College History

For 125 years, women of color have journeyed to Spelman College in search of an academic community that nurtures the mind, the body and the spirit. What they have discovered is a unique and special place—a woman’s place—where they are encouraged to think critically, motivated to lead and empowered to change the world.

Committed to the advancement of women, Spelman’s special mission is as compelling today as it was at the time of its founding. Its legacy of academic excellence has produced generations of women whose outstanding accomplishments as pioneers and crusaders are legendary. They played significant roles as community builders. They saw injustice in the world and dared to overcome it. They pursued careers in a variety of professional arenas. And they have rendered service to others.

A woman’s place is any place she envisions it to be.

Founded in 1881, by and for women, Spelman epitomizes the best that women’s colleges can provide. Here, women are valued, their abilities recognized, their individuality affirmed and their creativity nurtured. It is within these gates where lifelong learning is fostered and lifetime friendships are forged. It is here that the Spelman sisterhood is nurtured.

In celebration of the College’s 125th anniversary, this narrative chronicles the history of Spelman as a woman’s place—a place where generations of young women have grown into womanhood undaunted by the challenges of racism and sexism and steeped in the values of a broad-based liberal arts education.

“I owe the world a woman, I shall earnestly strive to pay my debt”
– Alma Ferguson Crockett, C’29
Written in her high school yearbook, 1925

Introduction

For well over two centuries, African Americans have sustained a deep faith in the power of education to improve the status of the race and the conditions affecting our personal and communal lives. The story of the gallant efforts in the 19th century to establish schools throughout the South for the education of nearly four million freed slaves is a heroic one. The struggles of Black families to provide schooling for their children made this monumental task less difficult. Sophia B. Packard and Harriet E. Giles, Spelman’s founders, were among the finest examples of white missionaries who came South to provide higher educational opportunities for Black women and girls.

The contributions of historically Black colleges and universities to the nation and the world have been extraordinary. Spelman College, founded in 1881, remains the premier historically Black liberal arts college for women of African descent. For more than a century, an unshakable commitment to the principles of academic excellence, leadership development, service and social transformation has inspired students, faculty, presidents and staff to participate in a unique experiment in American higher education. As scientists, artists, writers, activists, intellectuals, ministers, educators and corporate executives, Spelman women make a difference in their communities, the nation and around the globe. On the occasion of this momentous anniversary, we are celebrating 125 years of attracting, educating and nurturing women who change the world. The legendary Spelman sisterhood—alumnae and friends alike—comprises women who achieve, women who lead, women who serve and women who dream.

Despite Spelman’s significance, its “herstory” has been largely ignored in analyses of women’s higher education that focus much too narrowly on the “Seven Sister” colleges in the Northeast. Notwithstanding a recent book on Spelman’s early history, Daring to Educate: The Legacy of the Early Spelman College Presidents (Stylus Publishing, 2005), much of the history of higher education for African American women remains superficial. The story begins with Myrtilla Miner, a white woman from New York, who provided higher education for African American women in 1851 in Washington, D.C., with the establishment of The Miner Normal School for Colored Girls. Years later, the seminary would become Miner Teachers College.

Before the Civil War, only a few white institutions of higher learning opened their doors to Black men and women. Oberlin College in Ohio has the distinction of being the first college in the U.S. to educate women and men of all races. Oberlin also produced one of the first Black women college graduates—Mary Jane Patterson of Raleigh, North Carolina—who was awarded the A.B. degree in 1862. Patterson’s graduation from Oberlin, which occurred thirty years after the first white woman earned a college degree, was an extraordinary achievement, given the plight of enslaved Black women in the South who were prohibited by law from learning to read and write and were, therefore, ill equipped to pursue a secondary or collegiate education.

Between the end of the Civil War and 1900, a number of mostly coeducational Black colleges were established in the South, mainly by white religious organizations. In 1881, two missionaries from New England —Sophia B. Packard and Harriet E. Giles—founded Spelman Seminary. Packard and Giles believed strongly that higher education for Black women should be separate from men and in the liberal arts tradition, though considerable attention should also be devoted to the building of practical skills, given the particular challenges faced by women just out of slavery.

The focus on industrial and practical education at Spelman in the early years set it apart from the white female seminary tradition that concentrated, for the most part, on academic subject matter. Unlike their white counterparts in the North, the birthplace of higher education for American white women, Spelman’s founders never agonized over the need to offer Black females the classical education that white male, and to some extent female, students were being offered elsewhere.

Whether women should receive the same education as men was one of the major issues in the debate about women’s education during the 19th century. Mindful of the peculiar history of African American women because of the legacy of slavery and the realities of their everyday lives in the South, Packard and Giles concentrated on providing training for teachers, nurses, missionaries, church workers and other areas of employment open to Black women of that era. While there was a definite emphasis on training for jobs, equally important was the building of Christian character, which was reflected in the school’s motto, “Our Whole School for Christ.” Two other Black schools, Barber-Scotia and Tillotson, which were also founded for Black women during this period, later became coeducational.

Spelman’s gift to the world is captured by its fourth president, Florence Matilda Read, in her articulation of the special mission of women’s colleges and the uniqueness of the Spelman story.

This must be the spirit that motivates...the education of [Black] women who must go forth from college and share to the full with their fellows what they have gained. It is not enough that a woman shall become a self-contained, economically independent and completely rounded individual. Neither is it sufficient that she shall have developed her taste for the good things in life and acquired skills in the arts. If the college has succeeded in its purpose, she will be not only willing but eager to share her gifts and use her newly acquired skills to better the lives of all those within the reach of her influence. And by that strange paradox which is the profoundest truth yet discovered or revealed, it is thus that her own life will reach its richest fulfillment

What follows is a story of struggle and, ultimately, triumph. It highlights turning points, or milestones, and those significant events and people that have influenced Spelman’s mission and impacted its evolution over the past 125 years. “Through years of toil and pain,” Spelman has kept the faith and honored its uniqueness as a historically Black college for women. It has earned its rightful place in the grand narrative of American history. making important contributions to civil rights struggles, movements for women’s liberation and freedom for African peoples no matter where they live. Recalling our humble origins in a church basement, may we always remember Spelman’s legacy as a safe harbor for women who change the world.

“I knew we needed schools and colleges focused on developing women’s talents, and, most importantly, their ability to analyze their own experience... I wanted to see women create their own knowledge... I wanted to help build an educational system that made intellectual maturity possible for all women. ...Women needed their own intellectual turf...an intellectual territory on which to stand as they observed the world.”
– Jill Ker Conway
President Emerita, Smith College

The Miracle Years 1881–1909

Few stories that deal with the higher education of women are more awe-inspiring than the Spelman story. It began in February 1880 when Sophia B. Packard journeyed south to gain a better knowledge of the plight of freed women and men. A committed representative of the Women’s American Baptist Mission Society of New England, Packard quickly summoned her longtime friend and colleague, Harriet E. Giles, to join her in her travels. The two returned to Boston determined to establish a school for Black females in the South.

The South encountered by Packard and Giles in the I880s and I890s had been devastated by the Civil War, embittered by the demands of Reconstruction and plagued by the fate of four million impoverished, landless and illiterate former slaves. Blacks and whites inhabited two different worlds—separate and unequal—and the chasm between them was deep and ever-widening. It was against this dismal backdrop that the story of Spelman unfolded.

With only $100.00 in seed money pledged by the First Baptist Church of Medford, Massachusetts, and the reluctant support of their missionary society, Packard and Giles were soon bound for Georgia. Arriving in Atlanta on April 1, 1881, they immediately made contact with Father Quarles (as he was affectionately known), the most influential Black Baptist in Georgia and the pastor of Friendship Baptist Church. Reverend Quarles’s generosity of spirit and resources, and that of other local Black ministers, provided the school with its first home. On April 11, 1881, the first class of the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary was held in the basement of Friendship Baptist Church.

