Composition in Black and White: The Life of Philippa Schuyler

A child prodigy born in Harlem to a noted black journalist and a domineering white mother, classical musician and roving journalist Schuyler (1931-1967) became a 1940s and 1950s racial icon (and inspiration for blacks to take piano lessons). The author describes mother Josephine's boldness in crossing the race barrier and re-creates her assiduous efforts to develop young Philippa's faculties. Haunted by American racism, Philippa found refuge, on tour, in Latin America's more relaxed racial climate; she later had a love-hate relationship with Africa and eventually attempted to perform under an assumed Spanish identity. Further pressured by a troubled love life, Schuyler nonetheless also developed as a writer of both fiction and nonfiction (Who Killed the Congo?), advancing her once-liberal father's right-wing views. She died in a helicopter crash in Vietnam, where she had gone to write. Talalay, assistant archivist/editor at the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York City, has produced an incisive and readable biography of an intriguing figure. (Nov.)