Re Leonard Abess’ Jan. 29 Other Views article, UM — 50 years after desegregation: I attended the University of Miami’s School of Music from 1962-66 and made my first black friend.
In our freshman year, he told me that he would never be allowed to perform on stage at either Dade County Auditorium or the Theater of the Performing Arts because of his color.
I argued that since we were both on full music scholarships that he was wrong. By the end of our first semester, he had withdrawn from classes.
It was several years later that a French horn player, Ben Ford, crossed that barrier. Then Rodester Branden, who chairs the music department at the Kendall Campus of Miami Dade College, sealed that crossing. Whether the hands of UM were tied until then, I’ll never know.
Like Abess, I’m happy that my two sons have had the pleasure of performing with many races of musicians.
Sally Ann Ford, Miami
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