Title: Frances Walker-Slocum Papers

ID: RG 30/222

Extent: 2.75 Linear Feet

Frances Walker-Slocum was born on March 6, 1924 in Washington, D.C. She began her music training at the age of four and one-half. After four years of private study, her parents enrolled her in the junior division of the Music Department at Howard University. There she studied piano and theory until her graduation from Dunbar High School in 1941. In this year, she also gave her first full recital in the Howard University Chapel, Washington, D.C.

At the age of five, Walker-Slocum was severely injured when her dress caught fire. The burns she received from this fire made her early life difficult. After a year-long hospitalization and multiple surgeries, her right arm remained shorter and weaker than her left arm. She pushed herself to overcome this handicap and developed her piano technique to enable her to play the piano with power and speed. She and her brother, composer George Walker (O.C. ‘41, honorary D.M., 1983), grew up in a home embodying strict discipline and control. Their father Dr. George Theophilus Walker (1874-1952), a Jamaican immigrant, emphasized accomplishment and excellence at a time when minorities may have received less encouragement. Their mother, Rosa King Walker (1889-1960), who worked at the Government Printing Office, also leant her support.

When Frances Walker entered the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 1941, Oberlin was the only place an African American could earn an undergraduate degree in music. After graduating in 1945 as a Pi Kappa Lambda member, with a major in piano and organ, she studied for a year at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. Her long and distinguished teaching career began in 1947-48 at Barber-Scotia College in Concord, North Carolina; in the following year, she joined the faculty at Tougaloo College in Tougaloo, Mississippi (1948-49), where she met Henry Chester Slocum (O.C. ‘48). At that time, Mississippi state laws blocked inter-racial marriages, and the Slocums were forced to leave Tougaloo. After marrying in New York City, she studied at Columbia University Teachers’ College, receiving the M.A. in 1952 and the Professional Diploma in 1971 for having completed credit requirements; she did not, however, complete a dissertation to earn the Doctorate degree from Columbia University. For seven years (1957-1964) she was a piano instructor at the Third Street Settlement School in New York City. She returned to academia when she was named pianist-in-residence at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, 1968 to 1972. Four years later, in 1972, she was appointed Assistant Professor of Piano at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey. She remained a faculty member at Rutgers during her first years on the faculty at Oberlin, while her husband worked as the Vice President of the Equitable Life Assurance Company in New York City, leaving only after his death in June 1980.

Frances Walker-Slocum made her musical debut at Carnegie Hall in New York City in 1959, where she performed Liszt, Rachmaninoff, and Chopin, among others. She considered herself a performer and concentrated her efforts on performing, especially during the 1970s and 1980s. She played many times in New York City, namely with the orchestra in Carnegie Hall, five concerts in Carnegie Recital Hall (most notable being the 1975 Concert of Black American Composers), the Abraham Goodman Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the old Times Hall, two concerts in Town Hall, the Brooklyn Museum, radio broadcasts on WNYC and WQXR, and many other recitals too numerous to mention. She made a tour of the NYC Community Colleges, three concerts at Kennedy Center, including one in the main hall as a Bicentennial Concert representing the State of New Jersey. Walker-Slocum also performed recitals at the Phillips Collection, the Corcoran Art Gallery, and several concerts at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Two tours of Europe led her to the major halls in London, Amsterdam, Berlin, and, in 1981, a tour of the Amerika Hauser in Germany (part of the Frankfort concert was televised). In touring the cities in Germany, she was considered by some the good-will Ambassador for the United States and Oberlin College was acknowledged. In 1985, in addition to returning to play at Carnegie Recital Hall, she was accepted into the Ohio Arts Council Touring Program and received from the United States Information Agency formal support to perform when traveling. In August 1990, she performed and lectured at Manila and Cebu in the Philippines.

On the basis of a review of one of the above referenced New York City recitals, Frances Walker-Slocum was invited to Oberlin to perform in January 1976. Shortly thereafter she was appointed to the Oberlin Conservatory faculty as Visiting Associate Professor of Pianoforte for 1976-1977. She held a replacement appointment (for Leon Bates) and a one-year reappointment in the succeeding years. In 1979 she received tenure as an Associate Professor, followed by promotion to a full professor in November 1981. In 1982-83, Frances Walker-Slocum was on sabbatical during the first semester. In 1985-86, she was Departmental Chairman, for the first academic semester. During most of her teaching career at Oberlin, she had to deal with salary equity issues.

Her non-teaching service to the Conservatory and College was notable in many ways. She was the first black woman in either division to be tenured. In 1983-85, she served as the President of Phi Kappa Lambda. Walker-Slocum chaired the Special Educational Opportunities Program (SEOP), later called SCOPE, for two years, serving on it as a member three years. It fostered minority groups on campus, and she was a spokesperson for minority views on campus throughout her career. In drawing on her own student experience at Oberlin during the 1940s, she spoke out effectively for cultural diversity. In 1985 Oberlin College recommended Frances Walker for consideration for a Lorain County Women of Achievement Award.