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”
– Harriet Tubman
Anti-Slavery Crusader

The eleven pupils of all ages, including mothers, who flocked to the dank, dark basement of Friendship, were eager to learn to read the Bible and write well enough to send letters to their children. Packard and Giles, in a letter to supporters describing the first year of their work, spoke about the great sacrifices these students were making to attend the school and the joy they were experiencing at being able to read their Bibles for the very first time.

The overwhelming need for a larger and better facility prompted the founders to embark on a whirlwind campaign to broaden the school’s base of support. Then, in the summer of 1882, the pair made a visit to Wilson Avenue Church in Cleveland, Ohio, where John D. Rockefeller was visiting. Emptying his pockets into the collection plate and later pledging $250 for the building fund, Rockefeller made his first gift to Black education, a philanthropy that was to continue for many years to come.

Resisting the numerous pressures to merge with the all-male Atlanta Baptist Seminary (later Morehouse College), in February 1883 the school sought viable alternatives that would enable it to remain a bastion of education for Black females. “The Barracks,” a nearby, nine-acre tract of land so named because of its occupation by Union soldiers during the Civil War, proved to be a feasible solution. Stepping out on faith, Packard and Giles raised enough money to make a down payment, but lacked the necessary funds to pay off the property. Then, in April 1884, an unannounced and fortuitous visit to the campus by Rockefeller and his family resulted in the donation of the overdue balance on the property, ensuring the school’s continued existence as the newly named Spelman Seminary, named in honor of Harvey Buel Spelman, the parents of the wife of John D. Rockefeller.

“We are a people. A people do not throw their geniuses away. If they do, it is our duty as witnesses for the future to collect them again for the sake of our children. If necessary bone by bone.”
– Alice Walker
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novelist and Former Student

Although the merger between Atlanta Baptist Seminary (ABS) and Spelman never came to pass, the two institutions began a commitment to maintaining close ties. In the early years, they held joint commencements and shared faculty, and Spelman sent its first college-level students to study at ABS. This proved to be an arrangement of mutual benefit that persisted until Spelman became a college in its own right.

The acquisition of the Barracks property made it possible to extend Spelman’s physical boundaries. New buildings began to populate the burgeoning campus, with Rockefeller Hall, dedicated in 1886, being the first brick building to be erected.

Courses to improve the health status of Blacks soon grew into a full-fledged nurses’ training program and infirmary, supervised by Dr. Sophia Jones, the first Black female member of the faculty. Lectures in physiology and hygiene blossomed into the establishment of MacVicar Hospital, a comprehensive facility that aided in training nurses while providing medical and surgical care not only for Spelman women, but for other Blacks throughout the city, state and region.

“We are sick and tired of being sick and tired.”
– Fannie Lou Hamer
Civil Rights Activist

On March 7, 1888, Spelman Seminary was chartered by the State of Georgia as “an institution of learning for young colored women in which special attention was to be given to the formation of industrial habits and of Christian character.” Much had been accomplished since that cold day in April when eleven Black women had gathered in that dingy church basement. Though the founders were only able to nurture Spelman during its infancy (Packard died in 1891 and Giles in 1909), it was their vision, hard work and faith that enabled this pioneering institution to survive against almost overwhelming odds.

Spelman’s student body had swelled to nearly 700 students, with accommodations for more than 300 boarding students. It could boast about its first-rate teachers’ training program and its exemplary Model School, which served as a laboratory for educating elementary and college preparatory students. It could take great pride in its missionary program, which was regularly sending students to Africa. And its highly regarded nurses’ training program now had an adjunct community hospital dedicated to serving the needs of Black women throughout the South.

It is also noteworthy that Spelman’s long history of producing physicians and scientists would begin during the years of the founders. When Georgia Dwelle entered Meharry Medical College in 1900, she became the first Spelman alumna to attend medical school. After practicing for two years in her hometown of Augusta, Georgia, Dr. Dwelle moved to Atlanta, where she was appalled by the squalor in which Blacks were living. Realizing that she must first set up a place with sanitary conditions for her obstetrical work, she rented a room, cleaned it thoroughly and furnished it with two beds. The Dwelle Infirmary later evolved into the first hospital for Black women in the South—an obstetrical hospital that ran successfully for another 27 years.

“Through my work at Birthplace, I learned the importance of being involved in our own health. We have to create environments that say ‘yes’. ...health provides us with all kinds of opportunities for empowerment”
– Byllye Y. Avery
Founder, Black Women’s Health Project
Coming of Age 1910–1934

The death of Harriet Giles in 1909 marked the close of the most difficult, yet extraordinary, years of Spelman’s history—the era of the founders. Not only had the fledgling Spelman Seminary survived, it had grown into an institution of national renown—a special place dedicated to the education of African American women.

That same year, acting president Lucy Houghton Upton founded the Granddaughters Club for students whose mothers and aunts attended Spelman, creating what would become a precious, century-old tradition and reaffirming a shared belief in Spelman’s future. In 1910, Lucy Hale Tapley’s presidency ushered in a new era of moral and religious training with an increased emphasis on industrial and teacher training. Steadfast in her conviction, Tapley declared: “Any course of study which fails to cultivate a taste and fitness for practical and efficient work in some part of the field of the world’s needs is unpopular at Spelman and finds no place in our curriculum.”

Nurses’ training courses were strengthened. A new teachers’ dormitory, Upton Hall, was dedicated. The Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Building (named in honor of the wife of John D. Rockefeller) was built to house the new Home Economics Department. And in 1925, Tapley Hall, the new science building, was completed. Tapley’s seeds of vocationalism, now deeply entrenched, took hold and blossomed over the next two decades.

“Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
– Margaret Mead
Anthropologist

Yet, the most significant occurrence in the history of Spelman was its transformation from seminary to college, symbolizing the institution’s “coming of age.” Although Spelman had been offering college degrees since 1901, the greatest portion of college work was still being offered at Morehouse College as late as 1923. With only a small number of Spelman students engaged in college-level studies, only 40 students had received college degrees under this arrangement. With new facilities and a greater influx of students with elementary and high school training, Spelman soon shed its seminary identity to become a full-fledged college. On July I, 1924, Spelman Seminary became Spelman College.

The historic affiliation of Spelman, Morehouse College and Atlanta University in April 1929, during the presidency of Florence M. Read (1927–1953), marked a giant step in higher education for African Americans. Later, when Clark College and Morris Brown College joined the Atlanta University system, the entire group of institutions became known as the Atlanta University Center (AUC). Accreditation by the Southern Association of Schools and Colleges in 1932 and the erection of a new University Library secured the AUC’s position among the ranks of other American universities with distinguished faculty and rigorous academic programs.

Additional courses in the humanities, fine arts, social sciences and natural sciences strengthened the curriculum; the size and quality of the faculty increased; and there was tremendous growth in the size of the student body. In a mere decade, enrollment nearly tripled and by 1927, 122 students were enrolled for college work.

“The college for women says by its very existence that a woman should have every opportunity to develop her potential to the full....All its energies are channeled toward helping women prepare for meaningful lives ... We are not constructing a lacy ivory tower. We are preparing women to live as full participants in a complex society in partnership with one another and with men—with equal responsibilities as well as equal rights. We are not a college without men, we are a college for women.”
– Barbara M. White
Former President. Mills College

Life outside the classroom kept pace with curricular innovations. The inauguration of the annual Spelman-Morehouse Christmas Carol Concert, the spring orchestra and chorus concert, and preeminent visiting artists enriched the musical life of the campus. Spelman’s cultural life was also revitalized by the creation of a little theatre, The University Players (the AUC drama organization) and the Atlanta University Summer Theatre. In 1927, Sisters Chapel, named for and funded by sisters Laura Spelman Rockefeller and Lucy Maria Spelman, was dedicated.

