Quick viewing(Text Mode)

African-American Women and Hunter College: 1873-1945 Linda M

African-American Women and Hunter College: 1873-1945 Linda M

This article discusses the history of African-American women at Hunter from the first year of their admission in 7873, to the year the institution ceased to be an all-women's college in 7945. This history is particularly important in view of the enormous resistance and opposition that A frican-A merican women experienced in their attempts to attend predominantly institutions of higher education in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. African-American Women and : 1873-1945 Linda M. Perkins

AJrican-American women were N HER SEM IN AL STUD Y OF THE HISTORY OF Crandall was jailed, and the school was vandalized a visible presence in Hunt er women's higher education, In the Company of and burned. After she married in 1834, Crandall CollegeJrom its ea rlies t days. Educa ted Women , Barbara Miller Solomon was abandoned all attempts to establish a school for Class photographs, yearbook the first to observe that Hunter was unique in African-American girls. 2 pictures and student publica- _ its inclusive treatment of women from diverse In an important move for African-Americans, tion s attest to the diversity oj social , religious and racial backgrounds. She noted Oberlin College, established by abolitionists, the student body and the range that, after Oberlin College, in Ohio, and Kansas announced in 1833 that it would admit women and oj activities available to all State University, Hunter enrolled more African­ Blacks on the same basis as white men. Many students. Clockwise Jrom top : a American women prior to the than any other African-American families valued education so graduation picllm Jrom 1893, institution that was not a Black college. t highly that they relocated to Oberlin to enable Patricia Williams, Secretary oj Throughout the nineteenth century, opportuni­ their children, both male and female , to have access the 1940-1941 Student ties for African-American women to attend institu­ to the college. In 1850, for example, when Blanche Co uncil, the 1932 Yearbook tions of higher education were extremely limited. In V. Harris, was denied admission to a female semi­ photograph oj Dorothy the South, slavery and later the lack of adequate nary in Michigan, her entire family moved to Williams, treasurer oj the public primary and high school education kept Oberlin. Similarly, Mary Jane Patterson's parents Marion Wilson Starling ,'28 Hunter Chapter oj Sig ma Tau most African-Americans from attending college. As moved to Oberlin from North Carolina in the participated actively in the Delta nationa l writing a result, although institutions called '' were 1850s. Patterson became the first African-American lIfe oj the Co llege. Her year­ Jraternity and 011 the 5taJJs oj established fo r African-Americans during and after woman to earn a college degree (1862), and three b~ok entry indicated that she both the student newspaper, the Civil War, until the first two decades of the other Patterson women and one man followed her was elected to The Bulletin , and the yearbook, twentieth century most of these were actually ele­ lead. By 1910, more that 400 African-American and majored in . The Wistarion . Pictures oj mentary and high schools. In the North, while women had attended Oberlin College3 Her other activities ill eluded the students oj various ethnic back­ African-Americans did have access to primary edu­ While educational opportunities for African­ Varsity Costume Committee, grotmds appeared routinely ill cation, it was usually in segregated schools. Americans residing in the North were far greater Secretary and Treasurer oj college publications. Although white female seminaries emerged in than those in the South, they were still limited. Writers ' Club, Make-up Box, the North and in during the early and Public education was primarily s~parate and Classical Club, President oj mid-nineteenth century, few African-American unequal, except in small towns and rural areas, and Writers' Club, Vice-President women were allowed to attend. When Prudence attendance in high school was difficult and rare. In oj lournalism Club, Classi- Crandall, a Quaker abolitionist, admitted an Albany, , for example, African-American ca l Club, Editor oj Classica l African-American student to her Canterbury parents had sent their children to Wi lberforce Club Paper, and the English Fe male Boardi ng School in Connecticut in 1833, School (a Black public school) since before the CM. the parents of the white students threatened to Civil War. However, when the parents petitioned Withdraw their daughters from the school. Crandall for admission to the all-White Albany Free closed the school and later reopened it as a board­ Academy, a public school for advanced work and ing and teacher-trai ning school solely for African­ superior students, their children were refused American young women. Local opposition then admission until 1871 4 Induced the town to pass a law barring schools In his study on the education of African­ which admitted out-of-state African-Americans or Americans in New York State, Carlton Mabee notes 16 those who were not residents of Canterbury. that, of the more than 150 academies in the state 17 the Normal College. The Annual Reports listed the memoirs, Having Our Say, the sisters recalled the