All posts by Stevie Ordway

Otelia At Smith

1800s-1900
Black and white photograph of Otelia Cromwell taken at her desk in 1900.
Otelia Cromwell at her desk, 1900.
Record Group 80.02 Classes, Smith College Archives, box 1584, folder 17.
Smith College, Northampton, Mass.
YearEventNotes
1874Born in Washington, D.C.Parents: Lucy McGuinn and John Wesley Cromwell
1895-1897Teaches and takes classes at Howard UniversityAfter graduating from the Miner Normal School in Washington, D.C.
1898Enters Smith as a Junior Otelia had been taking classes at Howard University while teaching before transferring to Smith College.
1898-1899Lived at 190 Roundhill RoadOtelia was not allowed to live on campus for the duration of her time at Smith. Instead for her junior year she lived with a sophomore named Inez Louise Wiggins, off-campus.
1899-1900Lived at 275 Main StreetFor her senior year, Otelia remained off campus, with no other Smith students.
1900Graduates from Smith College Otelia Cromwell was the first Black graduate of Smith College.
Otelia Cromwell (second in line) marches with her classmates on Ivy Day 1900 (from M.M. Roys Papers)
Otelia Cromwell (second in line) marches with her classmates on Ivy Day 1900 (from M.M. Roys Papers)
Smith College Archives, Smith College, Northampton, Mass.
Activity: Put yourself in Otelia's shoes. Imagine being delibreately isolated within a closed community. For some of us it is easier to empathize with Otelia's experiences than others. But I challenge you to think and feel deeper. Imagine you're the first. How does this thinking make you feel? Reflect, explain it to a friend. Share in empathy.

Forgotten Narratives

1800s-1900

The Chesnutt Sisters

Black and white photograph of Helen Chestnutt Date: 1900s
Helen Maria Chesnutt
(1881-1969)
Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College.

Ethel and Helen Chesnutt entered Smith College as freshmen in 1897. A year before Otelia transferred as a junior.

Black and white photograph of Ethel Chestnutt Date: 1900s
Ethel Perry Chesnutt
(1879-1958)
Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College.

Making the Chesnutt’s, the first Black Smithies. They both graduated in 1901, a year after Otelia Cromwell.

Like Otelia, the Chesnutt’s were denied on-campus housing. They lived at 95 West Street as freshmen, 10 Green Street as sophomores, 36 Green Street as juniors, and finally 30 Green Street in their senior year.

How they felt and dealt with the fact they were the only Black students on campus is unknown. There is little to no personal material about the Chesnutt sisters in the Smith College Archives. An entry from English Professor Mary Jordan’s diary sheds some light on the matter noting that the

“Chesnutt girls are having a hard time with the color line…”

Prior to their arrival at Smith College the Chesnutt household had quite the decision to make. Their father, Charles Waddell Chesnutt, had already decided that he wanted his children to have the best education her could afford. He had been limited in his own education and faced many difficulties as a young Black man in the South.

Excerpt from Smith College’s First Black Students: Letters and Other Texts Illuminate Smith Journey of Charles W. Chesnutt’s Daughters Ethel and Helen, 1897-1901

By Pamela E. Foster ’85, M.S.J. Nat’l Special Projects Chair, Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society

“Western Reserve University was first considered. It was a fine college; it was in Cleveland; the girls could live at home; the expense would be slight; most of their classmates were going there–such were the advantages set forth by their parents. But the girls objected. This last year at high school was a disappointment to them. They had not said anything about it because there was really nothing to be said. They were enjoying their lessons very much; they loved their teachers; their scholarship rating was high; yet they were not entirely happy. So, they said, they would rather go to Normal School and begin teaching as soon as possible, than to plod out to Reserve for another four years of drudgery.

The girls told them that when the Senior Class was organized, and its activities under way, they realized with shock and confusion that they were considered different from their classmates; they were being gently but firmly set apart, and had become self-conscious about it. They knew that if they went to Reserve this state of affairs would continue, and so they had made their decision.