A reflection of Spelman’s continuing mission to provide for the special educational needs of women, which included training for motherhood, was the founding of the Spelman Nursery School in 1930—the first school of its kind at a historically Black or women’s college. Quickly earning a national reputation, the nursery school served as a training center for parents, a practice field for students pursuing careers in education, a research site for graduate students and an observation center for others with an interest in the care and training of young children.

The culminating event of Spelman’s “coming of age” was its 50th anniversary celebration in April 1931. With John D. Rockefeller III in attendance, “The History of Spelman,” as told in pageant, unfolded through heartfelt reminiscences, soul-stirring addresses and a moving tableaux of dance, music and short dialogues that dramatically portrayed its tale of frustration, hope and, ultimately, triumph. Playing to spellbound audiences, the 50th anniversary celebration was a harbinger of things to come, as Spelman continued to flourish and move into a new and enchanting era of “cultural awakening.”

“All that one school can hope to do is to till one corner of the world, the seeds of which will be blown north, south, east and west.”
– Harriet E. Giles
Co-Founder and President

Cultural Awakening 1935–1959

“The women’s college is fitted by tradition and circumstances to accomplish this highly complicated task of developing the well-rounded person. It is a place where culture and all that it implies are an inherent part of the educational process.”
– President Florence Matilda Read

Since Spelman’s humble beginnings in the basement of Friendship Baptist Church, the fine arts had been an Integral part of its story. Just a few months after settling into the basement school, the founders hired the first teacher, E.H. Kruger, who began giving voice lessons in October 1881. The following year, the first joint concert with the Atlanta Baptist Seminary was held, beginning the long and glorious tradition of annual Spelman-Morehouse concerts. And in 1887, the first Black male member of the Spelman faculty, George F. Browne, replaced Kruger to serve as musical director for a more than a decade.

The Music Department flourished, offering training in piano, voice, organ, violin and cello. The Glee Club, Quartet, chorus of mixed voices and all-University Orchestra also provided numerous opportunities for students to engage in Spelman’s rich cultural traditions. This “cultural awakening” at Spelman coincided with an outpouring of African American literature, music, social thought and the visual arts during the influential and nationally touted Harlem Renaissance. Spelman’s fine arts curriculum demonstrated the interrelatedness of the arts through courses in painting, sculpture, music, drama and the dance. For many students, this was their first exposure to the fine arts as a viable means of self-expression and social advocacy. Moreover, for many patrons who attended performances at Spelman, this was their first experience as part of a racially mixed audience, given the constraints of Jim Crow segregation practices.

“Art is, and always has been, an expression of the historic conditions of people and should be a part of humanity’s cultural wealth....Art can’t be the exclusive domain of the select. It has to belong to everyone... .Artists should work to the end that love, peace, justice and equal opportunity prevail all over the world.”
– Elizabeth Catlett
Sculptor/Visual Artist/ Activist

On campus, the roster of visiting guest artists read like a virtual “who’s who” of international musical acclaim—Marian Anderson, Mattiwilda Dobbs, Roland Hayes, Paul Robeson, Max Rosen and Soulima Stravinsky, to name just a few. Off campus, the Spelman Glee Club carried its high quality of musicianship up and down the eastern seaboard with its annual Northern Tour that won the hearts of Spelman friends, supporters and alumnae alike.

From Sophocles to Shakespeare, Greek tragedy to Tolstoy, drama began to play an important role in the life of the College. With the appointment of Anne Cooke in 1928 as director of dramatics and John Ross as assistant director in 1934, Spelman could boast about its first-rate theatre program, which now included the theory and practice of acting, stage production methods, play directing, and costume and theatrical design. In 1933, Antigone, its first Greek drama, was presented. And in 1942, with the appointment of Dr. Baldwin W. Burroughs, Spelman’s dramatic pursuits soared to new heights with the European tour of the University Players’ production of Jamaica.

The preservation and dissemination of the unique artistic heritage of African Americans were important dimensions of the fine arts at Spelman and throughout the Atlanta University Center. Painting and sculpture were more recent developments in the fine arts curriculum. During several trips to France in the early I930s, John Hope, the first Black president of Morehouse College, persuaded Hale Woodruff and internationally known sculptor Elizabeth Prophet, both of whom were studying and working abroad, to join the faculty of the AUC. Their presence propelled student interest in the visual arts, while providing them with an opportunity to live and work among their peers. While a Spelman faculty member, Woodruff was commissioned by Talladega College to paint three murals for its new library. The now famous murals, which depict incidents of the infamous Amistad Mutiny, were painted in his studio in Laura Spelman Hall.

“Should an off-earth visitor arrive wishing to know something of ... the artful resilience displayed by African Americans in their centuries-long sojourn over the planet, I would first say to the inquirer that African American art and culture are not separate... Each form enriches the next so even as we sing, we dance; even as we sculpt, we draw; as we sing praises to Heaven, we sing the blues about life here below. And at our best, we accept art in our lives, and we are indebted to the art of living for we have survived with passion, compassion, humor and style.”

– Maya Angelou
Foreword to the Spelman College Exhibition Catalog, Bearing Witness: Contemporary Works by African American Women Artists

While instruction in dance had been offered since the early ’30s, dance groups were also an integral part of the school’s dramatic productions. Florence Warwick, C’35, Spelman’s first dance professor, was influential in elevating dance as a vital art form through a variety of memorable dance programs, choreographed dance demonstrations and annual dance recitals performed by Spelman students.

In addition to visual and performing artists, other influential luminaries visited the campus during Convocations, Morning Chapel Services and annual Founders Days, Baccalaureates and Commencement Exercises, including Ralph Bunche, Ralph McGill, Vladimir Nabokov, Langston Hughes, Mary McLeod Bethune, William E.B. DuBois, Mordecai Johnson and Julius Rosenwald.

In recalling this period of “cultural awakening,” President Albert Manley defines Spelman’s role as part of the emerging global village:” In this period, cultural growth kept pace with intellectual growth. Renowned guest artists, lecturers and men and women of distinction and achievement in diverse fields and from many lands opened a new world of culture and kindled new interest in campus life. This kind of exposure broadened and enriched student attitudes toward themselves and their relationship to the universe, not just as Black people, but as individuals living in and contributing to a world community.”

“Art can function as a sensitizer and a catalyst, propelling people toward involvement in organized movements seeking to effect radical change. Art is special because of its ability to influence feelings as well as knowledge. ...Because the history of Afro-American culture reveals strong bonds between art and the struggle for black liberation, it holds important lessons for those who are interested in strengthening the bridges between art and people’s movements today.”
– Angela Davis
Scholar/Activist

As important in the evolution of Spelman’s unique mission, though barely noticed at this juncture, were its contributions with respect to the production of Black women scientists. This incredible story begins with the creation of the biology and mathematics departments in the I940s. The early seeds for success were sown by professors such as Dr. Barnett F. Smith, who chaired the biology department during the 1950s and ’60s and was responsible for Spelman being the site of the first electron microscope in the AUC. William Caruthers produced strong students in the area of microbiology, and Dr. William LeFlore created opportunities for student research in parasitology.

During Florence Read’s 26-year tenure, Spelman grew in national recognition, earning an “A” rating by the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. Spelman also played a key role in the formation of the United Negro College Fund, the first national fundraising organization for some forty predominantly private Black colleges.

The publication of President Emerita Florence Read’s The Story of Spelman College (1961), which the Board of Trustees had urged her to write upon her retirement in 1953, was a precious gift to the College. Subsequent histories of the College include Beverly Guy-Sheftall and Jo Moore Stewart’s Spelman: A Centennial Celebration (1981); Harry G. Lefever’s Undaunted by the Fight: Spelman College and the Civil Rights Movement, 1957 to 1967 (2005); and Yolanda L. Watson and Sheila T. Gregory’s Daring to Educate: The Legacy of the Early Spelman College Presidents (2005). It is no longer justifiable for the Spelman story to be invisible in the histories of American higher education for women.

