Women of color

Dickinson junior Judy Rogers, after spending the summer in Sierra Leone as part of the Operation Crossroads Africa (OCA) program, shared her experiences with her classmates and local communities.

Rogers remarked on the similarities between African cities and American cities, and her own intimate participation in Sierra Leonean culture: students were expected to live as the local people did, eating their food and donning traditional dress when appropriate.

In her 1984 research paper "The Presence of the Black American at Dickinson College from 1773 to the Present," Elaine Vivian Watson researched the influence of "Black America" upon Dickinson College. Her paper includes information on "unfamous firsts" at Dickinson as well as information on the Black Alumni Questionaire.

 

Some "Unfamous Firsts" Include:

 

1901: John Robert Paul Brock is the first black male student to graduate from Dickinson College.

 

This photo depicts the staff of Umoja, a publication printed by the Congress of African Students.

This photo depicts student Judy Rogers and Jim Robinson during a Project Africa event in 1964.

This image depicts the Congress of African Students. Seated on the left is the Prime Minister Elaine Watson.

In 1994, the Equality House gained Student Senate Recognition. According to their constitution the purpose was to establish "equal opportunity for every person without regards for the indivdual's sex, race, religion, sexual orientation, and monetary or physical status... The Equality House is formed with the purpose of working for the development and preservation of the Equal Rights of every person in the Dickinson Community."

In 1955, Ester Popel Shaw (class of 1919) responded to President Edel's Alumni Questionnaire. Popel Shaw, the first known African American female graduate from Dickinson College, fondly remembered her days at Dickinson. When asked what were the "greatest shortcoming of Dickinson College," Popel Shaw responded that "there were no shortcoming when I was a student. The school seemed to meet all my needs." Moreover, she explained that she was "proud of being one of Dickinson's daughters.'"

A group of Dickinson students attempted to form a Korean Students Association in 1985. The members (their actual names are unknown at this point) stated the purpose of the group as follows:

1. Provide Korean culture and encourage Asian awareness on campus

2. Express Asian concern regarding minority affairs

3. Add a different dimension to minority awareness and involvement on campus

4. Provide a social and cultural outlet for Koreans on campus

At the close of her sophomore year, Judith Rogers, one of the first African Americans to receive campus housing at Dickinson, had received two distinctions.

Lawrence A. Bradshaw, the advisor to the Afro-American Students of Shippensburg State College wrote a letter to Dickinson's Dean of Students, Harold R. Gillespie concerning the limited social life Black students of Shippensburg experienced. In his letter he inquires about the possibility of joint programming for Black students between the two colleges, saying that his students "express a desire to be more fully acquainted with the black students at nearby campuses."