The History of African-American Students at Wheaton College: 1834-1950

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When Wheaton Seminary opened its doors in 1835, the enrollment did not include any students who were not white and Protestant. Probably no students from any other ethnic or religious backgrounds attended Wheaton for the first several decades of its existence, since the widespread prejudice toward many minorities throughout the 19th century prevented them from being admitted in large numbers to institutions of higher education [1].

Since most religious and ethnic minorities were never specifically barred from admission and attendance at Wheaton, individuals from a number of ethnic and religious groups probably attended Wheaton during both the seminary and college years. Due to the church attendance requirements, and possibly the unwillingness of the administration to accept large numbers of students who were not Protestant, however, the number of Jews and Catholics in its student body remained quite low into the 20th century. Though it is not certain, a few Asian and Hispanic students may have also attended Wheaton during the 19th and early 20th centuries as well, since little organized prejudice existed against women in either of these ethnic groups during that time [3]. Wheaton's exact policies toward the admittance of African-Americans prior to the mid-20th century are not documented, but African-Americans were not officially admitted to the Wheaton until over a century after it was founded, in June 1945 [4].

Wheaton's letter of rejection to Zerviah Mitchell

In 1846, Zerviah Mitchell became the first known African-American to apply to Wheaton. It appears that she did so at the request of her parents, and was actually as unenthusiastic about the prospect of attending Wheaton as Wheaton was about accepting her. "It would be no disappointment to me if not excepted (sic) so you may not be afraid to give me an answer if it is in the negative," Mitchell wrote. Her letter noted her preference for Abott Academy, where she had also applied. The Wheaton administration took this statement as an easy way to deal with the issue of whether or not to admit her, and replied that she would be happier at Abott [5].

The first African-American student to attend Wheaton probably did so unbeknownst to the school. In 1856-57, Mary E. Stafford of Cumberland Island, Georgia attended Wheaton. She was the daughter of a white father and an African-American mother, and seems to have been able to pass as white, since it was not known that she was of mixed race until many years after she had actually attended Wheaton [6].

Wheaton's unofficial policies barring the admittance of African-American students were truly tested in 1902. Booker T. Washington, the founder of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, and the most prominent African-American in the country at that time, requested that his daughter, Portia, be admitted to Wheaton.

Other larger women's colleges, such as Smith and Mount Holyoke had already opened their doors to African-American students by this time, and in fact Portia had attended Wellesley for a year before applying to transfer to Wheaton [7].

Portia Washington

With Portia's application, Wheaton was faced with a tough decision. Enrolling the daughter of a famous national figure would bring a measure of respect to Wheaton, but Portia's attendance would also involve "some practical difficulties, and might seriously disturb a portion of the patronage of this school," wrote President Samuel Valentine Cole in a letter to the Wheaton trustees. The "practical difficulties" probably referred to finding an appropriate residence for Portia off-campus, so that no white students would have to share living quarters with her, and finding a second African-American student to attend Wheaton, so that Portia would not be totally isolated from the community, since it was possible that none of the white students would socialize with her [8].

Though the reply from Wellesley does not survive, it appears that their response to Cole held enough evidence to reject Portia on the basis of her academic level, and not her color, which was probably a great relief to Cole and the Wheaton Trustees. The seminary had received a record number of applications that year, and "we are obliged at this season to give perference to students of good scholarship who apply for the regular courses," and not to the smaller college preparatory program, to which Portia had applied.

Though it was not mentioned publicly, Portia's race probably did play some part in the administration's decision, however. The same day he told Portia of her rejection, Cole accepted another girl on scholarship who would have placed only at the beginning of the college preparatory program, which was equivalent to 9th or 10th grade in a modern high school, and below the level that Portia would have entered [11].

In the early decades of the 20th century, racism against African-Americans in the United States was still shown very openly. Evidence of this prejudice can be seen at Wheaton, in this 1912 photograph from the annual "Junior Baby Party," during which juniors celebrated their last day as children before rising to the Senior class. In this photograph, one student is dressed as a genteel little girl, while her friend, in blackface, is dressed as her maid. While today that costume is considered to be very racist, at that time dressing in blackface was commonplace and remains as evidence of the deeply ingrained racism that existed in American society into the 20th century [12].

The 1912 Junior Baby Party

Admissions Secretary Edith White

According to Paul Helmreich, in Wheation College, 1834-1957: A Massachusetts Family Affair, in 1919 an African-American student named Elizabeth Baker Lewis attended Wheaton, and had little or no trouble gaining admission to the college. The circumstances of her admittance are unclear, but it was common for African-American applicants to withold information about their race during the admissions process in order to gain admission to institutions where they would otherwise have been rejected. The enrollment of Lewis may have also been an experiment on the part of the adminstration to test the readiness of the college to enroll other African-American students in the future. Whatever the reason for her presence at Wheaton, she only attended the college for one year, and transferred to Radcliffe in 1920 [13].

In 1926, admissions secretary Edith White changed the admissions policy to make the inclusion of a photograph with the application optional, and not mandatory. Though her exact motivations for making the change are not known, White did explain that the change was not made as a way to promote colorblindness in admissions. White wrote to College President Edgar J. Park, about her decision, saying that the photographs "might indicate the race of the applicant in cases where the student failed to be entirely frank. I can imagine, however, that there might be doubtful cases where I should be hesitant to make a decision as to traces of colored blood or Hebraic ancestry on the basis of a photograph." While this change was not made because the administration was becoming more progressive, the change certainly did make it easier for non-white applicants to be judged primarily on their academic merits [14].