In July 1953, Dr. Albert E. Manley ascended to the presidency of Spelman College, marking the end to over half a century of New England leadership and the beginning of a new era of Black stewardship of one of the nation’s most precious resources. Like his female predecessors, he would reaffirm the special mission of women’s colleges: “... colleges for women must place emphasis on a program of studies that will prepare women to function effectively in this changing, more demanding, modern day society. Higher education must strive to produce women with flexibility, serenity of spirit, capacity for synthesis and great wisdom” (Spelman Messenger, November 1976).

“I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.”

– Indira Gandhi
Former Prime Minister, India

The Restless Years 1960–1981

While the Manley years were characterized by profound changes and new directions, Spelman continued to navigate seismic social and political challenges throughout the “restless” decades of the ‘60s and early 70s—a turbulent period of civil unrest so intense and persistent that it threatened to tear the nation asunder. The decade of the ’60s has often been referred to as “the angry decade,” wherein slogans such as “Freedom Now,” “Black Power,” “We Shall Overcome,” “Burn, Baby, Burn!,” and “Make Love, Not War” still prick the nation’s conscience and recall a past that many would prefer to forget. Deeply embedded in the national psyche are memories of Vietnam, Watts, the Cuban missile crisis, assassinations, police dogs, sit-ins, freedom rides, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and Rosa Parks.

America was experiencing its first major nonviolent campaign as thousands became involved in civil rights activism to liberate the nation’s largest and most maligned racial minority. This historic movement of Black students in Southern colleges soon involved hundreds of white students, and American college campuses began to experience a social upheaval that was unprecedented in the nation’s history.

Spelman, too, was touched by the revolutionary events that were taking place, many of which were just outside her gates. To conclude that Spelman’s impact was minimal because of the small number of students and faculty who were actually involved would be erroneous, as the role of Spelman women “in the development of policy, the planning of strategies and in all types of direct action” has been well documented in Professor Harry Lefever’s history of Spelman’s involvement in the Civil Rights Movement.

On March 9, 1960, a full-page advertisement crafted by Atlanta University Center students was placed in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Black-owned Atlanta Daily World. This historic ad, “An Appeal for Human Rights,” identified key areas (education, jobs, housing, voting, hospitals, movies, concerts, restaurants and law enforcement) in which Blacks were victims of discrimination and racial injustice, and it promised that students would use every legal and nonviolent means to alleviate these inequities.

“I felt somehow for many years that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton just left me out by mistake. But through the process of amendment, interpretation and court decision, I have finally been included in ‘We, the people.’”
– Barbara Jordan

Former U.S. Congresswoman and Political Icon

Though Rosalyn Pope, a Spelman student, is credited with having drafted the major portions of the manifesto, according to Professor Lefever, six students from each of the AUC schools signed the document. A few days later, when 200 AUC students converged on downtown Atlanta to protest segregated eating establishments and public buildings, 77 students were arrested. In retaliation, the signers of the “Appeal” were indicted and charged with conspiracy. Undaunted by the fight, later that spring nearly 1,500 students marched from the AUC to Wheat Street Baptist Church to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision.

“The Black Revolution” began a new search for identity—a quest for African Americans to learn more about their ancestry, history and cultural traditions. Africa, once perceived as “the dark continent,” alien and uncivilized, was now seen through the lens of a new consciousness as the “mother country.” African American culture, which had been perpetually ridiculed and maligned, was now thought to be distinctive, valuable and critical to the creation of our national identity.

The Movement had spawned an intellectual, emotional and spiritual quest on the part of Blacks to “know who I am,” which was soon reflected in demands by students and faculty alike for radical curricular reform that resulted in the establishment of Black Studies. Largely ignored in U.S. classrooms, including at HBCUs, Black Studies and non-Western studies began to flourish through new and innovative academic, co-curricular and extracurricular programs. In 1961, a Non-Western Studies Program, funded by the Ford Foundation, was initiated in cooperation with Morehouse College. Courses that focused on the African American experience were also added and in 1969, Spelman officially incorporated a Black Studies Program into its curriculum. Amid the rallying cry of “Black is Beautiful,” Sisters in Blackness, a Spelman student organization, was established.

In the 1960 Founders Day address delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., he eloquently and prophetically summed up the meaning of these far-reaching events: “...You have taken up the deep groans of the century. The students have taken the passionate longings of the ages and filtered them in their own souls and fashioned a creative protest It is one of the glowing epics of the time, and I predict that it will win—that it will have to win, because this demand is a basic American demand.”

“We must in the words of that great liberationist, Mr. Douglass, ‘Agitate, agitate, agitate.’ This is more than a challenge. It is a mandate to us who would call ourselves educated women.”
– Maxine Atkins Smith, C’49
Founders Day, 1974

The Manley years had sparked a major renovation of the Spelman campus, including the erection of the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Fine Arts Building. But beyond the “bricks and mortar,” there were other substantive changes, including an amendment to the College’s charter to read, “the establishment and maintenance of an institution for young women. “The word “Negro” had been deleted.

The revolution in the sciences was perhaps the most stunning initiative. As late as 1971, fewer than ten percent of Spelman’s 966 students were seeking science majors and less than nine percent of degrees awarded were in science and mathematics disciplines. The chemistry curriculum was little more than a service course for students pursuing majors in home economics or physical education. Only students majoring in biology and mathematics could take their major courses at Spelman. Those with any science interests outside pre-medicine had to petition to take most of their courses at other AUC colleges.

Two Black women mathematics faculty members at Spelman set in motion the process of change. Only the ninth and twelfth Black women in the U.S. to earn doctorates in the field, Drs. Shirley Mathis McBay and Etta Zuber Falconer questioned the College’s commitment to educating Black women in science. They wanted to put in place a structure that would nurture the growth of future Black women scientists and provide students with mentors and role models. With President Albert Manley’s strong support for the development of a comprehensive plan to improve Spelman’s science curriculum, the number of students pursuing science and health careers began to increase.

“When I’m asked about the relevance to Black people of what I do, I take that as an affront. It presupposes that [we] have never been involved in exploring the heavens, but this is not so. Ancient African empires— Mali, Songhai, Egypt—had scientists, astronomers. The fact is that space and its resources belong to all of us, not to any one group.”
– Mae Jemison
Physician/Astronaut

The Division of Natural Sciences was created in 1972, with Shirley McBay as its first chair. Over the next two decades, chemistry, computer science and physics, as well as a dual degree program in engineering, were added to the biology and mathematics departments. Academic-year and summer programs were established to increase student recruitment, retention and graduation rates. The College also actively recruited faculty with doctorates in the sciences and active research portfolios to enable students to gain hands-on research experience.

The second component of this initiative was the establishment of a Health Careers Office and a Family Planning Program, which Dr. Audrey Manley, Albert’s wife, conceptualized and directed. The science building (Tapley Hall) was renovated; an interdisciplinary major in the natural sciences was added in 1974; and the Department of Chemistry was created in 1976. Without Dr. Etta Falconer’s chronicling of the evolution of the sciences at Spelman, in a special issue of SAGE: A Scholarly Journal on Black Women, this precious history might have been lost.

As opportunities for Black women increased, Spelman’s students were prepared and encouraged to enter the best graduate and professional schools in the country and to pursue careers in medicine, law, the sciences, international affairs, engineering, business and politics. Numerous opportunities were also created for students to broaden their horizons through internships, travel and study abroad. With a new divisional structure in place, a long list of accomplishments, including a dual degree program in engineering with the Georgia Institute of Technology, and rigorous pre-college summer programs in mathematics and science, would characterize the Albert Manley years.