Charles learned that one of their friends had explained the situation to them. “After all,” she had said, “you are Negroes. We know that you are nice girls, and everybody thinks the world of you; but Mother says that while it was all right for us to go together when we were younger, now that we are growing up, we must consider Society, and we just can’t go together anymore.”

​When this dear friend came a day or two later to study some homework with the girls, Susan told her not to come again because her mother might object. “O, no,” replied the girl. “Mother does not mind my studying with Ethel and Helen; it is only in social relations that she objects.” “Indeed!” replied Susan. “Well, I object very seriously to your coming here to study with my girls -so please don’t come again.”

Charles recalled his visit to Northampton several years before (seven years ago in 1889) and, after discussing the matter with Susan, decided to send the girls to Smith College, where for four beautiful years they could breathe the air of New England, the cradle of democracy. When the decision was made, peace settled down upon the Chesnutt family….Susan was already planning the girls’ dresses for commencement, and their wardrobe for college….By February (of 1897) Chesnutt had written several stories and had made great progress on his novel. His shorthand business was very absorbing; his writing had to be done at night and on Sundays. He was making money and saving much of it, for he intended before long to give up business and devote himself entirely to literature. His plans however, must be postponed, for he realized that sending the girls to Smith would be far more expensive than sending them to Reserve.”

Activity: What does it mean to be excluded or forgotten by history? 
If history lives within us how does these treatment of these women and their histories land in your body? What questions and feelings are coming up? Do you see yourself represented in the history books, in the archives?

Other Forgotten Narratives

These images are from the Cromwell Family Papers and have no names or dates. The stories of these women are not easily told when there is little to go on. However, it doesn’t mean they should be overlooked, ignored, or forgotten. Finding these images during my research made me stop and appreciate the beauty in history and the power it has in representing our present.

Black and white portrait of an unknown Cromwell relative. Date: Unknown
Black and white portrait of an unknown Cromwell relative. Date: Unknown
Black and white portrait of an unknown Cromwell relative. Date: Unknown
Unknown Cromwell Portraits 1800s-1900s
Cromwell Family Papers, Smith College Archives, 
CA-MS-01228, box 10 

Adelaide At Smith

1937-1940
Black and white photograph of Adelaide and housemates. Taken outside 1930s.
Adelaide with housemates (1/3)
Date: Unknown 1936-1939 
Cromwell Family Papers, Smith College Archives, CA-MS-01228, box 54, folder Photos of Adelaide, 1920-2010s

Adelaide moved into Smith in the fall of 1936 with the help of her mother Yetta Mavritee Cromwell. Her aunt, Otelia wouldn’t return to Smith College campus until after Adelaide’s graduation in 1940. During Adelaide’s enrollment at Smith there is much correspondence between her and Otelia. Aunt Tee’s Advice takes a look at specific letters Otelia wrote Adelaide during her time Smith and the advice offered.

During her time at Smith, Adelaide worked towards a major in Sociology. Though she was allowed on campus housing she still faced many hurtles in her time at Smith. Whether is was white mothers not wanting their daughters to share bathrooms with Adelaide or professors leering at her as they teach. She was supported and defended by her friends and classmates who would speak up and tell off other students for making racist remarks. Some instances of racism Adelaide didn’t even know occurred during her time at Smith, and were told to her by friends years later.

Black and white photograph of Adelaide and housemates. Taken outside 1930s.
Adelaide with housemates (2/3)
Date: Unknown 1936-1939 
Cromwell Family Papers, Smith College Archives, CA-MS-01228, box 54, folder Photos of Adelaide, 1920-2010s
Black and white photograph of Adelaide and housemates. Taken outside 1930s.
Adelaide with housemates (3/3)
Date: Unknown 1936-1939 
Cromwell Family Papers, Smith College Archives, CA-MS-01228, box 54, folder Photos of Adelaide, 1920-2010s
Activity: Visual Thinking Strategies 
What do you notice about these photos? 
What do you see that makes you say that? 
What more can you find?

Life After Smith

1900s-2010s

After graduating from Smith College, Otelia returned to teaching in D.C’s public schools which were still segregated. She taught English, German, and Latin at the M Street High School and Armstrong Manual Training School.

