![]() ![]() But the Great Depression prevented him from earning the needed funds.Įventually he got a job doing research and writing for the New York Federal Writers Program, an offshoot of the Works Progress Administration. When they first became acquainted, Ellison had every intention of returning to Tuskegee. While in New York, Ellison met the writer Richard Wright. ![]() It was a fateful decision: He never returned to his studies at Tuskegee and never became a professional musician. In the summer of 1936, Ellison went to New York City to earn expenses for his senior year at Tuskegee. Although drawn to jazz and jazz musicians, Ellison studied classical music and the symphonic form because he was looking forward to a career as a composer and performer of classical music. By 19, he had enrolled at Tuskegee Institute as a music major, playing the trumpet. He played his first instrument - a cornet - at age 8. His mother supported her young family by working as a nursemaid, a janitor and a domestic.įrom an early age Ellison loved music and expected to be a musician and a composer. Born in 1914 in Oklahoma City, the grandson of slaves, Ralph Waldo Ellison and his younger brother were raised by their mother, whose husband died when Ralph was 3 years old. ![]()
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