“They Weren’t Ready for Me and I Wasn’t Ready for Them”: Racial Integration at a Small Southern Liberal Arts College for Women

• In Event: Destabilizing Narratives of Higher Education

Abstract

A small liberal arts college for women in Decatur, Georgia was integrated in 1965. As the first African American student at Agnes Scott College, Gay Johnson later recalled, “they weren’t ready for me and I wasn’t ready for them.” The history of racial integration at Southern women’s colleges remains an untold story. Agnes Scott was founded in 1889 with the “distinctive mission” of educating women. Histories written about the institution typically extol the virtues of women’s education. Rarely, do these histories recount the stories of the desegregation of the institution and the experiences of the first African American students. This study seeks to fill that void and examine the integration of a Southern women’s college.

Author

• Kijua Sanders-McMurtry, Agnes Scott College