Until her retirement in 1991, she was a successful piano teacher with enthusiastic students, many of whom have won significant recognition. Her contacts with her students continued long after their graduation, and in retirement she continued her advisory role at the Conservatory of Music. Simultaneously, she maintained an astonishingly active career as a recitalist both on and off campus. Her frequent performances in major centers worldwide (Europe, New York City, Washington, D.C., and on campuses in the United States) drew critical acclaim. She was praised for her strength, intelligence and love of music as well as her emphasis on music by black composers.

As a performing artist for Orion Records she completed albums of music by Samuel Coleridge Taylor, William Grant Still, Wendell Logan, and many lesser know minority composers.

Her career as a teacher and performer brought her accolades from many organizations; most notably she was honored for her contribution to music by the National Association of Negro Musicians in New York City in 1979 and in Southfield, Michigan in 1985. In 2004, she was awarded the Alumni Medal from Oberlin College.

Frances Walker-Slocum lived in Oberlin during her retirement. She stopped playing piano in the late 1990s after developing rheumatoid arthritis in her hands. She died at the age of 94 on June 9, 2018. She is survived by her son, Jeffrey Slocum, a granddaughter, and two great-granddaughters.

Sources Consulted

Oberlin College Archives

Frances Walker-Slocum faculty file (RG 28).

Frances Walker-Slocum case file.

Forms of Material (links to similar genres)

Languages of Materials

Administrative Information

Scope and Contents:

The papers of Frances Walker-Slocum contain biographical material, correspondence, greeting cards, performance and recital programs, ephemera, publicity files, and several scrapbooks. The bulk of the collection is made up of greeting cards, performance programs, and publicity materials. The most significant materials are the performance programs in series 3. Dating from the 1940s to the mid-2000s, these files document Walker-Slocum's performances at Oberlin College and at venues across the United States and Europe, as well as performances by her students and her brother, George Walker. The programs detail the wide range of pieces of music Walker-Slocum played, the location of the concerts, and whether she performed with other musicians.

Of potential interest to scholars in series 4 are published reviews dating from the 1940s through the early 2000s, as well as fliers, pamphlets, press releases, and posters from the same time period. The reviews describe the highs and lows of Walker-Slocum's performances, often praising her for her technique and selection of music. An undated Washington Post review called her performance at the Terrace Theater "the most beautiful concert of the season" and giving "a gorgeous program of shamefully neglected American music." Despite the rich record detailing her performances, the collection is limited in several respects. Notably absent are teaching files, which would document Walker-Slocum's academic career. The biographical series holds a limited number of personal photographs.

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Series 1. Biographical Files, 1936-2010, n.d. (span) (0.16 linear feet)

Consists primarily of undated resumes which list education, teaching experience, honors and awards, concerts performances, and recitals. Also included are awards and certificates she received and performance contracts. Some materials provide information about her brother, George Walker, her husband, H. Chester Slocum, Jr., and her son, Jeffrey Slocum. A few photographs are present in this series of Walker-Slocum as a child and an adult in the 1960s and 1980s to early 2000s.

Series 2. Correspondence, 1940-2011, n.d. (0.5 linear feet)

This series contains personal and professional correspondence to (and from?) Frances Walker-Slocum. The series is divided into two subseries: Subseries 1. General Correspondence and Subseries 2. Greeting Cards. The majority of the correspondence contains performance requests and letters congratulating Walker-Slocum on her performances and awards. Also included are letters detailing the personal lives of her friends and colleagues. Greeting cards dating from 1943 to the mid-2000s make up the bulk of the series and include cards from her friends and her husband, H. Chester Slocum, Jr. congratulating her on her achievements, celebrating her birthday and anniversaries, and to wish her well.

Series 3. Performances, 1940s-1990s, 2010-2011, n.d. (0.4 linear feet)

Comprises programs from Walker-Slocum's performances at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and concert halls around the United States, Europe, and the Philipines, including performances in East and West Germany. The series additionally contains programs from her brother George Walker’s performances, and programs of performances by her students.

Series 4. Publicity Files, 1940s-2000s, n.d. (span) (0.17 linear feet)

Consists of newspaper clippings and promotional materials that date from the 1940s to the mid-2000s. Most significant are concert reviews from Walker-Slocum’s performances. Fliers, pamphlets, posters and press releases promote Walker-Slocum's concerts.

Series 5. Ephemera, c. 1970s, 1971, 1987, 1991 (0.02 linear feet)

This small series includes ticket stubs, dinner invitations, and event seating charts dating from the 1970s to the 1990s.

Series 6. Scrapbooks, 1906-2000s, n.d. (span) (1.5 linear feet)

Consists of two complete scrapbooks and two disassembled scrapbooks. The bulk of the scrapbook materials cover the 1960s to the 1980s. One scrapbook was presented to Walker-Slocum by the Oberlin College and Conservatory faculty upon her retirement in 1991. The other scrapbooks contain programs, newspaper clippings, and awards that document her career. A few loose scrapbook pages document her grade school education at the Shaw Junior High School.

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