While teaching she continued her on edcuation. She took classes over the summer at Columbia recieving her MA in 1910. She continued taking courses at Columbia till 1920 and also took summer course at the University of Chicago in 1915.

She entered Yale’s PhD program in English at age 48 with more credits under her belt than the average applicant and was offered an academic scholarship by the school.

Black and white portrait of Otelia Cromwell Dated: 1950s.
Otelia Cromwell, 1950s. 
Cromwell Family Papers, Smith College Archives, 
CA-MS-01228, box 10

In 1926, Otelia was the first Black woman to receive a doctorate from Yale. She then became a professor at Miner Teachers College in Washington, D.C where she taught English Language and Literature until she retired in 1944. Otelia Cromwell spent much of her academic career working to advance the cause of civil rights and racial/gender equality. She was an editor of the text Readings From Negro Authors for Schools and Colleges in 1931 and in 1932 served as the only woman on the board of directors of The Encyclopedia of the Negro with W.E.B. DuBois. Her most significant and well known scholarly work was the biography of suffragist and abolitionist Lucretia Mott(The Life of Lucretia Mott). Otelia was also a lifelong member of the NAACP. She passed away in her family home in 1972 at the age of 98.

Color Photograph of Adelaide Cromwell, taken at Smith. Dated: 2010s
Adelaide Cromwell, 2010s. 
Cromwell Family Papers, Smith College Archives, 
CA-MS-01228, box 54, Photos of Adelaide, 1920-2010s

After Smith, in 1946 Adelaide worked at Hunter College in New York City, breaking the race barrier as the first Black faculty member. She then did the same at Smith College by joining the faculty in the late 1940s.

Adelaide went on to get a masters from the University of Pennsylvania and a doctorate from Radcliffe in 1953. Her dissertation was published more than four decades later titled The Other Brahmins: Boston’s Black Upper Class 1750–1950.

Adelaide kept her focus on Back leadership. She traveled numerous times to Africa, visiting Ghana, Liberia, and the then Belgian Congo. (Her trip predated its 1960 independence and later rebirth as the Democratic Republic of the Congo.)

Adelaide joined the BU faculty in 1951. In the late 1960s, she founded Boston University’s African American Studies program. This was the country’s second program and she started the program as a response to the civil rights movement and the shock following the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. She retired from BU in 1985. Passing away in hospice care June 8th, 2019.

Color photograph of Adelaide Cromwell with friends and fellow Smith alums at Ivy Day. Date: 2010s
Adelaide Cromwell with classmates at Ivy Day
Cromwell Family Papers, Smith College Archives, 
CA-MS-01228, box 54, Photos of Adelaide, 1920-2010s
Color polaroid of Adelaide Cromwell with family and friends at her wedding reception to Philip H. Gulliver. Date: Unknown
Adelaide Cromwell with family and friends at her wedding reception to Philip H. Gulliver
Cromwell Family Papers, Smith College Archives, 
CA-MS-01228, box 54, Photos of Adelaide, 1920-2010s
Color polaroid of Adelaide Cromwell on a beach likely in Ghana, 1960s-1980s.
Adelaide Cromwell on a beach likely in Ghana
Cromwell Family Papers, Smith College Archives, 
CA-MS-01228, box 54, Photos of Adelaide, 1920-2010s
Color polaroid of Adelaide Cromwell smiling and cutting cucumber. Date: unknown
Adelaide Cromwell
(cutting a cucumber)
Cromwell Family Papers, Smith College Archives, 
CA-MS-01228, box 54, Photos of Adelaide, 1920-2010s
Color polaroid of Adelaide Cromwell hands covering her face. Date unknown.
Adelaide Cromwell
(hands over face)
Cromwell Family Papers, Smith College Archives, 
CA-MS-01228, box 54, Photos of Adelaide, 1920-2010s

Aunt Tee’s Advice

1937-1940

Words of Wisdom from Otelia Cromwell to Adelaide Cromwell During Her Time At Smith College, 1937-1938

A Digital Exhibit

Otelia Cromwell was the first African-American student to graduate from Smith College in 1900. Her niece Adelaide Cromwell followed in her footsteps, beginning her attendance at Smith in 1936.

