I was always drawing and painting and when I was in high school I decided that since that was I was always doing, that it was my passionate interest, that I would pursue that as a career. In high school I’d always been encouraged all through the years by teachers. I grew up in the Bronx in New York with the Irish, the Italian, the Polish, and a large Jewish community. I was always encouraged by my teachers; all my teachers have been white through high school. I graduated high school with a portfolio to make the rounds of the art schools for a scholarship, because with the number of children in our family, you could not go further without a scholarship.
I applied for a scholarship from one of the leading art institutes in New York City and was told this is the best portfolio we have seen but it would be a waste to give a scholarship to a colored person. I went back to the high school and they said, “Look Ashley, you’ve graduated in January. Take a post graduate course. Do any work you like with us and develop your portfolio even further. In the summer take the exam for the Cooper Union School of Art and Engineering. They do not see you there.”
I took that exam in 1940 and it was in three parts. You did a drawing exercise, an exercise in sculpture, and an exercise in architecture. You put your responses on the tray and set it on the great hall of the Cooper Union with your name and address. On the basis of that the selection for admission was made and I was fortunate to be one of the small group that was admitted to the Cooper Union. The Cooper Union continues as tuition-free to this day. If you get past whatever their requirements are, you have your undergraduate tuition covered in the fields of art, and engineering as well.
