Word: wilkerson
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Being a Black woman at Harvard compounded her sense of isolation. The first day she was here Wilkerson encountered the type of racist attitudes that in Shaker Heights "were kept quiet," While she waited outside the janitor's room to get the keys to her freshman dorm, another newly arrived freshman asked her if she was the janitor's assistant. "I was shocked--I expected race not to be an issue here," she says, adding that she quickly realized that although Harvard students were bright many "brought their racism with them...
...escape isolation, she began to identify strongly with the Black students at Harvard. "Minorities here have to question constantly what statement they're making by being and staying here," she says. This common question unites them. Wilkerson answered the question after freshman year by deciding not to return in the fall...
That summer she took classes at the American Dance Festival in New London, Connecticut. The Festival also provided opportunity to audition for professional choreographers and she was offered a role in a touring company. The role seemed perfect for the year off. Wilkerson had already told Harvard she was taking, but the decision to accept the offer suddenly proved difficult. The world of dance seemed limited; dancers only know dancing, she says. "I suddenly felt that I could make Harvard into a place...
...successful new Harvard-Radcliffe Dance Co. and her concentration reinforced her commitment to dance--a commitment strengthened by her parents funding dance lessons. The summer after sophomore year her parents again offered to pay for a summer of dancing lessons, and Wilkerson left for New York City. "I know I'm very fortunate," she says. "I've always known that when I am dancing I also won't have to waitress six hours...
...Wilkerson talks of Solomon Brothers with enthusiasm, but of dance with passion. "It's like doing nothing else, it makes me feel like singing. I can't really put it into words, but I guess that's why I dance," she says...