dif­ riences in white colleges. As early as 1900, DuBois names and examination scores of all entering stu­ ficulty African-Americans continued to have in had noted the difficulty that many African­ dents, as well as the public school each had attend­ becoming teachers in the city's public schools - American women experienced in attempting to gain ed. From 1873 until 1882, when the Colore particularly in a predominantly white school. In entrance into white women's colleges. In his study, Schools were finally abolished, the number of 'col­ 1930, Sadie became the first African-American to "The College-Bred Negro," DuBois asserted that it ored' students admitted appeared as a separate cate­ teach domestic science in a white high school in was easier for an African-American male to gain gory9 The socioeconomic background of these stu­ New York. When she had begun teaching in 1920, entrance into a White male college than for an dents was as varied as that of their white counter­ she had been assigned to a predominantly African­ African-American woman to gain entrance into a parts. Occupations of African-American parents list­ American school in . She remembered that White women's college, concluding that the ed in the registrar's records included: janitor, laun­ "this was a typical assignment of a colored teacher. women's colleges were "unyielding" in their preju­ dress, seamstress, waiter, clerk, teacher, cook, coach­ [The New York Board of Education] most certainly dices against African-American women. 16 man, caterer, steward, merchant, sexton, and rector. did not wa nt us in schools where the children were It was particularly difficult to gain entrance into Mary A. Lewis was admitted as an advanced stu­ white. The parents would object." I 3 When Delany the Seven Sister Colleges. I ? In 1913, after an dent in the first class of African-Americans to attend reached the top of the seniority list for the position unpleasant dispute over the question of housing an the College and was the first to graduate in 1874, available at a white high school, she applied for the African-American woman at , the with an 85 average. Laura Adair and Annie post but deliberately failed to appear for the per­ Seven Sister campuses were polled on their policies. Nomlal College students Lawrence Dias graduated in 1876. Two others who sonal interview, claiming that there had been "a Only affirmed a policy of welcomed President Benjamin entered in the first group left prior to graduation t mix-up in the appointment." Delany later boasted nondiscrimination in housing and admissions. Mt. Harrison to New York for accept teaching positions; another student neve that lithe plan worked! Once I was in, they couldn't Holyoke, Vassar and Bryn Mawr stated that they the celebration of the Centen­ 18 enrolled and one left to study music. 10 figure out how to get rid of me."14 did not admit African-Americans at all. These col­ ~Iial of the Uniled States In 1874, another eight African-American women Another reason for the dramatic decline in the leges were thought to represent finer womanhood Cons titution , 1889. were admitted, although only half enrolled. Of th number of African-American students admitted to and to be the epitome of culture and learning; such from lS4d ttJ 1860, 'probably only eight accepted four who attended, only one, Mary Lane, graduat Hunter in the 1880s and '90s may have been that Class photograph, 1884. Afriqn-Americans5 In 1870, frustrated by the lim­ ed, in 1880. The other three left the institution du the growth of schools for African-Americans in the African-Anlerican women were ited . opportunities for higher education, several to "continued absences.II Interestingly, as more an South during Reconstruction and the later decades admitted to 1/" Normal College prominent Africa n-Americans proposed establish­ more African-American women attended predomi of the nineteenth century attracted many northern­ Oft the same ba~is as all others, ing' a Bl~dk college named after the Haitian revolu­ nantly white public schools after the abolition 0 ers to that region. Teachers were desperately need­ but IIntil the mid-twentieth tionary ' leader, Toussaint L.:Ouverture. Others separate schools, the number of African-American ed in those schools and many were hired without centu'Y/ their ?lumbers were opposed the plan, fearing that such self-segregation admitted to Hunter declined. By 1881 , only on diplomas or degrees. The registrar's record at small. The few who en rolled would result in . permanently segregated schooling woman was admitted out of a total of 808 accepte Hunter noted that African-American students often oftnl appeared surrounded by an'd , as 'a remIt, the proposal never came to students. II left school "to teach." a sea of white fa ces. fruition .6 It is possible that the drop in the number 0 Thomas Hunter wrote lengthy comments in his . F ,r Blacks in , public education African-American women accepted to Hunter was annual reports, but other than the numerical listings was.r imi ed tb foupsegregated elementary schools reflection of the fact that, until the turn of the cen of the African-American women, he made no men­ known as Colored Schools I, 2, 3, and 4. African­ tury, their prospects for a teaching position in th tion about their entrance into the College. In his Am ican teachers for the segregated schools city schools were slim or