“Young women and minority youth are now the demographic majority in our country, but they represent only a small fraction of the scientists and engineers. We must tap this group if we are going to guarantee our national capacity for innovation—for a robust economy—for national security. ...For the United States to remain competitive in a vibrant global innovation and research environment, we must have access to the best minds. The nation’s technological strength depends entirely on its ability to attract, educate, recruit and retain the best science and engineering workers. Our government, universities and industry must act now to develop the intellectual capital of the future.”
– Shirley Ann Jackson
Theoretical Physicist and President,
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

It was during the latter years of Albert Manley’s presidency that new courses were added that focused on the experiences and contributions of women, especially those of Black women. Other curricular innovations included the establishment of freshman studies, a new major in philosophy (Spelman now produces the largest cohort of Black women philosophers among HBCUs), new programs in continuing education and urban studies, and new interdisciplinary courses throughout all of the academic divisions.

As the first male and first Black president of Spelman College, Dr. Manley reflected upon his twenty-three-year tenure during his 1976 parting commencement address: “I have, as have my four predecessors, labored to nourish, develop and preserve this unique citadel of learning for Black women. ...It is perhaps ironic that the dream, which has become Spelman College—a place established for the intellectual freedom and growth of black women—has flowered in the heart of a man. Yet, as the first male to be entrusted with the dream ... I, too, had to affirm, with honest conviction, that the powers of women are mighty—physically, intellectually and spiritually.”

“You do not seem to understand who I am. I am a Black woman, the daughter of a dining-car worker. If my life has any meaning at all, it is that those who start out as outcasts can wind up as being part of the system.”
– Patricia Roberts Harris
Former U.S. Ambassador and Presidential
Cabinet Member

With President Manley’s departure, many students and faculty felt the time had come for Spelman to have its first Black female president. Despite the dramatic efforts of students and a few faculty and staff to block the appointment of a man to succeed Manley—including a lock-in of the Board of Trustees in April 1976—Dr. Donald Mitchell Stewart was appointed the sixth president of Spelman College.

In his first formal address to the campus community in Sisters Chapel that September, President Stewart reiterated his commitment to women’s colleges and to Spelman, though he was fully aware that a great tradition in American higher education (separate colleges for women) was being seriously questioned by both educators and the public at large. With integration now the law of the land, it was also a time when the value of historically Black colleges and universities was under the pressure of public scrutiny.

Acknowledging that he would, no doubt, be the last male president of Spelman, he assumed leadership of the College with a clear vision and an abiding conviction that Spelman was destined for greatness. “From institutional survival, the challenge has now shifted to an emphasis on excellence and change—to moving the College fully into the mainstream of American higher education.”

“You go out from here today as women who are going to become lawyers and teachers and social workers...and you keep folks in those institutions scratching when you see injustice. You go forth as parents willing to stand by your children. ...You dedicate yourself to become fleas for justice. Because that’s what Spelman’s one hundred years of history has been.”
– Marian Wright Edelman, C’60
Founder and President, Children’s Defense Fund, Commencement, 1980
A Praise Song 1980–2006

Through years of toil and pain
May thy dear walls remain
Beacons of heavenly light
Undaunted by the fight
– The Spelman Hymn

As Spelman approached its one hundredth anniversary, we would bear witness to the truth of Sophia Packard’s prophecy in 1881: “I am building for a hundred years hence, not only for today.” Building upon its strong foundation of academic excellence and civic engagement, President Donald M. Stewart shepherded Spelman through ten years of extraordinary growth, ensuring that Spelman would “preserve the best of its past and at the same time adapt to the demands of the future.”

Several new programs were launched, including the Honors Program, Comprehensive Writing Program, Continuing Education Program, Career Planning and Development, Counseling Services and the Women’s Research and Resource Center, the first of its kind on a historically Black college campus. The academic profile of the College was enhanced by initiatives to bring a Phi Beta Kappa chapter to the campus, the implementation of new appointment, promotion and tenure policies and the recruitment of more faculty with doctoral degrees.

In addition to greatly enhancing the technological capacity and infrastructure of the College, the physical plant continued to expand with the completion of the Donald and Isabel Stewart Living Learning Center I, Living Learning Center II and the Academic Computing Center. A new institutional advancement division was established that contributed to the growth of the endowment from $9 million to $41 million and increased visibility for the College in the corporate and foundation worlds. In 1977, Patricia Harris, the first Black woman to be appointed to a U.S. President’s cabinet, was among Spelman’s first honorary doctorate recipients. This tradition was initiated by President Stewart. Toni Morrison, who would become the world’s first Black female Nobel Laureate in literature, was the commencement speaker in 1978 and received an honorary doctorate of humane letters.

“There is nothing so magical; there is nothing as potentially powerful, there is nothing so fierce, nothing so nurturing as a community of Black women who know who they are.”
– Toni Morrison
Commencement, 1978

In 1983, under the auspices of its Women’s Center, Spelman engaged in the first curriculum integration project in women’s studies at a Black college. Funded by the Ford Foundation, the project was designed to invigorate the liberal arts curriculum by redesigning courses to reflect the new scholarship on women, but especially the new scholarship on women of color, both in the United States and globally. The extent to which the newly evolving interdisciplinary field of Black Women’s Studies would constitute an integral part of the Spelman core curriculum for the first time was reflected in the English Department’s decision to use Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings as the one complete text for all first-year writing classes. The department also redesigned its world literature course by decentering the West and including literary texts from around the world. The Women’s Center would also host SAGE: A Scholarly Journal on Black Women, founded in 1983 on the Spelman campus. As the first scholarly journal in the U.S. devoted to the experiences of women of African descent, SAGE helped to shape the field of women’s studies during its 13-year history (1983–1996).

When cultural anthropologist Johnnetta Betsch Cole was appointed president of Spelman in 1987, it was an historic occasion because it was the first time an African American woman had assumed leadership of the College. She was very clear about the significance of her charge: “I accepted a mantle of responsibility crafted by the dedication of women and men who preceded me as president. ...I became a member of a unique group of women and men who had the audacity to imagine that a Black women’s college could generate change agents for the entire world.” In her initial statement, she envisioned Spelman under her leadership as a “renowned center for scholarship by and about Black women,” as well as a place where “Black women leaders of the world are nurtured, trained and developed.” Dr. Cole predicted that “scholars, teachers, artists, policy analysts and community leaders will turn to Spelman for comprehensive information on the rich and diverse history, struggles, conditions and accomplishments of Black women.”

“An outstanding historically Black college for women, Spelman promotes academic excellence in the liberal arts, and develops the intellectual, ethical and leadership potential of its students. Spelman seeks to empower the total person, who appreciates the many cultures of the world and commits to positive social change.”
– Spelman Mission Statement

Dr. Cole’s impact on the intellectual life of the campus was profound. Spelman became a mecca for scholar/writer/activists such as Chinua Achebe, Graca Machel, Audre Lorde, Angela Davis, Sonia Sanchez, Mari Evans, Harry Belafonte, Alice Walker, June Jordan, Catherine Bateson, Anita Hill, Paula Giddings and bell hooks. Providing leadership for a restructuring of the core curriculum and initiating a mechanism for faculty governance were, perhaps, the most important interventions in academic affairs. She also appointed a Black Women’s Studies Task Force to explore the feasibility of establishing new interdisciplinary majors. In April 1996, the Women and African Diaspora Studies Committee recommended that a new comparative women’s studies major, with a primary focus on the African Diaspora, be initiated (a women’s studies minor had been in effect since 1982).The comprehensive curriculum review resulted in the establishment of a new core curriculum, the centerpiece of which was a pioneering two-semester course for all first-year students, “The African Diaspora and the World.”

