A CENTURY OF STRUGGLE: PORTRAITS OF PIONEERS

May 1 through June 19, 2005.

The Power of Our Presence:
Past, Present and Future

May of 2004 marked the 50th anniversary of the historic Supreme Court decision (Brown v. Board of Education) ruling that segregated education was inherently discriminatory, and violated the 14th amendment's guarantee of equal protection.

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While that decision did not end de facto segregation of schools or banish for all time the deep stains of racism and discrimination, it did usher in a new era of commitment to fulfilling the sacred promise of equality and justice and it spurred the great mid-century civil rights revolution.

Forged by social activism, the 1954 Supreme Court decision impelled an activism that pried open the doors of colleges and universities to significant numbers of African American students and faculty—edging the nation's institutions of higher learning toward justice based on genuine social and racial diversity.

For Simmons College, the decision was pivotal to a century of struggle to advance the spirit and reality of equal education.

Roused by conditions borne of struggle, a small predominantly white women's College in Boston produced a remarkable array of African American women of varying social backgrounds who have risen to leadership of major corporations, media, education, entertainment, human services, and other fields. They are providing essential leadership and effective role models for coming generations as they lead businesses, schools, clinics, and community services across the country.

The stories of these women–of their contributions to the Simmons community and to the larger society–are instructive for the thousands of predominantly white colleges and universities around the country that continue to grapple with diversity, inclusion and effective means of realizing the potential of students of color within environments that are often wanting in effective, constructive support.

The Simmons story is by no means a recitation of unimpeded triumph. Success at times came with tension, mis-communication, and assumptions among the institution's leaders that were at times superficial and insensitive.

The College was founded in the late 19th century by wealthy clothing manufacturer and real estate speculator John Simmons. Reflective of the times, Simmons’ vision did not consciously include black women as he sought to build a vessel to uplift for working class factory girls by providing a college education that embraced manual training and "refined" subjects in the liberal arts.

The College's administration and curriculum were formed by Simmons' upper-class Beacon Hill friends and associates. Through the first six decades of the College's existence, blacks were almost totally absent from faculty and administration, while the few black students were obliged to define themselves and seek academic development in an institutional setting that offered little support. The ability of these pioneer black students to overcome major obstacles constitutes a significant and gripping story.

In many ways, the black Simmons women of the first half-century of the College's existence paved the way for the dynamic growth in the late sixties and seventies of the College's black student. A new period of engagement and exploration had begun, and engagement that would establish a genuinely diverse community and a nurturing environment. Black students, now a critical mass, were active within an institution committed to fulfilling its commitment to multiracial education. An apparatus had to be built to support students from diverse traditions and cultures. Biases and presuppositions of some faculty had to changed in order to build effective, fair and just academic standards. And most of all, the black students had to fashion a community that was both internally supportive and externally effective in relating to the larger society.

A literal century of struggle and growth has now produced the powerful presence of an African American alumnae of over one thousand women from the famous to those known only within their own fields of endeavor.

The story of African American Simmons women provides inspiration for coming generations of students of color and vital insights for the legion of colleges and universities that continue their efforts to build genuinely effective multiracial academic environments. We share this story with pride and with gratitude to all who made it possible .