non-existent. Blacks ha Autobiography, published posthumously by his receIved · their trainihg primarily at the Colored been employed as teachers only in the segregate daughters, Hunter recalled that only two of the l'Jorln.a l School, available to them only on schools, and these positions were abolished by th thirty-five facu lty members at the Normal Coll ege SatJ ~ d ay . Although New York State legislation in early 1880s. As a result, few bothered to take th objected to the presence of the African-American 18i1'3 ba~red., discri ination in public education on Hunter entrance examination . students. He separated the students, placing two of the D sis of race, the law was not always enforced'? It is unclear where most of the fifty-Six African them in each class and aSSigning the darkest women Hunter College wa an exception. American women who attended Hunter by 18 to the classes of the faculty members who objected hi nt<,;r, original.!y the Female Normal and High were ultimately employed. Two of the ten African to their admission. Hunter noted also that there was Scho I but soon rdlamed the Normal College, was American teachers working at the Black publi no opposition on the part of students to the admis­ established as the counterpart to all-male City school in in 1887 were Hunter graduates sions from the Colored Schools.15 I College. Its primary purpose was to provide the city Susie Frazier, '87, was placed on the city's list a The lack of fanfare about the admission of with a steady supply of well-trained teachers for the teachers eligible for appointment upon graduatio African-American women to the Normal College rapidly expanding public school system, although but was passed over repeatedly for a permanen was highly unusual. African-American scholar gradUates were not required to teach. It was the position. In the I 890s, she visited the ward trustee W.E.B. DuBois kept close accounts of African­ only public school offering education to girls and and members of the school board to appeal, unsuC­ American college students and graduates. In 1910, worrlen beyond the eight years of primary and cessfully, for racial justice. In 1895, she hired an he was appointed editor of The Crisis magazine, the grammar school: despite its name, it was New York African-American attorney to bring suit against th journal of the National Association for the I City's first public high school for girls 8 school board but failed also in this attempt. Finally: Advancement of Colored People. During his editor­ Admission to Normal College (and City after using political influence, Frazier was given ship, a special issue each August was devoted to Col1ege) was based solely on examination scores, permanent appointment to a school. 12 higher education and included photographs of age and residency requirements. This was unusual. Although Frazier was a 'first,' equity in obtainin graduates of both Black and White institutions Ph . EquaiIy important, the College w~s tuition free. In a teaching position in the city's public school otos and names of Hunter graduates were often 1873, eight African-American women from the remained a formidable challenge for African portrayed. These issues also carried letters from 18 Colored Schools qualified for and were admitted to Americans. In Sadie and Bessie Delany's best-sellin African-American students who wrote of their expe- attributes were not considered compatible with the Some students objected to rooming or eati Hunter's campus and student body were quite considered for admission. Luckily, Barnard officials white conception of African-American women.19 with African-American students. When different. Hunter students were all commuters, and referred her to Hunter. Although there is no record of opposition to the Americans were requested to eat at a separate ta thus Africa n-American women escaped the humilia­ At Hunter, Murray was told, once again, that her admission of African-American women to Hunter they wrote, outraged, to campus authorities: tion of excl usion from housing and dining facilities . segregated high school in North Carolina had not College, Thomas Hunter's autobiography indicates Housing was not an issue and there was no discrim­ prepared her for admission to college. Also, she was that he held views common in the late nineteenth We expect to endure some slight here, to meet some ination in dining or in other areas of student life. not a resident of New York. In her book, she century concerning the hierarchy of intelligence prejudice, but when it comes to a separate table at the The College was known as the subway campus, recalled: based on racial and ethnic characteristics. Cate­ Ladies' Boarding Hall in liberal, Christian Oberlin, it with students coming and going throughout the gorizing his students by race, Hunter wrote that he is more than we ever conceived of. 25 city to various locations. By the 1920s, the student Despite these barriers, however, the admissions people believed that the Nordic groups were superior in body had increased to such an extent that branch at Hunter did not turn us away without hope, they intelligence while Italians, Bohemians, and Russian Racial discrimination at Oberlin also resulted campuses were opened in Brooklyn, , Staten down with Aunt Pauline and worked out a Jews were below average. He placed African­ barring African-Americans from membership in I Island and . By the 