Seeds that had been planted in another part of the curriculum would continue to bear fruit. By the 1990s, according to Olivia Scriven, who is responsible for the most comprehensive analysis of the sciences at Spelman, the number of science graduates increased by more than 450 percent, from 28 in 1968 to 132 in 1996. After leaving Spelman in 1976, Denise Stephenson, a mathematics major, would become the first African American woman to earn a doctorate in fluid dynamics ( Princeton University). Greer Geiger, also a 1976 graduate, would later earn an M.D. at Harvard Medical School, specializing in ophthalmology. Her fascination with the body, visual arts, and the biology and chemistry of the eye, led her to help pioneer a form of eye surgery that uses gas inside the eye to repair macular holes that result in the loss of the center of vision.

“ Spelman College has always produced outstanding women who achieve in the larger society. In no area is this achievement more spectacular at the present time than in the sciences. The science program is a successful program of excellence that is a source of pride for our country. The women scientists, engineers and physicians that we produce will bring significant benefits to our nation and the world.”
– Professor Etta Zuber Falconer
Department of Mathematics

Spelman’s important contributions to the U.S. scientific enterprise were acknowledged in 1995when the National Science Foundation (NSF) named Spelman a Model Institution for Excellence in undergraduate science and mathematics education. From 1997 through 2001, NSF ranked Spelman among the top fifteen baccalaureate-origin institutions graduating African Americans in the sciences who went on to earn doctorates in science disciplines. With a model designation by NSF in 2000, Spelman continues to rank as one of the top producers of African American women in science.

Over the course of President Cole’s decade of service, Spelman was catapulted into the national spotlight in unprecedented ways. The $20 million gift from Drs. Bill and Camille Cosby, announced at her 1988 inauguration, was the largest single individual gift to any historically Black college or university at that time. This dazzling display of Black philanthropy was used to build the Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby Academic Center; establish endowed chairs in the fine arts, social sciences and humanities; open a museum; launch an archival program; and support the College’s endowment.

Spelman’s most successful capital campaign raised $114 million, boosting the endowment to $141 million. Among the donations was Oprah Winfrey’s $1 million gift for the Science Initiative. For the first time, Spelman also ranked among the top colleges in the country. In 1992, U.S. News and World Report named Spelman the number one regional liberal arts college in the South.

“Spelman is a college where African American women fall deeply in love with their own possibilities.”
– President Johnnetta B. Cole

In addition to an increased emphasis on the Spelman tradition of community service, several new initiatives were established: the Sumiko Takahara Japanese Studies program, the Dow Jones/Entrepreneurial Center, the Corporate Women’s Roundtable, the International Affairs Center, the Bonner Scholars Program for Community Service (endowed by the Bonner Foundation), and the first endowed professorship in women’s studies at an HBCU, which was endowed by the Mott Foundation and Bill and Camille Cosby.

When the Spelman Museum of Fine Art opened in 1996,it propelled the College into a more exciting phase in the Revolution of the arts and provided the catalyst for Spelman to play an even greater role in producing future generations of artists, art historians, critics and museum professionals. Its first major exhibition, “Bearing Witness: Contemporary Works by African American Women Artists,” signaled the beginning of Spelman becoming “a rallying point for African American women artists,” according to its curator, Professor Jontyle T. Robinson. The museum would be a haven for “sister artists who can tell the story straight in a visual language as specific as their own shimmery, individual ideas and images and styles,” according to Pearl Cleage,C’71, a contributor to the exhibit catalogue.

A grant from the Ford Foundation in 1994, “Infusing Diversity in the Liberal Arts Curriculum at an HBCU,” was the first project at an HBCU that dealt explicitly with difficult dialogues about diversity, such as what it means to be Muslim, lesbian, disabled, or poor on Black college campuses, as well as what are the most effective strategies for teaching about difference. Poet and lesbian activist Audre Lorde’s visit to the campus was significant because she was inspired to donate her papers to the Archives, fulfilling one of Dr. Cole’s dreams of Spelman becoming one of the most important repositories for the work of influential Black women. In 2005, the Johnnetta Betsch Cole Living and Learning Center II was dedicated to honor Spelman’s first Black woman president, and her advocacy for the production of scholarship on women of African descent was remembered and forever etched in Spelman’s history.

“Diversity is not just about securing broad racial representation and greater opportunity for people of color. Diversity means students and faculty of varied religious, ethnic and age groups should also be well represented and responded to on campus. The same is true for gay and lesbian people, people with disabilities and people from low-income families. The university should look like America—a vibrant, multi-cultural mosaic.”
– Coretta Scott King
Human Rights Activist and Founder,
Martin Luther King. Jr. Center for Non-Violent Social Change

In 1997, another historic event took place: the appointment of Spelman’s first alumna president, Dr. Audrey Forbes Manley, C’55, whose extraordinary medical career had included key appointments as Acting Surgeon General of the United States and Deputy Surgeon General. During her inaugural address, “A Charge To Keep I Have,” in October 1998, she reaffirmed her faith in the sacred mission of her alma mater: “We believe with earned optimism that the Spelman Woman in the next millennium will not only set the standard, but will be the standard for academic excellence, leadership and service. This is but a reaffirmation of our traditional values and mission ... developing the intellect while at the same time cultivating moral character.”

Dr. Audrey Manley also has the distinction of having had the most unusual relationship with the College among all her predecessors. It began when she entered Spelman’s gates as a first-year student in 1951, and spanned fifty-one years, including five years as president (1997–2002). As a former member of the Board of Trustees, a major gift donor, First Lady of the College (after marrying President Albert Manley in 1970), and an innovative force in the College’s evolving science and health careers programs, she has, perhaps, been our most loyal comrade in the struggle to keep the Spelman dream alive across generations.

As president, Dr. Manley ushered Spelman into the new millennium by renovating and restoring several campus facilities, including MacVicar Hall, Packard Hall and Sisters Chapel. She also raised additional funds for and oversaw the construction of the Albro-Falconer-Manley Science Center—the centerpiece of the capital campaign’s science initiative under President Cole. She established the Media and Information Technology (MIT) Division and implemented several technological improvements, including wireless access for one-third of residential housing, 24-hour access to computer labs, Web registration and college-wide internet access.

“It is an awesome responsibility we have to prepare a new generation of women for the world they will co-create. Spelman women have minds with the intelligence and creativity to develop a vaccine against AIDS, cure breast cancer, produce a Nobel Laureate and even a President of the United States. Spelman expects no less of her daughters, and she will give you no less than her best.”
– President Audrey Forbes Manley

President Stewart’s dream of establishing a Phi Beta Kappa chapter (the premier collegiate honor society) on the Spelman campus was realized under Dr. Audrey Manley with the inauguration of the Epsilon Chapter in 1998. And, Spelman’s athletic program was approved for provisional membership in the NCAA, Division II. She also strengthened the National Alumnae Association, increasing alumnae recognition and involvement. In 1999, Black Enterprise ranked Spelman number one as the best collegial environment for Black coeds, and the Association of Medical Colleges ranked Spelman number two for placing African American students in medical school.

During Dr. Manley’s presidency, the Women of Excellence in Leadership Series (WEL) was inaugurated, and the first Cosby Endowed Professorships were named. Ayoka Chenzira, award-winning filmmaker was the first Cosby Chair in the Fine Arts, followed by cultural historian and founder of the women’s musical group, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, C’70 (fine arts), Dr. Sheila Walker (humanities) and Dr.Wiliiam Darity (social sciences). In 2001, the Lilly Foundation awarded Spelman a $2 million grant that resulted in the establishment of the Sisters Center for Women in Spiritual Discernment of Ministry (WISDOM).

When race relations expert and former acting president of Mount Holyoke College, Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, was inaugurated as Spelman’s ninth president in 2003, she anticipated the College’s 125th anniversary and reflected upon its legacy. “This is a place where our expectations are and must be high...our task is to move this institution forward into the 21st century, ever mindful that we have a tradition of excellence to uphold. And we must insure that it continues for the next 125 years.”

