Archivist note: Transcriptions by Lauren Hunter (p.7-11), Phoebe Dopulus (p.12-16), Ankitha Kannad (p.17), Colleen Williamson (p.18-22) and Alanna Goldberg (p.23-27) in November 2016.
African American Students through 1979 (p.1 -6)
Rediscovering Bryn Mawr from a Black Perspective (p.7 – 27)
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INTRODUCTION
This report describes an extraordinary event in Bryn Mawr College history. Afro-American students and alumnae came together briefly to share experiences, aspirations and problems. The group spanned more than forty years of the College and a panorama of careers to which Black women aspire. Alumnae out-numbered students although the total number of both was small.
The first session was designed to focus both on the Bryn Mawr academic experience as well as its impact on alumnae as they functioned in the world upon graduation. Panelists tended to emphasize their diverse careers over and above the actual campus experience. Some recalled the less-than-positive attitudes of specific faculty members. Others stressed their relationships with compatriot Black students on the campus (though there were indeed few), and highlighted the importance of the mutual support they gave each other in this period. There is reason to believe that, particularly with the older alumnae, the experience encountered in establishing careers and families, as well as themselves, overshadowed the four years spent at Bryn Mawr even though each woman acknowledged the influence her undergraduate days had on subsequent endeavors.
The second session focused on the problems Afro-American women confront as people in the real world. There were, however, few statements of personal identity and what this means in the 1970’s.
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One of the major points which did emerge was the importance of female friendships and, moreover, the necessity of a female support system in the rather isolated Bryn Mawr environment.
Also important were the interests students expressed in male companionship which often appeared excessive to many of the alumnae, given the reality of Bryn Mawr and the constellation of colleges to which it relates. Thus concern with Black women’s sexuality dominated much of the session. The Black male was an invisible participant, always in the background and often on center stage as women, particularly many of the younger ones, defined themselves in relation to him. It is quite likely that some of the participants—particularly students—interpreted this part of the meeting not as an attempt for Black women to define themselves in relation to Black men bur rather as a recognition of the real problem of maintaining a normal social and intellectual existence in an environment where there were/are very few Black men. Other participants, however, insisted the maintenance of a “normal” existence in the Bryn Mawr community was not a realistic objective for a Black woman. Whether this is a phenomenon singular to women at a women’s college or is shared by young women in a coed environment is not known.
It was clear that the participants in attendance saw themselves as Black women—with equal emphasis on both terms. They were less clear about how the College perceived them.
This meeting has interesting implications. Can Black graduates of college such as Bryn Mawr form a network which provides
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Mutual support and encourages creative performance both on the campus and in the larger society? To what extent is Black female sexuality different form female sexuality in general, and what responses can be anticipated to this problem? Can a predominantly white college accept and support the needs peculiar to Black women and the efforts of alumnae to respond to those needs? Are the specific suggestions which emerged adequate to resolve the needs and interests which brought the group together in the first place or will they generate other activities which respond to needs as yet unexpressed?
Participants shared a brief part of this first session with Harris Wofford, President of the College, and Nina Dana, President of the Alumnae Association. Their presence reflected the College’s support for this effort, as well as its interest in responding more effectively to the concerns and special problems of Afro-American students on the campus. President Woffors will welcome specific suggestions growing out of the conference which address themselves to these concerns and problems.
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PANEL—CAREERS: CHOOSING, FINANCING, DOING AND WINNING
We are what we do. Educating women “to do” as well as to be has always been an important part of the philosophy of Bryn Mawr College as evidence by this axiom—“Our failures only marry.” For the Afro-American student career preparation is a vital part of the experience at the College. From the decade of the thirties, when Afro-American students came onto the campus, to the present, the pull of the liberal arts has been strong. But, the “ivory tower,” isolated, ego-centrism of the campus has, in some case made the decision to specialize a difficult one. The commitment to succeed is and has been ever present but there was also the reality of the limited opportunities of the present, coupled with a recognition that come doors are still closed to entrance. There is much less upward mobility, in a host of careers to which white students have relatively easy access. For some, there was the feeling that self-confidence in one’s ability to reach the frontiers of one’s potential had been undermined significantly in the course of the struggle of the Bryn Mawr A.B. For others, Bryn Mawr was a solid foundation on which to build a career.
In this context, four alumnae provided glimpses of their careers since graduating from Bryn Mawr.
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JOYCE GREENE ‘57
Joyce Greene had both “good news” and “bad news.” The good news involved her gradual movement through the Biological Sciences to her present position as Assistant Professor of the Biological Sciences at Smith College. The bad news was that her achievements were not made without obstacles of more or less severity.
Joyce is the product of both an undergraduate and a graduate of Bryn Mawr College. Coming from a family of modest means, her attendance as an undergraduate at Bryn Mawr was an intellectual, social, and cultural awakening. The undergraduate years were spent as a non-resident student, majoring in Biology and tapping the intellectual vitality of the College. Her social activities, however, remained very much in Philadelphia where she lived.
After a year of research, Joyce Greene returned to graduate study receiving an M.A. in Biology from Wesleyan University. Another several years were spent in Mircobiological research at Amherst College before the search for answers brought her back to Bryn Mawr. This time she took her Ph.D. in Microbiology in 1968.