1930s, Hunter was the curriculum of the courses I would need for admission "These are the Fa ces oj the Americans at the lowest intellectual levepo erary and other organizations. Consequently, largest women's college in the world, with an provided she could resolve the problem of residence. city, " proclaimed the The opinions Hunter espoused in his Auto­ 1908, African-American students formed a sepa enrollment of more than 5,000 in the They recommended that I try to complete my Wistarion the College year­ biography appear at odds with statements in his literary society. By 1913, even a discussion of I College itself and 15,000 in various educatio11 in a New York City high school book, in j 944, celebrating the annual reports praising the diversity of the Hunter ing the number of African-American students summer and extension courses. and receive a diploma which would be City as a melting pot and student body and the college's embodiment of the Oberlin was entertained.26 Unlike the elite private women's accepted automatically by Hunter "A college oj united l1ations, American ideal of equal opportunity for all. Hunter The issue of housing was the primary rr... ,r.. _ colleges, where family background, College. 3 I United races repeatedly pointed out the high caliber of the stu­ for African-Americans on virtually every campus. wealth, religious affi liation, and race United religions dent body, stressing that the students were admitted 1920, white women at Oberlin protested the were important variables, Hunter was This was a remarkable story. When Faces oj Americal1-born by examination and not by personal recommenda­ ment of two African-American women to a p largely a poor woman's college where scores of qualified African-Americans and American-made tion from a teacher or a principaJ.21 He also repeat­ ously all-white cottage, and some students Fa ces oj eight times a the students overwhelmingly sought were being denied entrance to white thousand girls edly boasted of the college's egalitarianism and out. The Acting Dean of Women defended degrees forvocational purposes. For colleges and universities, Murray, who Who are met Jor common democracy. In his 1886 Annual Report, Hunter list­ [white] women's position to the college pres them, college was not merely a cultural was not qualified, was encouraged by purpose ed the occupations of the students' fathers: these ex perience. Katherina Grunfeld's study of Hunter College officials to remove the And mingle in a common ranged from banker to day-laborer. Poor and rich They [white women students] do not really believe Hunter College discusses the ambivalence and deficiencies and to apply for admission. humanity." attended the college harmoniously. that it is best for either race to live in the same dormi­ ambiguity of the college experience for many of the Taking their advice, Murray enrolled in Richmond , author, tory, nor do they think that the present situation ought Hunter students who were bright but poor. Hill High School in Queens, the only African­ lawyer. Episcopalian to be more than makeshift. I do not know a girl who 'fkese Are the FactS We have Jews and Gentiles and the children of almost Grun fe ld quotes fo rmer President George Shuster's American among 4,000 students. She quickly priest, civil rights activist, .-_ ...... ,. every European nationality, dark-skinned Negroes would be willing to have any purely scholastic observation that many Hunter students often felt passed the Regents examinations and was admitted Jeminist. She moved Jrom i!:;"~.:.:::::=:---. _r-...... s.do .... Noowopo ...... '-~ I __ - ... "';- sitting beside fair-haired Scandinavians, and almost opportunity closed to colored students .... But they do sorry for themselves and believed that they had to Hunter College in 1928. the segregated south to .... AIpIooof_ .. Cloodoo __ .... SIo ... a-__...-...._tl I ...... """--' ~- n._"'...... ,..... '-" ...... _~.., every breed under the sun is represented .... This is the not want social relations with the colored race, and been "cheated out of a rich college experience on Hunter, as Grunfeld noted, was not only a gold­ New York in order to con­ ::::::=:==-1'0< ...... , __...:::: .10_. __ _ true democratic mingling of the classes which could they do not feel it to be a duty. It must be remembered some more pleasant and fashionable campus."29 en opportunity but also a last resort. for Pauli tinue her education, and she --. ... - ...... -.,...... --- !:'t:~.w::~ .... --.--- only exist in a Republican country like the United that the evolution of dormitory life has made the rela­ Grunfe ld also points out that for many students Murray. Orphaned and adopted as a young child by Jound a welcome in Hunter . ...., ...... ~ ~1oaooooI ...- 1oIoc..~..,...... _ .. .,...--- O'-... _