“This is the space we come to where we feel intellectually valued, where we feel a sense of community, where we feel a sense that people know your work...we have each other’s histories in the palms of our hands.”
– Anonymous

Upon Dr. Tatum’s arrival, she launched Spelman ALIVE, an initiative borne out of the College’s strategic plan. Its focus is Academic Excellence, Leadership Development, Improving Our Environment, Visibility of Our Achievements and Exemplary Customer Service. In the fall of 2003, she established The Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement (LEADS), with programming focused on leadership development, economic empowerment, advocacy through the arts, dialogue across difference, and service learning and civic engagement. LEADS held its first annual conference,” Women of Color—Leadership in the 21st Century,” in May 2004. In June of the same year, under the auspices of the Women’s Center, the College hosted an invitational, international conference on “Women, Girls and HIV/AIDS in Africa and the African Diaspora” that attracted delegations from South Africa, the Caribbean, Senegal and Brazil. It was the first gathering at an HBCU to focus on both the racial and the gendered aspects of the pandemic.

In her quest for “nothing less than the best,” President Tatum established a new enrollment management division to increase the effectiveness of Spelman’s recruitment and retention efforts. Under Tatum’s leadership, the College moved up an impressive fifteen spots on the “Top 75 Best Liberal Arts Colleges” for undergraduates by U.S. News & World Report (2005). For the second consecutive year, Spelman remains the only HBCU ranked in the top tier.

In 2003, the College received a $4.5 million NASA grant for Women in Science and Engineering Scholars Program. Three Cosby professors have been hosted on campus since President Tatum’s arrival: Dr. Renita Weems, Old Testament scholar (humanities); Pearl Cleage, C’71, writer and playwright (humanities); and Dr. Patricia McFadden, African feminist scholar/activist (social sciences).

“African women are not novices when it comes to confronting insidious forms of power. But in the present context of crisis, mounting conservatism and escalating co-optation, we need to confront, head-on, the incipient erosion of our energies and dreams, particularly in relation to issues of rights, choice and personhood. Realizing our creativities and destinies as free women who exercise their rights and choices with knowledge and dignity should become the rallying call of all feminists today.”

– Patricia McFadden
African Feminist Scholar/Activist

In April 2004, Spelman College garnered unprecedented national and international attention when, in keeping with Spelman’s legacy of activism, students mounted a protest against Nelly’s misogynistic music video, “Tip Drill.” Spelman continues to attract journalistic commentary and kudos from the non-profit sector for its activist stance. As one of the catalysts for Essence Magazine’s “Take Back the Music” campaign, the protest also resulted in numerous letters to the College congratulating the students for taking such a courageous stand and, according to a celebratory article in The Chronicle of Higher Education (June 4, 2004), having “tapped into widespread frustration with the negative representations of women in rap music.”

“You don’t know how many little Black girls were impacted by the stand that you took yesterday; you don’t know how many little Black girls felt proud of you and themselves yesterday; you don’t know how many little Black girls gained some more role models yesterday.”
– Mary Anne Adams, April 2004

Spelman made history again when in July, its College Robotics Team, the SpelBots, competed in the International RoboCup 2005 Four-Legged Robot Soccer Competition, held in Osaka, Japan. Of the 24 qualifying teams from around the world, Spelman was the first and only historically Black college or university represented, the first and only all women institution and the only U.S. undergraduate institution to qualify that year. Sponsored by The Coca-Cola Company and NASA. The Team successfully competed in the Sony AIBO four-legged robots tournament.

Breaking boundaries and charting new territory, Spelman is preparing new generations of bright and talented women for the most urgent challenges of a rapidly expanding and more complex global village. It is tempting to forget, as we bask in the splendor of the past 125 years, that our protracted struggle for recognition and legitimacy required courage, boldness, risk-taking and resilience. Both historically Black colleges and women’s colleges have had to continually assert their value and defend themselves. Despite the odds, we have endured.

“At the heart of [Spelman’s] mission is the notion of leadership—a holistic understanding of leadership development that includes mind, body and spirit—an understanding of leadership that includes the cultivation of wisdom and an understanding of social justice. ...We seek to develop a clear sense of collective responsibility and ethical leadership to prepare our students for wise stewardship of their world. It is our heritage and our calling.”
– President Beverly Daniel Tatum

Spelman

...a scholarly place, a sacred place, an activist place, an artful place—a woman’s place

Spelman, thy name we praise...

We’ll ever faithful be.

Throughout eternity.

Credits
Spelman: A Woman’s Place, 1881–2006 is based on Spelman: A Centennial Celebration by Beverly Guy-Sheftall and Jo Moore Stewart (Delmar, 1981). In publishing this revised and expanded version for the 125th anniversary celebration, April 2006, Spelman College acknowledges the editorial contribution of Denise McFall and the design contribution of Dawn Keene of Keene Design, Inc. The original artwork. “The River That Flows Through Time” by Varnette P. Honeywood, C’72 was commissioned by the College for its 125th anniversary.

Additional resources include the Spelman Messenger, edited by Jo Moore Stewart; Undaunted by the Fight Spelman College and the Civil Rights Movement, 1957–1967 by Harry Lefever (Mercer University Press, 2005); Bearing Witness: Contemporary Works by African American Women Artists by Jontyle Theresa Robinson, curator (Spelman College and Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1999); Daring to Educate: The Legacy of the Early Spelman College Presidents by Yolanda L. Watson and Sheila T Gregory (Stylus Publications, 2005); “A Story of Success: The Sciences at Spelman College” by Etta Z. Falconer in SAGE: A Scholarly Journal on Black Women, 6.2 (Fall 1989): 3–38; “Women’s Studies at Spelman College: Reminiscences From the Director” by Beverly Guy-Sheftall in Women’s Studies International Forum, 9.2 (1986): 151–155; and The Politics of Particularism: HBCUs, Spelman College and the Struggle to Educate African Americans in Science, 1950–1997 by Olivia A. Scriven (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006).

Campus Facilities
The College campus consists of more than 32 acres and 23 buildings on the west side of Atlanta about a mile and a half from the downtown area.

Rockefeller Hall (1886) is the administration building. In addition to the major administrative offices, it contains Howe Memorial Hall, formerly the school’s chapel, given by Dr. William Howe of Cambridge, Massachusetts, in memory of his wife. Renovation of this historic building began in 2005.

Packard Hall (1888), named for the senior founder of the school, Miss Sophia B. Packard, was renovated in 2003 and houses administrative offices including the Office of Enrollment Management, which includes Admission, Financial Aid, and the Registrar’s Office.

Giles Hall (1892 and renovated in 1996), named for Miss Harriet E. Giles, is the home of the social sciences and provides offices and classrooms. It also houses the Honors Program, Learning Resources Center and the Fine Arts computer graphics laboratory.

Morehouse-James Hall, Morgan Hall, MacVicar Hall and Reynolds Cottage were completed in 1901. Morehouse-James Hall is a dormitory for students. Morgan Hall contained the College’s dining rooms and also served as a dormitory; however, it was destroyed by fire in 1970. It stood where the Albert E. Manley College Center now stands. MacVicar Hall houses the Women’s Health Center, the Office of Counseling Services, and living facilities for the resident nurses and students. Remodeled in 1996, Reynolds Cottage is the president’s residence.

The Milligan Building, acquired by Spelman College in 2005, houses the Office of Career Planning and Development. It is the temporary home for the College’s administrative offices, including the Office of the President, Office of the Provost, Office of Undergraduate Studies, Institutional Advancement, and Business and Financial Affairs while Rockefeller Hall is renovated.

Upton Hall (1904), which once provided housing for faculty members, housed the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Network, the Office of Community Service and the Bonner Scholars program, prior to its demolition in 2004.

Bessie Strong Hall (1917 and renovated in 2003) serves as a student residence hall and houses the WISDOM center.

Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Building was completed in 1918 in response to the demand for better facilities for training domestic science teachers. Money for the building and equipment was given by Mr. John D. Rockefeller as a memorial to his wife. In 1930, the Spelman Nursery School, now the Marian Wright Edelman Child Development Center, began with facilities on the ground floor of the building. It also provides student living facilities.

Tapley Hall, the science building erected in 1925 and named for Miss Lucy Hale Tapley, is a three-story brick building that contains science laboratories, offices, and classrooms.

Sisters Chapel, dedicated in May 1927 by Mr. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., in honor of his mother and aunt, contains an auditorium with a seating capacity of 1,050 and the Harreld James Organ, a three-manual Holtkamp organ of 53 ranks. This organ was installed in April 1968. In 1942 the Alumnae Association donated chimes for the Chapel, and in the fall of 2005 renovations were completed.

Chadwick Hall, formerly the Leonard Street Orphans Home built in 1936, was acquired by Spelman in 1945 from Atlanta University and used as a residence hall until its demolition in 1986.

The Florence Matilda Read Health and Recreation Building was completed in July 1951. It contains the main gymnasium, offices and lounges, a swimming pool, bowling alleys, dance studios, a corrective gymnastics room, game rooms, lockers, and showers.

Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Hall, a residence hall, was built in 1952 with funds given by Mr. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

The John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Fine Arts Building (1964) was made possible by a grant from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and given in memory of Mr. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. It houses the departments of art, music, and drama.

Dorothy Shepard Manley Hall, a residence hall built with a federal loan from the Housing and Home Finance Agency, was completed in 1964. On November 13, 1964, the Board of Trustees voted to name it Dorothy Shepard Manley Hall in recognition of Mrs. Manley’s assistance in the planning of the furnishings for the residence hall. It was formally named on March 15, 1965.

Named to honor Miss Clara Howard of the first High School graduating class and Mrs. Claudia Harreld of the first College graduating class, the second stage of a four-stage residence complex, Howard-Harreld Hall, was completed in September 1968.

During the third stage, the Sally Sage McAlpin Hall, named in honor of Mrs. McAlpin then Chairperson of the Board of Trustees, was built.

A College Center, completed in 1973 and named Albert E. Manley College Center by the Board of Trustees, houses the Alma Upshaw Dining Room, the Lawrence J. MacGregor Board Room, administrative and student government offices, the snack shop, the commuter student lounge, and two concourses-Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman.

The College Bookstore and the College Mail Center, originally located in the Manley College Center, are now housed in a separate facility, which was completed in 1988.

The residential complex was expanded when the Donald and Isabel Stewart Living-Learning Center opened in the fall of 1983. In addition to housing 198 students, the building includes a large meeting room and quarters for visiting lecturers, scholars, and artists.

The Academic Computer Center, dedicated in April 1985, is a two-story structure containing computer laboratories, faculty offices, a study area, and classrooms, including one electronic classroom and a standard classroom with a mini-lab and personal computers that provide Internet access.

The Johnnetta B. Cole Living-Learning Center II opened September 1, 1989 and was renamed in 2005 in honor of Spelman’s seventh President, Dr. Johnnetta Betsch Cole. The Center houses 200 students and provides conference facilities for on-campus and off-campus organizations.

Donated by Drs. Camille and William (Bill) Cosby, the Camille O. Hanks Cosby Academic Center, dedicated in February 1996, provides classrooms and laboratories for students studying in the humanities. It houses several interdisciplinary programs, departments and offices for faculty in English, history, philosophy, religion and modern foreign languages. The Center also contains an auditorium, an art museum, a conta museum shop, the Spelman College archives, the Ennis Cosby Reading Room, the Educational Media Center, the Writing Center, and the Women’s Research and Resource Center.

The Albro-Falconer-Manley Science Center, a $33.9 million state-of-the-art center, opened its doors in 2000. A site for intellectual exchange and scientific creativity, the student-friendly center promotes interaction between students and faculty, and attracts those outside of the scientific community and College. Designed to foster interdisciplinary learning, the building accommodates current research and teaching practices and supports the use of technology in teaching for the departments of Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics and Physics as well as curriculum-based programs in Environmental Science and Engineering. Departmental offices, as well as offices for special support programs that enhance the infrastructure of teaching and research, are located in the facility.

Affiliation in the Atlanta University Center
Spelman is one of five institutions that constitutes the Atlanta University Center, the largest consortium of Black higher education in the world. Cooperation among the affiliated institutions takes many forms, including joint use of the Robert W. Woodruff Library and cross-registration among the undergraduate institutions. Each school retains independent boards of trustees, administrative offices, faculty, student body, buildings, campus, and endowment, allowing Spelman to enjoy the benefits of a small liberal arts college while having access to the resources of a major university center.

A Board of Directors sets priorities for the Atlanta University Center, and the Executive Director, the chief operating officer of the Center, reports to the Council of Presidents, composed of the presidents of each of the Center institutions.

Robert W. Woodruff Library
Constructed in 1982, the Robert W. Woodruff Library is named in honor of Robert Winship Woodruff, former CEO of the Coca Cola Company. The library was designed to serve the instructional, informational and research needs for member institutions of the Atlanta University Center Consortium, the world’s largest and oldest consortium of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The institutions that make up the Atlanta University Center Consortium are Clark Atlanta University, the Interdenominational Theological Center, Morehouse College, Morehouse School of Medicine, Morris Brown College, and Spelman College.

The Woodruff Library strives to reflect the excellence of its member institutions by being the first choice for users in their search for information. As an academic resource with a mission to achieve distinction in providing and supporting the learning, teaching, and research needs for each institution in the Atlanta University Center it is vital to meet the needs and issues critical to its shareholders.

Users of the Woodruff Library have the assurance of knowing that their information needs will be taken care of from any point of entry. Orientations, tours, and instruction provide users with guidance in using specific Library collections and services. Research assistance is offered in person, by telephone, through individual and group consultation or through the web using the AskRef email reference service. A Kurzweil Reader and closed circuit television for text magnification and color adjustment are available for visually challenged patrons. There are also approximately 600 study carrels available for faculty, graduate and undergraduate students who are actively involved in conducting research and intensive study. Computer labs, electronic classrooms, video conferencing, and 200 computers are available for student and faculty use.

E-Resources can be accessed online in the Library and from remote locations. The Robert W. Woodruff Library provides access to full-text electronic journals, books and reference items by direct purchase. The Library is a member of ARCHE, SOLINET, OCLC, HBCU Library Alliance, and a participant of the Georgia state network, GALILEO. The Library also participates in an active interlibrary loan service making available needed materials owned by other libraries throughout the United States and internationally, and an interlibrary use program, which permits access to the collections of nineteen other Georgia libraries that participate in the ARCHE consortium.

The Robert W. Woodruff Library’s collection exceeds one million items that consist of 370,000 print volumes; 35,000 electronic books; 867,000 microforms; 302,000 government documents; 16,800 theses and dissertations; 54,000 bound periodicals; 1,200 current periodical subscriptions; 21,900 full text journals; 5,800 compact discs; more than 200 databases and over 7,000 cubic feet of archival collection. The Archives and Special Collections department is noted for its extensive materials documenting the African American experience and the rich history of the AUC schools. Among the unique holdings are the John Henrik Clarke Africana Collection, the Henry P. Slaughter Collection, and the Countee Cullen/Harold Jackman Memorial Collection of visual and performing arts.

For more information about the Robert W. Woodruff Library log onto www.auctr.edu.

Women’s Research and Resource Center
In July 1981, Spelman College was the recipient of a grant from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation to establish a Women’s Center, the first of its kind on a historically Black college campus. The major components of the Center, now located on the second floor of the Cosby Academic Center, are curriculum development in Women’s Studies, especially the Comparative Women’s Studies major and minor, research on Black women and community outreach to women. The Women’s Center also manages the Spelman College Archives. In 2004, the Center launched the Digital Moving Image Salon, which provides the opportunity for students to develop stories and productions for digital.