An essay by Gia White
I imagine how it must have been for the first African American women walking the freshly paved paths and shrub lined curves of the beautiful and spacious Berkeley campus in the 1920s. They had to be just as hearty and resilient as the greenery that surrounded them every day. They too heard the Campanile bells, just as I do now, setting their thoughts and aspirations to music on the days that would shape their young lives.
As a young African American woman entering UC Berkeley in the fall of 1982, I also traversed the iconic arch of Sather Gate, but in a markedly different time and space. Sadly, I knew nothing of these remarkable women that came before me. I did not benefit from the knowledge of their historic presence. I wasn’t buoyed by thoughts of their achievements or comforted by their ability to persevere, even in the darkest of times. That information void is counter to the motto of this towering institution that strives to bring knowledge to light as expressed by Fiat Lux.
It is dangerous for a woman to defy the gods; To taunt them with the tongue's thin tip,
Or strut in the weakness of mere humanity, Or, draw a line daring them to cross;
The gods own the searing lightning, The drowning waters, tormenting fears
And anger of red sins.
-Letter to my Sister, 1927, by Anne Spencer, African American Poet, and Civil Rights Activist
As a newly minted transfer undergraduate, I experienced the palpable excitement that comes when you begin to envision your future. The Berkeley campus was humming with activity and possibility. To my youthful eyes, it was a veritable smorgasbord of faculty, staff, students and visitors from all backgrounds: purposely lunching at the communal cafeteria, bumping trays, exchanging ideas, and then efficiently crisscrossing the campus to their next destination. The noontime Sproul Plaza promenade was a feast for the eyes, with its colorful cast of Berkeley personalities and student groups all vying for attention. The African American students faithfully gathered at “the wall,” making their small but mighty presence known. The sheer diversity of the scene served as a visible reminder of the gains made during the Civil Rights, Free Speech and Black Power Movements.
I marveled at the depth of the Berkeley Course Catalog and longed to take a variety of classes that appealed to me. But, time was not on my side. Working two jobs while going to college quickly tempered my enthusiasm. I had to make good choices to meet all the breadth requirements for graduation. It is only in retrospect that I truly understand the significance of being a student at a time when I could experience the brilliance of Dr. Barbara T. Christian – the first Black woman to be granted tenure at Berkeley. I had the privilege of taking her class on Black Women Novelists and I hung on her every word. When the class bell rang, it felt like such a rude intrusion. I lingered as long as I could with her other “groupies.” Her class, along with those of Margaret Wilkerson, June Jordan, and others, created a tectonic shift in my consciousness. Today, I imagine how much more I could have steeped myself in their knowledge, attributing my lack of foresight to the centrifugal force of youth.
By contrast, the first African American women attending UC Berkeley in the early 1920s, knew immediately that their resources were minimal and their allies were few. They found some refuge at the YWCA Cottage as a student gathering place. However, it was the steadfast network of the African American community that provided their much-needed housing and financial safety nets for their academic pursuits, in addition to the unfailing moral support so essential to mitigate the relentless currents of racism that punctuated their existence.
In August of 1922, Berlinda Davison, the first African American woman to earn an M.A. degree at UC Berkeley, graced the cover of The Crisis[1] in full academic regalia. This publication, founded and edited by W.E.B. DuBois, annually announced the statistics on African American graduates from across the country and proudly displayed their photos. The University of California was well represented in this volume, which also recognized Vivian Osborne, Ida Louise Jackson, Modest O. R. Tatum and Walter Arthur Gordon as graduates. The happy graduation news, however, was interspersed with reporting on the Anti-Lynching parade in Washington, DC, held during the 13th Annual Conference of the NAACP. This was a sobering reminder that progress and achievement were often met with horrendous atrocities — a fact the graduates were keenly aware of in those days. Several of their families participated in the first wave of The Great Migration (1910-1940) to escape economic inequality and the sustained threat of violence in the South. California had its own version of discriminatory practices and prejudices; nonetheless, it was in stark contrast to the Southern States.
Not all of these women would live long lives or have important careers that would fill a Wikipedia entry, but their presence mattered. Only one of them, Ida Louise Jackson, is rightfully lauded and recognized by the University of California, Berkeley as a distinguished alumna, also as the first African American school teacher in Oakland, a recipient of the Berkeley Citation, and a campus donor. It is through her oral history interview, Overcoming Barriers in Education[2], that we learn of the other African American women in her circle, Berlinda Davison, Vivian Costroma Osborne, Modest Oreathial Richardson Tatum, Louise Alone Thompson, Ruby Cozetta Jefferson, Annie Virginia Stephens, Talma Catherine Brooks, Myrtle Price, and Coral Johnson. Although not mentioned in Jackson’s oral history, Tarea Hall Pittman also belongs to this group, recounting her experiences of those days in her interview with the Earl Warren Oral History Project.”[3] Miriam Matthews and Josephine Cole are also on campus during this ten-year span of the early 20s. There is no indication that any of these women knew of Vivian Logan Rodgers, the very first African American woman to graduate from UC Berkeley in 1909. Nevertheless, the sisterhood born of their struggles to navigate the forces of discrimination inside and outside of the academic world, will forever bind them together.
[1] The Crisis, Vol. 24, No. 4. (August 1922)
[2] Ida Louise Jackson, Oral History. Overcoming Barriers in Education, University of California Black Alumni SeriesRegional Oral History Office, Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley, 1984-1985
[3] The Earl Warren Oral History Project, July 1974, Tarea Hall Pittman, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