,...... ,Nop""'""_ 01~_ States.22 tion there so¢ial to an extent for which there is no in the 1920s and '30s, Hunter was both a "golden an elderly school-teacher aunt, Murray's financial "-"--...... ,.- ... ""w~1ooor ..__ ...,...... ,. _ .. WIo_ ...... --. precedent in our earlier history, and that the present opportunity and a last resort." resources were meager. Although years later she was --"T__...... _ ,...... ,. The following year, he reiterated this point: "No bathroom and laboratory system necessitates a per­ able to value her Hunter education, Murray was dis­ /I.J .. _ ...... a..-IoIotI .... t..::7..!-- wonder the European is astonished that so vast a sonal intimacy from which many of us of the older For some it was the out of poverty and menial appointed initially to have to attend a commuter ~.,"=- , - _ ...... - ...... - pto .... 100 __ 10._,..,- number of students, belonging to every creed and generation shrink. and which we do not like to force work, for others, it was a place of refuge when all school of which she had never heard. Hunter did .-...... Io ._~ race and station in life, can meet on terms of perfect beyond its instinctive limits. 27 other doors were closed. Fro m 1920 through the not fit her image of a college: it was not a residen­ equality in the same educational institution."23 World War, Hunter students were u11ited by their eth­ tial campus, nor was it a coeducational institution. As many colleges and universities began to offer Sadie Tanner Mossell, an African IIicity, their poverty, their immigrant status - by Murray described the hundreds of Hunter stu­ higher education to women, and qualified African­ woman who commuted from her Philadelphia th eir anger, and eagerness, and desperate aloneness _ dents with whom she commuted each day on the EI American women sought admission to white insti­ to the University of from 1916 by their sense of exclusion -far more than by com­ train, back and forth to the Brooklyn Campus.32 tutions, questions of housing and board, as well as 1918, recalled the humiliation of not having a mOil {in ks to undergradua te women elsewhere. 30 Students often lived great distances from 0ne exclusion from campus activities, became important to eat on or off campus. She had to bring another and the train provided the only opportuni­ concerns. Many campuses became more restrictive from home and eat it under the steps of the These observations in large part describe the ty for them to visit with each other. 5h~ developed in their admissions policies. In a 1914 issue of The sity's . Of her experience, Mossell wrote: experience of Pauli Murray, who moved from North friendships with both African-American and white Crisis, DuBois wrote: "Northern white colleges have, Carolina to New York in the 1920s and attended students and also maintained cordial and helpful in the last ten years, ceased to encourage Negro stu­ The first year was very tough. There was not anoth­ Hunt~r from 1928 to 1933. Murray's autobiography, relationships with faculty and staff at Hunter. dents and, in many cases, actively discouraged er colored student in my class . I had no one with 50l1g III a Weary Throat, provides an extensive and The rigorous academics at the College helped them .... [B]oth Columbia and Chicago Universities whom to discuss assignments .. There was no lunch' candid view of Hunter. Inspired to come North by Murray develop into a first-rate writer. One profes­ a fa ' h have been active in discouraging colored students room in a drug store or elsewhere or restaurant that Vonte teac er, Murray was unaware that the sor of English, Catherine Reigart, marked her in their summer schools by various devices."24 would serve colored students. I stood in line at every teacher had attended Columbia's Teachers College. papers C- and D for poor grammar, but she also Murray appeared at the Columbia College DuBois was inundated with complaints from available restaurant or counter on either side of 34th Ad . . invited Murray and another African-American stu­ African-American students regarding their treat­ and Walnut only to be told: "We don't serve coloml miSSions Office only to learn that it was an all- dent to her apartment for tea one weekend. The male instituf R f d ' ment on white college campuses. Even Oberlin people" (or sometime "Niggers") and not one said a h . e erre to Columbia s sister gesture had a profound impact: "Miss Riegart had ool College, once the symbol of egalitarianism in high­ mumbling word in the presence of students, including ~c k , , she then learned that she communicated to me ~y worth as a person quite ac ed the nece h' h h I 20 er education, had changed dramatically by 1880. often a few from my class. 28 ssary Ig sc 00 prerequisites to be apart from my poor academic performance. I tried 21 harder, and my papers improved slowly but steadi- were virtually nonexistent." In addition, M· the (Berkeley), earning an fu l step toward becoming an integral part of college 1y. "33 On her last paper for the semester, Murray Mattison, assistant to the Dean of Women, kept LLM in 1945. In 1965, she became the first African- life." The article stated that onl y 100 of the 5,000 earned the grade of A-. She later developed the closet full of clothes donated by faculty for American to receive a of judicial Science day students were African-American. Because of paper, a story about her grandfather, into her first students. Murray recalled that Miss Mattison degree from the Law School. In their sma ll numbers and because they were "scat­ book, Proud Shoes. me take my pick of attractive skirts, suits, 1972, at the age of 62, she entered the Ceneral tered" among the three campuses, there was little Hunter had a strong effect on Murray, not only sweaters, and for the remainder of my career Theological Seminary, earning a Master of Divinity opportunity for the women to become a force in 40 academically, but also in reshaping her views on Hunter I was well dressed."36 in 1976 and, in 1977, becoming the