Philippa Duke Schuyler (1832 - 1967)

A child prodigy, Philippa Duke Schuyler began her public concert career at age four and was already composing little piano pieces. When she was twelve, Philippa's award-winning composition, Manhattan Nocturne, was performed by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. In later years, she made three world concert tours under the auspices of the State Department. In 1963, along with Leontyne Price and Lena Horne, Schuyler was honored at the Delta Sigma Theta “We Salute Women of Achievement” awards. She was also an author - publishing five books about her life and travels; and a news correspondent. She died in 1967, at the age of 35, in a U.S. Army helicopter crash while evacuating Vietnamese children from Hue to Danang.