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1900 | 1901 | 1927 | 1931 | 1934 | 1940 | 1942 | 1950 | 1962 | 1966 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1985 | 2008 | 2012 | 2015 | 2017 | 2018 | 2020

1900: Sally Brown, a maid on Merion Hall, is one of 68 Black workers on campus. Click here to read more about Sally Brown.

1901: Jessie Redmon Fauset is the first Black person to enroll but is sent to Cornell after ºÚÁÏÉçÇø becomes aware that she is Black.

1927: Board of Directors vote to admit POCs only on a non-residential basis.

1931: Enid Cook ’31 is the first Black persons to graduate. W.E.B. Du Bois speaks at a student-organized conference on Black Americans and the economy.

1934: Lillian Alfrebelle Russell '34 is the second Black graduate. Both she and Cook live with local Black families during their four years at the College.

1940: The first Black doctoral student, Madeleine Sylvain-Bouchereau, arrives on campus.

1942: Residential restrictions for Black students are removed.

1950: There are only four Black undergraduate students on campus.

1962: There are only four Black undergraduate students on campus.

1966: Martin Luther King, Jr., delivers the baccalaureate address to the graduating class.

1969: Dolores (Dodie) Norton, M.S.S. ’60, Ph.D. ’69, is appointed an assistant professor in the GSSWSR.

1970: Black students present a list of 10 demands to the College administration. Sisterhood* is founded. (The asterisk denotes that Sisterhood* is open to all genders and gender expressions.)

1971: Bob Washington, the first Black professor, is appointed to the sociology department at the undergraduate college.

1972: Perry House opens in response to demands from Black students.

1985: Mary Osirim is a  lecturer in sociology. She joins the professoriate in 1991 and becomes ºÚÁÏÉçÇø's first Black provost in 2013.

2008: The Black Alumnae/i Fund is established, and is revitalized in 2020.

2012: Perry House is closed after the building is condemned.

2015: The Enid Cook ’31 Center is founded. Students protest racist symbols on campus, including the naming of Thomas Hall.

2017: The Tapestry Alumnae/i Affinity Group is established.

2018: Students protest the continued inscription of M. Carey Thomas’s name on Old Library. Angela Davis is the 2018 commencement speaker.

2020: Bi-Co students strike after the murder of Walter Wallace Jr. in Philadelphia.

*Correction, July 2021: The number of Black students at the College in 1962 was 4, not 14.

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This issue of the Alumnae Bulletin presents reflections from Black alumnae/i and students spanning 65 years in the life of the College.

• "The Myth of the Monolith" includes messages from guest editors Taytiana Welch-McLure '13 and Jacqueline Handy '14 and links to related articles from the Winter 2021 Issue.