first fema le college activities The article reported that the race and humanity. A product of the segregated Hunter students of all races made enormous African-American Episcopal priest. In 1974, The meeting was unusually well attended and that South where African-Americans were denied the rifices to attend the institution. Employment Hunter College Alumni Association inducted "[I]ively and hea ted discussions fo llowed the pre­ most basic of human dignities, she was treated at tunities for African-American women were Murray into its Hall of Fame and presented her with sentation of these proposals." A close vote resulted in a merger with the International Student. Murray Hunter with respect and equality. Outside of larly limited, however, even for those who rp(- pj·" ..J. the Outstanding Professional Achievement Award. Hunter, however, she found that racism existed. their degrees. After graduating in january, Despite the many positive experiences and later recalled that one of the African-American The restaurant where she worked to support herself Murray wrote: opportunities at Hunter, Murray recalled "one bad organizers vo iced great skepticism about this did not serve African-Americans. The white staff Hunter experience," when a history professor insult­ arrangement. The fears were substantiated when, by (executives, cashiers and hostesses) were served Some of my classmates were able to get temporary jobs ingly demeaned the history of African-Americans in 1936, African-Americans had withdrawn from the from the regular menu in the dining room; the tea ching in the public schools, Others were lucky if her class. In response, a group of African-American International Student and established the Toussa int much larger African-American staff "ate on bare they were taken on as sa lesclerks at Macys. One students, including Murray, decided to form an L:Ouverture Society for the study of African­ 41 tables in the basement and were given leftovers so could spot severa l women on any floor at Macys intellectual organization to study and discuss their American history and culture tasteless we invariably threw them into the garbage wearing the Hunter Co llege ring - that is, if they history and culture. The proposed organization was The Toussaint L:Ouverture Society was an can."34 The job was considered a good one, howev­ were white. Negroes were limited to elevator and to be an egalitarian club, meeting for weekly dis­ important organization for African-American women at Hunter, and yearbook entries indicate er, despite the racial humiliation, because the cleaning jobs whether they had a degree or not. 37 cussions, with membership open to the entire stu­ restaurant was popular and she received good tips. dent body. Many white students, however, appar­ that an overwhelming number of African-American At the beginning of the depression Murray lost Murray, who graduated as one of four ently objected to the idea of a separate club because students were members. The desire of these women her job and her financial situation became desper­ American women in january, 1933, in a class of its existence would contradict Hunter's reputation to affirm their heritage was part of a larger move­ ate. In 1932, she wrote an article for The Echo , the women, later reAected on her Hunter years. and image as an inclusive institution. The ment begun in the 1920s, during the Harlem The Toussaint COuverture student literary journal, (and reprinted in this issue) had not been aware, she wrote, that Hunter International Student, a liberal student organiza­ Renaissance. Although they were not excluded from Society sponsored annual entitled, "A Working Student," which chronicled considered the 'poor girl's Radcliffe' and tion, issued a counterproposal for the group to be campus life, the women sought to have an organi­ concerts and brought promi11lmt her struggle to support herself while pursuing a col­ enrolled the top women students in New York Ci integrated within their existi ng club. African­ zation that acknowledged African-American contri­ speakers to the College. The lege degree. She described how her desire to be an Murray also exclaimed: American students would then be seated on the butions to national and world history and culture. 39 Society also campaigned outstanding scholar and to become a member of Phi club's executive board. The two proposals were Although African-American women appeared to successfully for a course in Beta Kappa was affected by the necessity of work­ Hunters tradition for excellence was so strong that in presented at a large meeting. be less involved in campus activities during the first Black history and culture. ing full time. later years I was surprised to find how often I could According to a front- page article in the campus two decades of the twentieth century than they Pictured here is Polly Prince, recognize a Hunter-train ed woman by the thorough­ newspaper, The Hunter College Bulletin , this was the were in the 1930s and later, nonetheless, they were vice-president, and members of My sophomore year was a horror. The problem of ness with which she approached her work. Less "first time in the history of Hunter College [that] visible. Marion Elizabeth Wilson, '28, was the first the organization in 193 9. merely living overshadowed my school work. Of pri­ obvious wastthe fact that the school was a natural the Negro students as a group have made a success- African-American Phi Beta Kappa at the College mary consideration were room rent, clothes, ca rfare training ground for . Having a fa culty and and lunch . I did my own laundry. My sa lary was so a student body in which women assumed leadership sma ll it did not allow for such necessities as tooth­ reinforced our egalitarian values, in spired our confi­ paste or medicine, nor for occasional recreation . I lived dence in the competen ce of women generally, and just within the limit of starvation . 35 encouraged our resistance to subordinate roles . 38

