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.
MAKING A SPACE FOR WOMEN—THE FIRST FIVE
The Graduating Class of Co-Eds in 1925
From left to right: Mary Brumfield, Ruth Terrett, Lucy Lee Lancaster, Louise Jacobs and Carrie Sibold
Lucy Lee Lancaster pictured in the 1925 Tin Horn
Ruth Terrett as pictured in the 1925 Tin Horn
"They thought we would spoil the sacred traditions at Tech.”
—Lucy Lee Lancaster ‘25
The “first five” women to be admitted as full students at Virginia Tech were Lucy Lee Lancaster, Ruth Terrett, Billie Kent Kabrich, Mary Brumfield and Carrie Sibold. Brumfield, Lancaster and Sibold majored in biology while Kabrich studied chemistry and Terrett enrolled in civil engineering. When Kabrich left school to get married, Louis Jacobs, a transfer student, took her place in the “first five.” Jacobs majored in chemistry.
Lucy Lee Lancaster noted that individually the cadets were very polite on an individual basis. However, they did not like the admission of female students in general. The following poem from the 1922 Bugle, illustrates how the male cadets felt about the first co-eds.
The Co-Ed is here
She belongs all alone in a class of her own
At VPI she has caused a wretched condition
We only have ten, but curses, what a collection
I’m peeved and I’m mad, I favor Co-ed extradition
The sooner the better,
Or we shall let her murder our very tradition.
One co-ed was determined to prove that she was equal to the male students in both strength and determination. Ruth Terrett dressed in a cadet uniform and climbed the water tower. Climbing the water tower was a cadet tradition and seen as a test of manhood. After climbing the water tower, Ruth Terrett was often known by the nickname “Rat.” A class history section of the 1925 Tin Horn reads, “After ‘Rat’ Terrett showed that she was determined to stick, her would-be tormentors fled.”
The “first five” responded to pushback from the male cadets by claiming spaces to promote their academic and extra-curricular involvement on campus. For example, since women could not belong to male clubs and organizations, the first female students formed their own. The co-eds also formed their own basketball team. The Turkey Hens, the women’s basketball team, was founded in 1923-1924. Cadets would attend the women’s basketball games only to cheer for the opposing team.
The “first five” women at Virginia Tech worked to claim a space of their own and forged traditions which would influence future classes of co-eds.
Ruth Terrett as pictured in the 1925 Tin Horn
Carrie Sibold's diploma. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1925.
The terms "co-education" and "co-ed" are used throughout the exhibit. Co-education is defined as "the education of students of both sexes together." In much of the historical narrative, female students at Virginia Tech were known as co-eds. In addition, many female students through the 1960s, used this term in their oral histories.
