I had wanted to go to Harvard because of its reputation and nearness to Great Barrington. But our high school was not up to its standards. And many of the leading citizens felt that I should go to college down south at Fisk University.

My family was uneasy about this choice. But instead, I saw an opportunity to avoid the spiritual isolation that I had begun to experience as a result of growing older.

I would get a chance to be around my people like those I saw at the picnic in Providence. I had flashbacks of when the Congregational Church had a Hampton Quartet sing some Black folksongs. I remembered being thrilled and moved to tears by hearing and feeling something so moving, something that was so deeply my own.