Rev. James H. Robinson

President Alexander Meneeley

In May 1942, trustee Frederick Page "spoke to the Board [of Trustees] of a trend in education which he thinks will develop before many years, whereby more negro students will attend the northern colleges" [15]. According to former Acting Admissions Director, Dorothy Littlefield, not long after this, Wheaton did receive an application inquiry from an African-American student, who included a picture. Since a photograph was not required, Littlefield and President Park decided that this was probably a test on the part of the applicant to see if Wheaton would consider admiting her. Littlefield sent application materials to the student, but never heard back, which she took to mean that the suspicions of the administration had been right, and the application had been a test [16].

April 20, 1945, Rev. James H. Robinson, Minster of the Church of the Master in Harlem, and a prominent African-American rights activist, came to speak at Wheaton. Following his talk, he engaged students in a four hour discussion, during which he argued that African-American women could be happy at Wheaton, and urged the college to take steps to create scholarships for capable African-American students [17].

In October 1945, a group of Wheaton students moved the college farther by raising $601 for scholarships for African-American students [20]. This was done without President Meneeley's knowledge, and had he been told about it beforehand, it is likely that he would have put a stop to the fundraiser. The administration believed that prospective African-American applicants should compete for the same scholarship funds as the general population, in the belief that any African-American students who won general scholarships would be of a higher academic caliber than if those competing only amongst themselves.

After finding out about the scholarship fund, President Meneeley wrote to trustee Harriet Hughes, saying, "Whether it was decided to place me in an embarrassing position or not, I recognized at once that if I repudiated the project, I would be branded anew as a foe of liberalism, and we would have had a new controversy seething on campus. To avoid this, I announced in chapel my approval of the project and my willingness to make a personal contribution. This took the wind out of their sails..." [21].

Wheaton's refusal to give African-American students larger scholarships meant that the college did not become competitive in minority recruiting until Dean Elizabeth Stoffregen May convinced President Meneeley to lump the $75 scholarships into larger individual scholarships that could cover part of tuition [23]. Not until 1971, as a result of the Civil Rights Movement, did the enrollment of African-American students increase substantially [24].

Unfortunately, the attitudes that the Wheaton community held towards African-Americans into the 20th century were not unusual among institutions of higher education. Though Wheaton was known to be progressive on many women's rights issues, their liberality did not extend to all areas of civil rights.

Notes and References

[1] Wheaton Histories: Helmreich, Paul. "Ethnic Time Lines - Wheaton College."

[2] Judge Laban Wheaton Collection: Holmes, Rev. Franklin. "Funeral Oration for Judge Wheaton."

[3] For more information about Jewish students at Wheaton, see Natenshon, Elizabeth Rachel, "'May They Have Life and May They Have it Abundantly': Jews at Wheaton Seminary and Wheaton College." in The Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association: Notes, No. 1, Vol. 14 (November, 2003). Also see Wheaton Histories: Helmreich, Paul. "Ethnic Time Lines - Wheaton College," pp. 6-8, for information on Asian and Hispanic students at Wheaton.

[4] Trustees Minutes: 6/3/45.

[5] Wheaton Histories, Seminary: Admissions, 1835-1899: Barrows to Mitchell, 3/14/48 and Mitchell to Barrows, 3/7/48.

[6] General Files: 1856-1857: J. Ehrenhard and M. Bullard, "Stafford Plantations, Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia," p. 16.

[7] Stewart, Ruth Ann. Portia: The Life of Portia Washington Pittman, the Daughter of Booker T. Washington. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc. 1977, pp. 41-42. For more information on the integration of African-American students at Smith and Mount Holyoke, see Perkins, Linda M. "The Racial Integration of the Seven Sister Colleges." in The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, No. 19 (Spring, 1998), pp. 104-108.

[8] SVC Letterbook: Cole to Trustees, 7/10/02, p. 363.

[9] SVC Letterbook: Cole to Secretary, Wellesley College, 7/15/02, p. 369.

[10] SVC Letterbook: Cole to Mr. Washington, 7/16/02, p. 370.

[11] SVC Letterbook: Cole to Mr. Washington, 7/25/02, p. 378, and Cole to Mrs. Bird, 7/25/02, p. 377.

[12] Photographs: Class of 1912: 1912 Junior Baby Party.

[13] Helmreich, Paul. Wheation College, 1834-1957: A Massachusetts Family Affair. New York : Cornwall Books, 2002. pp. 153, n. 12.

[14] Staff: E. White: White to Park, 12/21/26.

[15] Trustees Minutes: 5/31/42.

[16] Oral History Project: D. Littlefield interview, 1983.

[17] Wheaton News, 4/28/45.

[18] Trustees Minutes: 6/3/45.

[19] Wheaton News, 10/6/45.

[20] Wheaton News, 3/23/46.

[21] Trustees: Hughes #2: Meneeley to Hughes, 3/20/46.

[22] President's Reports to Trustees: 6/2/46. See also Nike, Class of 1950.

[23] Staff: Colpitts: Colpitts to Meneeley, 8/22/49; Oral History Project: L. Colpitts interview, 1983; E. May interview, 1983.

[24] Deans Office, Admissions: Black Alumnae Advisory Council, 1983, List of Black Alumnae.

[25] Perkins, Linda M. "The Racial Integration of the Seven Sister Colleges." in The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, No. 19 (Spring, 1998), pp. 104-108.

[26] President's Reports to Trustees: 6/3/45