Women's History Month Spotlight: Frances Walker-Slocum
The Oberlin College Archives holds the papers of Frances Walker-Slocum (1924-2018, Oberlin Conservatory Mus. B. 1945). Walker-Slocum had long ties to the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and was an accomplished pianist and professor.
Walker-Slocum began her piano career early in life, starting lessons at only four and a half years old. When she was five, an accident caused her dress to catch fire and her right arm was severely burned. After about a year of recovery, she overcame her injuries and continued to practice the piano and relearn techniques due to the lasting effects of her burns. She gave her first full recital in 1941 (the same year she graduated from high school) in the Howard University Chapel in Washington, D.C.
Walker-Slocum enrolled at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 1941, as this was the only institution allowing Black people to earn an undergraduate degree in music. She graduated in 1945 with a Mus. B. in piano and organ. After graduating, she began her teaching career at a few institutions before becoming a faculty member at Tougaloo College. While teaching at Tougaloo, Frances met H. Chester Slocum (Oberlin College A.B. 1948). Laws in Mississippi did not allow interracial marriage and they were forced to move so they could get married.
Walker-Slocum received an M.A. at the Columbia Teachers' College in 1951. She continued teaching in New York City and other institutions on the east coast, and began her professional performance career in 1959, debuting at Carnegie Concert Hall.
(Recital program for Frances Walker-Slocum's debut at Carnegie Recital Hall, March 8, 1959)
Walker-Slocum continued teaching while still performing within the United States, most frequently in New York City and the surrounding areas. She toured in 1975-76 for the United States' Bicentennial, starting at Carnegie Recital Hall, performing the music of Black American composers (including her brother, George Walker OC 1941). She brought this concert to Oberlin College, Tuskegee University, the National Gallery of Art, and many other universities and institutions.
(Recital program for The Music of Black American Composers Bicentennial performed by Frances Walker-Slocum, September 14, 1975)
Walker-Slocum performed recitals often and toured Europe twice. On her German tour in 1982, she continued her popular Black American composers program, and included works by former Oberlin Conservatory faculty member Wendell Logan.
(Poster and recital program from Frances Walker-Slocum's tour of Germany, 1982)
Walker-Slocum began her teaching career at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 1976. She was the first Black woman to hold a tenured faculty position at Oberlin, and dealt with salary inequity issues during her entire tenure, due to both her race and gender. She retired in 1991, and continued to teach and perform long after.
To learn more about Frances Walker-Slocum, check out the finding guide for her papers here, and her project page on the Digitizing American Feminisms online exhibit.