertised. It had some dog ears and a few highlights, but otherwise it was in very good condition, almost like new. I am enjoying what I've read so far. Overall, it was a very pleasurable experience.

A Must Read!

This story is important in African American History. My boyfriend know about her because his niece attended the school named after her. It is an interesting story of a child prodigy of mixed race because of racism couldn't blossom into the next Mozart. There are many heros of African American background that should be acknowleged and discussed in the classroom.

Partly dark but riveting story of a mulatoo virtuoso

As a social historian and african-american writer I enthralled when I read the NY Times Book Review of Kathryn Talalay's bio of phillippa Schuyler. Schuyler made her mark as a musical child prodigy and later, as an adult, a celebrated composer-pianist. Schuyler's life as an international performer in one sense mirrors that of another but more recognized "tragic mulatoo", Dorthy Dandridge. And her last career as a grounbreaking war correspondent in South Vietnam is particularly entriguing. Overall, Talalay's book is marvelous but the high brow and sordid realities of Schuyler's life are especially deserving of a major made-for-cable TV treatment. Similiarly to what recently afforded Dandridge. That way Talalay's thought provoking examination of Schuyler's achievements could be made accessible to a greater number of african-americans and others alike.

I enjoyed the book very much.

I am very glad I read this book but the story made me very sad for you see, Philippa was my first cousin, once removed. Daniel Calhoun Cogdell, was her grandfather and my great grandfather. I was 30 years old when Philippa died and I would love to have known her. The family never discussed Josephine Cogdell, Philippa's mother, except to say she was eccentric and died young. How sad they missed out on so much and so did I for I did not know she even existed. Yes, very sad indeed.

An extremely thoughtful, impressive and provocative story

I read this book after purchasing it from an Oxford catalog. I'd wanted to buy it since I read the NY Times review. I absolutely loved it. I applaud the scholarship and research of the biographer, but also the humane description of a very complex character. I'd never heard of Phillippa Schuyler, before I read the book review. Although she had many flaws, including her ambiguity about her blackness, she still had a remarkable life and is one of my "sheroes". Her story intrigues me and I want to know more about her father and his writing. Her life ended tragically, but she lived it fully. I am saddened that she so hated her African heritage that she thought the only way she could succeed was to pass herself off as anything but black. I also purchased a copy to send my sister, who is a classical music buff. This is another example of the history of African-Americans being "lost, stolen, or strayed". Every school child should know about Phillippa, as well as the many other gift and talented African-Americans. I am sorry she didn't claim her heritage. I claim her.