Murray was constantly exhausted, listless and Murray had no desire to become a teacher nervous. After becoming anemic, developing low her aunt. She majored in English, a department blood pressure, and losing fifteen pounds, she suf­ had the reputation of being elitist and highly se fered a nervous breakdown and had to take a leave tive. This brought her in contact with Hunter's from school. Murray described other Hunter stu­ articulate students and leading writers, sti dents who also worked desperately toward a college her own talent to write. In her last term at degree and who jeopardized their health to obtain it. Murray was elected to Sigma Tau Delta, the Returning to Hunter in 1931 , Murray and anoth­ al professional English fraternity, and her er African-American student, Louise E. jefferson, dence was further boosted by the invitation found jobs and became roommates. Hunter officials the associate editor of Echo to submit for publ provided enormous assistance. The director of the article mentioned above. Hunter's Bureau of Occupations helped Murray Murray, indeed, challenged society's notion obtain a secretarial position in the journalism women's and African-Americans' subordinate Department. In view of the rare opportunities given She became an eminent civil and women's to African-American women for secretarial or office advocate. After applying unsuccessfully in 1938 work in the general society, this was not a small ges­ the segregated graduate school of the Un ture. In fact, Murray noted that "clerical jobs for North Carolina and in 1944 to all-male 22 Negro women in downtown white business firms Law School, she entered Boalt Hall Law 23 and was active in a courses in the regular and pre-Social Work To summarize, although African-American 15 The Autobiography of Dr. Thoma s Hunter (New plethora of organiza­ curriculum , I have girls from freshmen to seniors, with women had access to Hunter from as early as 1873, York: The Knickerbocker Press, 193 1), 231-232. tions: she was a member the majority being upper-classmen . One of my stu­ their numbers through 1945 were always small. The 16 W.E.B. DubOiS, 'The College-Bred Negro," in the Varsity and dents is a Negro girl. A still larger number are of experience of African-American women students on Proceedings of the Fifth Conference for the Study of the Negro Make -up Box drama foreign birth, and who are yet in the process of mas­ the predominantly white campuses of American Problems, Held at Atlanta University, May 29-30, f 900 clubs; vice-president of tering the use of the English language. There are one higher education, from the late nineteenth to the (Atlanta: Atlanta University Press), 34. the Journalism Club; or two from south of the border.... I've liked the stimu­ mid-twentieth centuries, has been a story primarily 17 The colleges known as the secretary/ treasurer of lation by this very alert student body in general. I've of exclusion and discrimination. While not a utopia, were exclusive all-female instititutions: Barnard, the Writer's Club, editor enjoyed the extent and degree to which all members of from its beginnings, Hunter College served as a tes­ Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Radcliffe, Smith, of the Classical Club the faCIlity participate in the over-all planning for tament to the ideals espoused by Thomas Hunter Vassar and Wellesley. Paper, and a member of them - the objective being the education of the whole and as an example of the best in American democ­ 18 , Alma Mater (New the English Club42 In person . I've been amused at times with the timid racy. The inclusion of African-American women York: Alfred Knopf, 1984), 155-156. within the College doors without mishap or fanfare 19 For a discussion of the image of womanhood distinguished the institution from others that admit­ during this era see Barbara Welter, "Cult of True ted women. While Hunter College is unique in Womanhood," American Quarterly , 18 (1966) and the many aspects, its diversity and openness to students impact of these views on African-American women without regard to religious, racial or socioeconomic in linda M. Perkins, 'The Impact of the 'Cult of In addition to her position as Editor-in-GieJ background fro m the earliest years of its history, True Womanhood' on the Education of Black oj the Bulletin. Shirley A. Simpson was make it one of the most significant institutions in Women," lournal of Social Issues, 39 (1983). secretary oj the Bronx Executive Committee , the history of the higher education of African­ 20 Autobiography of Dr. Thomas Hunter, 232. Vice-Presidfllt oj Toussaint [,Ouverture, American women. For them, admission to the 2 I 17th Annual Report, 1887, 40-41 . atld a member oj the Y W c. A. She signed College was indeed a "golden opportunity." 