Philippa Schuyler

Philippa Duke Schuyler (/ˈskaɪlər/; August 2, 1931 – May 9, 1967) was an American child prodigy, pianist, author, and journalist. The daughter of black journalist George Schuyler and Josephine Schuyler, a white Texan heiress, Schuyler became famous in the 1930s as a result of her talent, intellect, mixed race parentage, and the eccentric methods employed by her mother to bring her up.

Hailed as "the Shirley Temple of American Negroes," Schuyler was a noted pianist performing public recitals and radio broadcasts by the age of four. She performed two piano recitals at the New York World's Fair at the age of eight. Schuyler won numerous music competitions such as the New York Philharmonic Young People's Concerts at Carnegie Hall. She became the youngest member of the National Association for American Composers and Conductors at age eleven. Schuyler encountered racism as she grew older, and had trouble coming to terms with her mixed race heritage. She later became a journalist and was killed in 1967 in a helicopter crash in South Vietnam.