EXHIBIT
CREATING HOME
BLACK INCLUSION AND COMMUNITY BUILDING
In this exhibit you can explore the different phases of Solitude’s history. We begin during the period when this place was indigenous land, and go on to explore its history as a slave plantation in the nineteenth century.
For Black students, traversing a predominately white institution such as Virginia Tech can be a daunting, difficult, and often lonely and burdensome task. While many students, faculty, and administrators have taken significant strides to make Virginia Tech and Blacksburg an inclusive home for all people, the same cannot be said for others. For Black students, these conflicting messages and actions have created an environment in which they are welcomed and celebrated, as well as marginalized and discriminated against.
For the first eight Black students at Virginia Tech, the struggle between inclusion and exclusion were clear. Upon admittance, they were told by administrators that they would have to live and eat off campus, and were barred from joining clubs and attending events that would’ve brought them closer to their white peers. Many of these pioneers recall that despite the obstacles they faced, they still felt that the majority of students supported them in their efforts to gain an education.
“Mrs. Hoge, Janie Hoge, who was the lady who made her home available to us as students, I do think that she deserves a lot of credit for what she did….she was a great hose, she looked after us as if we were her own children. She fed us. She gave us advice. She kept us in line…” Dr. Essex Finney in Cadet uniform, 1959. An oral history with Dr. Finney can be found here Peddrew taking advantage of a rare opportunity to relax with his classmates by bowling with fellow cadets.
By the end of his freshman year, Peddrew had good relationships with several white students, with some even asking to be his roommate the following year. Despite their kindness, it was clear that these friendships were severely limited.
“I've often thought about some of the whites who, some of the guys that came to me and said, "You know, Irv, I'd like to take you home, and my parents would love to have you as a visitor, but it's the neighbors." Do you know how many times I've heard that?- Irving Peddrew III
White students would also let Yates and other Black students change and store their Corps rifles in their rooms, to avoid having to carry it all the way from their off campus housing. In 1957, class officers voiced their support for Black students attending Ring Dance, but President Newman forbade it.
When Matthew Winston Sr. was invited by white classmates to go to town for food or coffee, they were often shocked when he explained to them that Virginia law did not permit him to join them. Despite the occasional invitations, Winston did not feel considerably close to his white classmates, “I had no real circle of friends or relationships with other students. There were people who befriended me, but it never went beyond the classroom or chance encounters on campus or in town”- Matthew Winston Sr. This back and forth existence between inclusion and isolation continued into the 1960s and 70s. Even once Black students were living on campus and actively joining clubs and participating in varsity sports, a color barrier still existed between many on campus.
While living in Hillcrest Hall, Linda Edmonds recalls that she and her roommate, Freddie Hairston, were immediately part of the social culture of the dorm. “There were pajama parties. We'd go; they might not have wanted us to, but we were there. We never considered ourselves uninvited”
- Linda Edmonds Turner Dorm party from Hillcrest Hall featuring Freddie Hairston (left)
However, there were still many girls in the dorm that kept their distance, and made no effort to befriend the pair. When parents would visit, students who had previously been friendly would often act as if they didn’t know the pair, and parents would often ask Linda and Freddie where the paper towels were, assuming that they were hired help. However, these women and other Black students did not allow such treatment to stop them from making the most of their undergraduate experience, with many Black students joining historically white clubs and organizations.
“I remember I would ask this white girl from my hometown, we'd be in classes, "In your high school did you do this or that?" And she'd go, "Oh--" She didn't want to talk to me, but as the years went by, she would talk more, but it was like she was always judging whether she should do it or not...There were some of the girls that were just truly friendly all the time; some just ignored you totally. Most of them just kind of ignored you. You were invisible in a way...In some respects, Tech made me feel like a stepchild. It's my school even though we participated in everything nobody cared that we did or didn't.”
- Linda Edmonds Turner
"I remember sometimes walking across the drillfield when it was cold, the first year I came up here--I think it snowed from October to May. It was so cold. I would think to myself sometimes that if I was walking to class between my dorm and the classroom, and I would faint here on this drillfield, no one would care. Everyone would just keep walking by. This was just some of the things that you would think about sometimes. You would wonder to yourself if anyone would stop or if they would just keep going.”- Jackie Blackwell
"In general, I think there was basically a kind of indifference. I don't remember them being particularly friendly or not friendly. People who lived beside you maybe, girls who might have been in some of your classes, you tended to be more friendly with maybe than other people. And again, come the weekend and it was time to find a party or something, then there was this little wall that separated us. They went their way, and you went your way."- Marguerite Harper Scott
In addition to earning Dean's List honors, Linda Edmond Turner (3rd from top right) was a member of the University Choir, Phi Upsilon Omicron, whose 1970 Bugle photo is pictured above Chiquita Hudson, Marguerite Harper Scott and Linda Adams Hoyle, 1966
Marguerite Harper Scott was a member of Standing Senate Committee on Credentials and Elections, 1969 Bugle Jackie Butler Blackwell was a member of the Biology Pre-Med Club, 1969 Bugle. Just 9 years earlier, Black students were not permitted to major in anything other than engineering. Jerry Gaines, who in 1967 became Virginia Tech’s first Black scholarship athlete, received similar treatment from his teammates. He recalls receiving commendable support from his head coach and teammates, but also social isolation he at times felt from his teammates. Despite being voted president of Monogram Club his senior year, Gaines was never invited to social events by his teammates. “You know, the guys, even my teammates on weekends would just jump into their vehicles, and they'd be gone, and that, I think, was probably one of the most obvious things to me was that you know, it's okay if we practice together, but on weekends we have things we have to do, and they jumped in their cars and went their merry way, and often times I'd be left in the dorm or go to the library for fun...My social life was virtually nonexistent. There was no social life, not for me. I longed very much to be with the guys.”
- Jerry Gaines
In addition to being the first Black scholarship athlete, Gaines was also the first Black person inducted into the Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 1990. An oral history with Gaines can be found here Jerry Gaines (2nd row, third from right) with Men's Varsity Track and Field Team, 1969 Bugle Jerry Gaines (2nd row, 5th from left) with members of the Monogram Club, Virginia Tech's varsity sports student and alumni organization, in 1969 Bugle. Gaines was elected president his senior year.
BLACK COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IN THE 1960S AND BEYOND BARRIERS OF ENTRY INTO WHITE CAMPUS CULTURE FORGING A STUDENT COMMUNITY ADMINISTRATION PROMOTING DIVERSITY
