EXHIBIT
WOMEN OF COLOR
PROFILES IN ACHIEVEMENT
EDIT THIS PER EXHIBIT ---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.
The election of homecoming court provided Black women at VPI with an opportunity to push for inclusion in VPI's longstanding traditions. Jacqueline D. Dandrige became the first black woman nominated for homecoming princess in the fall of 1968. The 1982 election of Marva Felder as homecoming queen shows how Black students guided one another towards success and into the spotlight, and what representation of Black beauty on the football field meant to Black students across campus.
Jacqueline Dandridge, 1971
Homecoming Court, 1968
Jacqueling Dandridge pictured top left The First Black Homecoming Queen-1982
Marva Felder grew up in Chester, Virginia in a family of hard-working, educated individuals. Her high school was semi-integrated, with an 80:20 ratio for white students to black students, but she still noticed that she was the only black student in most of her classes.
In 1978, Felder enrolled in VPI. Calvin Jamison, a black student, greeted Felder by name right as she walked onto campus, as he had studied the faces of every student that had been accepted. He tried his best to make students like Felder feel at home and welcomed on campus. She had white and black friends on campus and ignored any racism she faced.
Felder became active in student life, and served on the Budget Commission of Student Affairs when the Black Organizations Council had been added. She worked at Squires Student Center, managing the building to make some extra money. She was also a member of the Black Student Alliance. During her junior year, she was asked if she would run for homecoming queen. She declined, and thought nothing more of it.
Student Budget Board Commission on Student Affairs, 1983
Marva pictured in front row, 2nd to the right Marva Felder, Homecoming Queen 1982 escorted Marva Felder, Homecoming Queen 1982, waiting to hear the announcement
One night when she was working at Squires, one of the BSA students came down from a meeting and asked her again if she would run. After a few minutes, she finally agreed saying that if no one else was going to do it, she would run. To her surprise, she quickly won the seat on homecoming court as a princess.
She had pictures taken of herself to be posted on campus, soliciting votes for her as a homecoming princess. Felder says she remembers walking by them and hating her pictures, even though everyone else told her they loved them.
“I thought I had a big nose in the picture. I didn’t think I was glamorous looking at all.”
The homecoming queen was to be decided by the number of votes and an interview. The princesses would also be required to go to the cafeteria and be escorted to each table, having other people introduce the princesses to the students.
Felder quickly grew tired of being paraded around silently. “I needed to do more than just try to look pretty. I just, I didn’t like that.” So she then began introducing herself to each table and telling them about herself in her own way. By the end of the day, her voice was hoarse from talking. Students loved that she was being herself, so much so that students had walked up to her afterwards to tell her that they wanted to introduce themselves to her. Felder stated,"You know what, the only thing I did was talk and have people get a chance to get to know who I was. So if they decided to vote for me they would know who they were voting for, not just what they voting for.”
During the interview component of the competition, Felder answered all the questions truthfully and thoroughly, while maintaining a flow in the conversation. Felder wanted to be genuine in every single part of this process. “I never made a whole lot of any of this because I’d never thought I’d win. It was I’m going to be the best representative I can be for the organization that asked me to do it and voted on me and that was it.”
Marva Felder, Homecoming Queen 1982, expression Marva Felder, 1982 Homecoming Queen, hug She never expected herself to win that day on the football field. She didn’t consider herself deserving of the title and genuinely believed Virginia Tech was not ready for a Black homecoming queen. She was happy to represent the black community.
In the past years, the homecoming queen would be invited back to participate in some school events, but Felder was never called. She was, however, called back to award the next homecoming queen.
Felder still believes this was important to the black community at Virginia Tech: “I think it helped to have the black students stand out a little bit more. I think it helped them to accomplish the goal of becoming more involved in the community. To become more involved. To become more noticed on campus as a functioning entity, as a functioning group.”
Felder won her title only a few years after the first Miss Black America was televised, and she was well aware that many United States beauty standards then and now center white femininity as ideal.
She explains society’s reluctance to embrace black beauty, “if you look up the definition of black, they talk about darkness. The negative side. It all has negative connotations to it whereas if you look up white, there is purity and so forth… my concept black is beautiful comes from us being taught that there is nothing wrong with our color… You can be as beautiful outside as you want to be, but if you have a negative personality, the beauty will diminish.”
INTRODUCTORY NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR ASIAN, INDIGENOUS, AND LATINX WOMEN ON CAMPUS BLACK WOMEN AS VPI STUDENTS BLACK WOMEN AS FACULTY AND STAFF CONFRONTING RACISM AND MAKING COMMUNITY ON CAMPUS
