Even at integrated Smith College, blacks and whites do not mix socially
Despite the presence of black women at Smith College, they never engaged in social activities with whites.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with Vivion Lenon Brewer, October 15, 1976. Interview G-0012. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Full Text of the Excerpt
- ELIZABETH JACOWAY:
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And also hadn't there been a black girl or some black girls at Smith?
- VIVION LENON BREWER:
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Yes, yes. One in my class. I was the Class of 1921, and she was a
brilliant girl, later became a New York attorney. And her son was
prominent in the government. She has since died. But I never did know
her. It just happened that we just weren't thrown together at all. In
fact, she entered very little into any of the activities at Smith, and I
don't know why this was true because I never did know her. I don't know
whether it was her choice, or whether it was just what transpired.
- ELIZABETH JACOWAY:
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Did it strike you as unusual? Do you remember thinking that it was
unusual to have a black girl at Smith?
- VIVION LENON BREWER:
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Not that, necessarily, but the thing that struck me was how brilliant she
was. This made its real impression, you see.
- ELIZABETH JACOWAY:
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Yes, I think it would, coming out of your background.
