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Education in Action: the Work of Bennett College for Women, 1930-1960 Deidre Bennett Flowers Submitted in Partial Fulfillment Of

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Education in Action: the Work of Bennett College for Women, 1930-1960 Deidre Bennett Flowers Submitted in Partial Fulfillment Of Education in Action: The Work of Bennett College for Women, 1930-1960 Deidre Bennett Flowers Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy under the Executive Committee of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2017 © 2017 Deidre Bennett Flowers All rights reserved ABSTRACT Education in Action: The Work of Bennett College for Women, 1930-1960 Deidre Bennett Flowers This dissertation is a study of Bennett College for Women (Bennett College), one of two Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) whose mission continues to be the provision of higher education to Black women in America. It is one of just over one hundred HBCUs still operating in the United States. This dissertation tells the story of an institution founded as a day school in 1873 and its reorganization in 1926 as a college to educate Black women. The study answers the following research question: How does student participation in protest and activism at Bennett College for Women between 1930 and 1960 broaden our understanding of the experience of Black women in higher education? Located in Greensboro, North Carolina, Bennett College began operating through collaboration between the Woman’s Home Mission Society and the Board of Education of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The College, under the leadership of David Dallas Jones and Willa Beatrice Player, revised its curriculum and developed and expanded its co-curricular offerings in a way that empowered students to raise their collective voice, and that fostered a dynamic culture of activism among its students, faculty, and the Greensboro community. Until now, little was known of the their activism and protest during the early twentieth century. This dissertation explains how the College reviewed and revised its curriculum and developed a co-curricular program designed to meet the needs of Black women during the early twentieth century, with the goal of re-envisioning their role, place, and voice in American society. It also illuminates the students’ involvement in activism over a thirty-year period to better understand Black women’s higher education experience in the twentieth century. In addition to answering the research question, a history of the college is provided, with a focus on the early years during which David Dallas Jones and Willa Beatrice Player served Bennett College for Women as its first two presidents. I discuss how the curriculum revision and expansion of the co-curricular offerings lent itself to Bennett College re-envisioning the role, place, and voice of Black women in American society. I discuss social and gender roles, norms, and expectations of Black women during the period, as well as the rules and regulations that shaped higher education and campus life for Black women in the South generally and specifically for students at Bennett College. Bennett College publications were used to capture the student and faculty voices, in addition to the types of issues that concerned them, and around which they organized as activists, to advocate and protest. The implications of Bennett’s students’ participation in protest and activism are discussed, and how their activism challenged the gender roles, norms, and expectations for Black women in American society. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Chapter I -- INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 1 Description of Dissertation Chapters .............................................................. 18 Chapter II -- BLACK WOMEN’S HIGHER EDUCATION AND HBCU STUDENT PROTEST AND ACTIVISM ............................................. 21 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 21 Research on Black Women’s Education: A Framework ................................ 28 The Purpose of Educating Black Women ....................................................... 43 Student Protest and Activism at HBCUs ........................................................ 49 Chapter III -- A HISTORY OF BENNETT COLLEGE FOR WOMEN ................... 57 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 57 North Carolina and Greensboro ...................................................................... 58 A Day School, a Seminary, a College for Women ......................................... 71 Bennett College under the Leadership of David Dallas Jones and Willa Beatrice Player ...................................................................................... 91 Conclusion .................................................................................................... 108 Chapter IV -- RE-ENVISIONING BLACK WOMEN’S ROLE, PLACE, AND VOICE IN AMERICAN SOCIETY .................................................. 112 Introduction ................................................................................................... 112 Bennett College Re-envisions Black Women’s Role, Place, and Voice ...... 113 Curricular Change and Co-Curricular Development .................................... 116 Curricular Change ................................................................................ 117 Co-Curricular Development and Evolution ......................................... 132 The Home Making Institute ................................................................. 141 Conclusion .................................................................................................... 157 i Chapter V -- STUDENT PROTEST AND ACTIVISM AT BENNETT COLLEGE FOR WOMEN, 1930-1960 ............................................... 162 Introduction ................................................................................................... 162 Research Context and Significance, 1930-1960 ........................................... 163 Student Protest and Activism at Bennett College, 1930-1960 ...................... 171 The Thirties .......................................................................................... 180 The Forties ........................................................................................... 187 The Fifties ............................................................................................ 210 Conclusion .................................................................................................... 224 Chapter VI -- CONCLUSION .................................................................................. 227 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................... 251 APPENDICES Appendix A -- Abbreviations ........................................................................ 263 Appendix B -- Glossary ................................................................................ 265 Appendix C -- Bennett College Home Making Institutes ............................. 269 Appendix D -- Comparison of Illiteracy Rates ............................................. 270 ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I started this dissertation journey in the fall of 2007, and while the African proverb says, “It takes a whole village to raise a child,” I believe it also takes a whole village to support a doctoral student throughout her graduate school journey. Below are a few of the people in my whole village who have made this journey possible, bearable, and worth the time invested. First, I thank my Teachers College professors who have been on this journey with me for what seems way too long, yet just long enough to get this research project completed at the right time. Professor Cally L. Waite, thank you for admitting this student who barely spoke in class to the doctoral program in History and Education. You have helped me find my voice, and I plan to make good use of it. Thank you for your “tough love”; you pushed me, as I like to say, “over the edge” into unfamiliar territory because, in your words, I needed to know what happened before so that I could understand the time period I really want to study. I cannot thank you enough for this “push”; I certainly needed to be in uncomfortable territory to begin and complete this journey. I am a better researcher and writer because of your push. Professor Bette C. Weneck, thank you for your patience with footnotes, and your encouragement and support for my dissertation topic. Your support did indeed give me “something to hold onto” as I researched in various archives in New York and North Carolina. Professor Ansley T. Erickson, thank you for providing research and writing contacts, as well as leads on student employment opportunities that expanded my research and writing experiences. The work in Columbia University’s Center for Oral History Archives has been an asset on this dissertation research and writing journey. I am grateful to the members of my dissertation committee, Professors Farah Jasmine Griffin, Columbia University; Kimberly S. Johnson, Barnard College; and James E. Alford, iii William Paterson University, for agreeing to be a part of my journey. Your feedback and questions have helped improve the work produced here. I thank former Bennett College president, Dr. Johnetta Betsch Cole, for giving me this research topic during her book talk at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture on the evening of February 24, 2003. In addition, I am grateful to Professor V.P. Franklin for encouraging me to follow this research path when I was enrolled in his course at Teachers College in
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