[1][2][3][4] She was accepted into the High School of Music & Art, where she worked with Leonard Bernstein and performed at Lincoln Center.
[1] She then earned a scholarship to attend Syracuse University, where she became part of the first class of Black students to integrate the school.
[1][4] After graduating from Syracuse, Russell pursued postgraduate studies at Hunter College and worked as a teacher in the South Bronx.
[1] As a young woman, Russell worked on weekends at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, which introduced her to the world of literature.
[1] After moving to England, she began working as a writer, starting as a journalist for the Women's Review, an alternative publication in London.