| Years: | 33 | |
| Where am I from: | Dutch | |
| Available for: | I love gentleman | |
| Tone of my eyes: | I’ve got clear blue eyes but I use colored contact lenses | |
| I prefer to drink: | My favourite drink beer |
In Septembera student named James Meredith showed up on the campus of the University of Mississippi to register for classes. Although it had been eight years since Brown v. Board of Education, in which the U. Supreme Court held that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, Ole Miss still admitted only white students.
Segregationists blocked the entrance to the administration building and a white mob surrounded Meredith, taunting and jeering him. In the following days, President John F. On October 1, Meredith became the first Black student to enroll at the school.
Across the country, on the Farm, the climate was considerably more temperate. Yet for seven African American freshmen who entered Stanford that fall, cultural and racial attitudes presented profound, if less charged, challenges.
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Stanford was taking its first modest steps toward diversifying an undergraduate population that was overwhelmingly white and mostly Californian. Some, despite occasional feelings of isolation, found their time at Stanford to be fruitful and enjoyable.
Others left Stanford alienated from the school but later renewed their connections and became strong supporters. Still others continue to shun Stanford and declined to be interviewed for this article because of what they endured while on the Farm. ByAfrican American freshman enrollment had increased tenfold, and Black students were actively, and effectively, seeking change.
Earlier that year, prompted by frustration at what they perceived to be a lack of progress on racial matters and galvanized by the recent assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. For the freshmen who arrived at the Farm 55 years ago, though, there were no such milestone moments, no organized activist movements around race issues.
They were pioneers, lonely swimmers in a sea of whiteness, doing their best to coexist — and succeed — in a world that did not always want them.
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As she lived in West Africa, where her father was deeply involved in the South African Liberation movements. Her family later moved to Chicago, where her father taught at Roosevelt University. Untilshe taught African American studies in the English department. My high school had tried to get a couple of people into Stanford the year before, but they were turned down.
The belief was that Stanford had a quota on Jews. My school was 70 percent Jewish, 20 percent African American and the rest white. A Jewish girl and I got in.
Our counselor viewed it as a triumph. Stanford was a very insular world, a western, California white world that seemed to be made up of valedictorians from every high school in the state. At Roble it felt like there were blonde giants and me.
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It was culture shock. There were more African students on campus than African Americans. My recourse and refuge was the Bechtel International Center. I was more comfortable with the culture there. I can think of two people I called friends who were American. The social scene was totally sexist. At the time, women could not move off campus unless they were 23, a graduate student or living with their family.
I lasted in the dorm one quarter. I did a little dating — interracial dating, out of necessity. One man brought me back to the dorm at p.
He opened the door for me and stopped. The poor kid jumped to the ceiling. I went to live with my mom in Palo Alto; she had moved out here for health reasons. I did find solace in what was going on with civil rights nationally. I picketed in Berkeley and at Stanford, protested housing discrimination and organized a peace caucus. We were often ridiculed; I expected that from the frat boys. Graduate school was my happiest time at Stanford. Students were more congenial, and there were a whole bunch of people who had come back from the Peace Corps and lived in Africa.
I was still the only Black; even then we were few and far between. When I came back to teach at Stanford, I had problems more with faculty than students. I was one of two African Americans in the English department, but there were no Asian-Americans, no people from the Third World and only three women in a department of My area was Caribbean literature.
He tried working for a big law firm, but the altruist in him won out. I wanted to get away from Cleveland.
What it was like to be an african american freshman in
Everybody was pushing me real hard to go to Harvard. I thought it was too close to Cleveland. I got off the plane and some frat had arranged to give rides from SFO to campus. It was my first time in California. Stanford was isolated from the communities around campus.
Otherwise, I was kind of oblivious to the culture. I was used to people having a whole lot of money around me. My high school was fairly well-to-do, but the level of money around Stanford.
Acid hit campus when I was a sophomore. Acid was supposed to be a mind expander, and many, many members of the class tried it. I did a lot — for about the next 10 years. By the time we were seniors, the Vietnam War had really polarized the campus. I started listening to some of the protests and going to the campus bookstore, where all the lefties were.
My thoughts began to shift to the left. Hall ultimately was admitted to all three universities. At Stanford, Hall was senior class president and later the first African American and, at 26, the youngest member of the Board of Trustees. In June, the first Ira D. I was not surprised that I did not find a welcoming environment ready to love me. I picked Stanford because it had a color brochure with palm trees. I did not go to Stanford for love. I did not go for the social life. I came to learn about the kind of environment I would probably go into as a professional.
I wanted to be an executive, so I knew I would be in charge of people not like me. I had to get to know about them, and I expected them to learn about me. My parents were strong supporters of civil meet the blacks Midland guy. Yet I did not have a great affinity for the faculty or students in electrical engineering. Why are you in electrical engineering? And why are you in my office? We shared problems and solutions. I told them they needed to adopt different attitudes and behavior once they went home.