22 16th Annual Report, 1886, 40. Dean oj Students Hannah Egan s Wistarion 23 17th Annual Report, 1887, 51. "In deepest appreciation oj the splendid advice SOURCES AND REFERENCES 24 Crises, Vol. VIII , No.3 (July 1914), 130-131. and heartfelt sympathy you have offered 1 Barbara Mi ller Solomon, In the Company of 25 W.E. Bigglestone, "Oberlin College and the during my undergraduate years." Educated Women (New Haven: Yale University Press, Negro Student, 1865-1940," The lournal of Negro 1985), 142. History , 56 (1971), 200. 2 "Prudence Crandall ," Notable American Women, A 26 Ibid., 202, 209. the 1930s, Dorothy Williams, an African-American, questioning on the part of some of the foreign born Biographical Dictiona ry, Vol. I , ed. Edward T. James 27 Ibid., 210. was an editor of the Bulletin for two years; she was girls - questioning that cou ld be and sometimes is (Cambridge, : , 28 Sadie Alexander, "A Clean Sweep: Reflection also on the staff of the Wistarion , Hunter's yearbook. expressed in "I did not know that Negroes teach in 1971 ). 399-400. on the rockly road to winning a 'Broom Award' in Other African-Americans were members of various non-Negro colleges in the USA" I have had to face 3 "Rooster of African-American Woman Students 1918 ," Pennsylvania Gazette of the varsity teams, including swimming, from which the fact with myself that I do not have an appropriate at Oberlin College, compiled by Michael Boston, in University of Pennsylvania , 70, No.5 (March 1972), African-Americans were generally excluded at other reply to this questioning, since any reply that I might "History of Black Women at Oberlin Project," 1984 30-31. campuses43 give would be heither wholly true nor wholly false. in possession of the author. 29 Grunfeld, Purpose and AmbigUity, 216. In the mid- 1940s, Hunter employed its first So I meet it with a smile that encourages the particu­ 4 Lesli e H. Fishel, Jr., 'The North and the 30 Ibid., 219. African-American faculty member. Adelaide lar student to talk more and more, and in the end the Negro, 1865-1900, A Study in Race Discrimination" 3 1 Paul Murray, Song in a Weary Throat: An Cromwell, a Smith College graduate with a MSW. question either has been forgotten , or else a satisfacto­ (PhD. di ssertation, Harvard Uiversity, 1953 ), 193. American Pilgrimage (New York: Harper and Row, from Bryn Mawr and a PhD. from Radcliffe ry answer is arrived at by the student through the 5 Carlton Mabee, Black Education in New York State: 1987),67. College, was appointed in 1945 to a part-time posi­ conference process .44 From Colonial to Mode rn Times (Syracuse: Syracuse 32 Portions of the subway ran on elevated tion. In 1946, Mary Huff Diggs, a Phi Beta Kappa Universi ty Press, 1979), 104. tracks, hence the "EI. "

graduate with degrees from , the Diggs noted the pride, excitement and rm.mp_ 6 Ibi d., 174-179. 33 Ibid. , , and the ship that the African-American students felt 7 Ibid., 108. 34 Ibid. University of Pennsylvania, was hired as the first her appointment: 8 For a detailed history of Hunter College see 35 Pauli Murray, "A Working Student," Hunter full-time tenure-track African-American faculty Katherina Kroo Grunfeld, "Purpose and Ambiguity: College Echo , Christmas Issue (1932), 42. member. Diggs' field was social work and she The Negro women students are very glad to have me The Feminine World of Hunter College, 1869- 36 Murray, Song in a Weary Throat, 77,)33. brought to Hunter considerable experience as a case here, and in the beginning started out with a bang to 1945" (EdD . Dissertation, Teachers College, 37 Ibid., 92. worker and supervisor, in addition to her back­ make me their number one exhibit. It took a good bit of Columbia9 University,. 1991 ) 38 Ibid. ground as a college teacher. strategy for me to keep their very good wishes, but at See Annual Reports of the Normal College of 39 Ibid. , 86. After a semester at Hunter, Diggs wrote to the same time have them unders tand that functionally the l~ity of New York, 1874-1882. 40 Hunter College Bulletin (18 April, 1932). Classes Charles S. Johnson, the recently appointed first I "belonged" equally to every shjdent on the ca mpus. I Registrar's Record Book, Hunter College were held at The Building, the Bronx African-American president of Fisk University in had not an ticipated that such a situation would arise, Archives. Campus, and the Annex at 32nd Street. Nashville, Tennessee: and that it cou ld be so tedious. From the other side of 11 Ibid . 41 1936 Wistarion . 12 the line, I've had to use diplomacy in refusing to allow 13 ' Mabee, 114, 220. 42 1928 Wistarion . Aside from the complete surprise that my presence all problems of Negro students from no matter what . Sarah and A. Elizabeth Delaney with Amy 43 1932 Wistarion . stirred in one or two of my fellow teachers, and a few departments to be loaded on to me. Bljt this proved to Hill Hearth, HQlJing Our Say: The Delany Sisters ' First 44 Mary Hugg Diggs to Charles S. Johnson, awkward efforts at adjustment on the part of one or be the easier of the two situations .... I've been especial­ 100 Years (New York: Kodansha International December 30, 1946, Cha rles S. lohnson Papers, Fisk 1993 ), 11 8. ' two students, my stay here has not been different ly happy for the entire teaching experience here. 45 University Special Collection, Nashville, Tennessee. 24 from that of any other faculty member. Since I teach 14 Ibi d., 119, 120. 45 Ibid. 25

Top View