When it first opened in 1908, James Madison University (formerly known as Madison College from 1938 to 1977) initially only admitted white female students, but the ruling on Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 would call for desegregation of all public schools. Madison College was slow to accommodate to the new ruling, and didn’t admitted the first African American students until 1966. Sheary Darcus (pictured third row, fifth column) was the first African American individual to graduate from the college, earing a Bachelor of Arts degree in library science in 1970.
The included artifact is a page from Darcus’ freshman year yearbook. The yearbook page includes 22 individual photographs of freshman students arranged alphabetically by their last names. The page also includes a larger photograph depicting two female students walking up a fire escape while carry large bundles; this photograph is captioned “These two freshman discover that the fire escape provides a useful means of transporting extra bundles.” The majority of individuals depicted on this page are white females, with the exception of Darcus and a male student named Glen Davis.
1966 not only was the year that Madison College officially desegregated, but it was also the year that the school became co-ed. Previously, men were only allowed to be “day-students,” meaning they could attend courses during the day, but were required to leave campus in the evening once class was dismissed. But in 1966, men were permitted to live in the provided residence halls.
1967 was the first yearbook released after the school’s move towards co-education and desegregation, but this change didn’t drastically impact the student population. The largest population demographic at the college at this time remained to be white females. Page 168 in the 1967 yearbook is a unique page, for it included two minorities (one man, and one African American), whereas the average page didn’t include any individuals of the minority population.
Even though the college was experiencing major changes in their admission policies, the school was still able to maintain some since of normalcy by holding to some of their traditional values.
From the beginning, the school expected their students to be proper individuals and valued their decorum. To represent their propriety, it was expected for students to own long white dresses for them to wear at public events. This tradition lives on in the yearbook, where it appears to have been a requirement for all women to wear white dresses for their yearbook photos. The continuation of the white dress tradition symbolizes how the school still values proper behavior, despite the changes occurring in the student body.
Sheary Darcus abides by the dress code and wears a white dress like all the other female students. Additionally, Darcus wears her hair in a manor that is similar to the other students. Typically, individuals of African decent will have hair that acts differently than hair that white individuals have. It takes an extreme amount of effort for African Americans to achieve hairstyles that eliminates their natural curls. It was typical for African Americans to put effort into straightening their hair, for it allows them to better conform to a white dominated society.
Sheary Darcus wasn’t the only African American to attend Madison College, but in order to achieve her degree she would be required to abide by the social expectations and cultural values held by the school.
Bluestone, 1967. Harrisonburg (Va.): James Madison University
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