 According to Oden, "As black Americans well knew, if they didn't have a profession, they could not expect much of life.I was educated to teach or pursue the law.I did not care to do either..." Instead, after graduation she chose to remain in Washington DC and take a government job before moving to New York City in 1951 to take a position clerking for The National Infantile Paralysis Foundation headed by Basil O'Connor.