Anna Rinaggio, Campus Carrier, opinions editor
When we talk about Berry’s history, the first thought that comes to mind for just about all of us is Martha Berry. We love to talk about living in the legacy of Martha and maintaining a community that she would be proud of. With everything being “Martha this” and “Martha that,” though, we fail to look at the other parts of Berry’s history that don’t get as much attention.
Black history at Berry is ignored. Black students have been attending our school for almost 60 years, yet we rarely — if ever — talk about black students and other black figures that have made an impact here. It isn’t even a case of being glossed over at this point; it’s simple ignorance.
If you search up Berry history and go to their page titled “Our Rich History,” you find a short timeline of Berry’s biggest milestones. It includes data such as when the school was founded and became a college, when Berry stopped requiring attendance to religious services and when President Briggs became Berry’s eighth president, but there is absolutely no mention of anything related to black students or faculty. Berry didn’t start admitting black students until 1964. One would think that’s a more significant point in our school’s history than ending mandatory religious services, but apparently not.
Black students may not have been explicitly barred from coming to Berry on paper, but the attitudes of people at the college certainly ensured that they would not be accepted. The initial charter for the school doesn’t mention anything about race, yet the few black students who applied to attend before 1964 were rejected and given haphazard reasons as to why. To some, it may seem obvious that Berry wouldn’t have integrated until it had to, just like the rest of America. Most of us probably don’t think about that fact very often — if at all — though, so is it really that obvious? Why isn’t that something we talk about more often?
When it was first revealed that Berry was officially going to integrate in the fall semester of 1964, students were told that they had 24 hours to withdraw from the school and receive a full refund on tuition and board. According to a website titled Civil Rights in Rome, Georgia, there were rumors that half of the student population was going to leave over this decision. In the end, only three students actually left. Again, we never talk about it. Why don’t we?
Most important of all, we fail to talk about the black figures who made Berry what it is today. Yes, we can talk about Martha all we want, but at the end of the day, she only makes up so much of our history. What about all the black leaders who have been here and those who are currently working to make Berry a better place?
What about Evelyn Hamilton and Beverly Smith — the first African American students to graduate from Berry? What about Angel Mason, an athletic director who was one of eight women last year to be recognized at the Women Leaders in College Sports National Convention after helping lead Berry sports to new heights? We need to make an effort to ensure we aren’t sweeping aside and forgetting the accomplishments of these and so many other important people.
We’re just coming out of Be Love Week, and the phrase “love thy neighbor” has been a Berry motto for quite a few years. One of the ways that we can all work on this is acknowledging that Berry’s history is not as smooth as we want and pretend it to be. Ignoring the history of BIPOC students, especially black students, sends the message that their legacy at Berry isn’t important.
The history of black students and faculty may not go back as far as their white peers, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that there is a history. If we’re going to talk about the history of Berry, the contributions of black figures need to be included in the conversation. The work doesn’t end there, though. Once we acknowledge, we need to embrace. Embrace all of this incredibly important history so that future students will know just how rich Berry’s history really is.