The following images are of correspondence from Otelia to Adelaide in her sophomore and junior years at Smith. Otelia Cromwell signs off each letter to Adelaide as “Aunt Tee,”

Aunt Tee asks about Smith traditions like Mountain Day and provides Adelaide with guidance on how to pass German. She gives insight into what classes to take, and she corrects Adelaide’s grammar and spelling.

Though, it may seem impossible to relate to the lives of these women from so long ago, there are words of wisdom to uncover that may just help you get through the day. So take a deep breath, get comfortable and let Aunt Tee’s Advice take you on a journey to the past.

The first image is from a letter that Otelia wrote to Adelaide in October 1937. Next to it is the letter fully transcribed. Aunt Tee is wondering if Mountain Day has happened yet and offers helpful advice on how to pass German, even providing a diagram for the orders of words from her days of studying the language. Her advice here is,

The declensions and conjugations you just learn by heart, by heart, by heart….In a few weeks, the drudgery of it will behind you….

Much love, Aunt Tee

Original letter from Otelia to Adelaide, 1937.

Cromwell Family Papers, Sophia Smith Collection.

Transcribed letter from Otelia to Adelaide, 1937.

Cromwell Family Papers, Sophia Smith Collection.

The next images are of a letter written a week later in October 1937. Otelia wants to know how Mountain Day was and shares thoughts on the design aspects of Adelaide’s new evening gown. Additionally, she brings up Adelaide’s birthday present requests, and chides their expensive nature, stating,

Let your birthday gift stay in the lap of the gods, and then be happy.

Which is a phrase used to say a situation cannot be controlled. 

Have you ever wanted something and been told it's too much to want? What did that moment feel like?

Otelia affirms Adelaide’s choice of Archery as a sport and appreciates the time spent with friends:

So you are drinking in, or as you use to say, “inhaling” the nice things your friends tell you.

Well I am glad, rather than otherwise, that people think well of you. Of course you check and double check with the real Adelaide; then watch your step.

But I too read and inhaled. You see I always had a strong case of Adelaideisis. 

Take a deep breath. How do you check in with your real self? What does it look like, sound like, feel like?

Otelia inquires about German and how Adelaide is doing with the subject. Even mentioning the fact that they will spend some time studying at home each morning to prep for the midterm exam. Once again, she encourages Adelaide to write to her other Aunts, wanting them to receive the same in-depth updates “full of your experiences.”

Page of original letter from Otelia to Adelaide, 1937.

Original letter from Otelia to Adelaide, 1937.

Cromwell Family Papers, Sophia Smith Collection.

Transcribed letter from Otelia to Adelaide, 1937.

Cromwell Family Papers, Sophia Smith Collection.

photograph of fully transcribed letter from Otelia to Adelaide, 1937.

The following image is a transcribed letter from Otelia to Adelaide in April of 1938. Otelia expresses support for Adelaide’s choice of Major, which is Sociology. While also emphasizing the importance to take a wide range of courses:

In college – so the wise people advise, one should get all the breath possible, especially through the subjects in which one is not interested.

Otelia mentions Adelaide’s need for “more work in the humanities” highlighting the English department specifically.

“This advise is given you simply because I want my conscience clear.”

Have you ever recieved unsolicited advice? Do remember what it was regarding? Did you take it or ignore it? If you took it, did it help?

Before signing off Otelia requests confirmation that Adelaide recieves the letter which contained money. Otelia expresses dislike for this means of transporting money and wants reassurance when it arrives.

Photograph of fully transcribed letter from Otelia to Adelaide, 1938.

Transcribed letter from Otelia to Adelaide, 1938.

Cromwell Family Papers, Sophia Smith Collection.

The final images showcase Otelia’s educator nature as she not only provides a corrections sheet but also edits Adelaide’s original letter with many markings.

Otelia begins her response to Adelaide by first stating that, “despite my scratches, [it] is a good letter”. There’s some discussion regarding the thoughts and feelings of those back home on Adelaide’s dresses.

When Adelaide describes a professor constantly looking at her while teaching Otelia responds with both a marginal note that reads simply, “Zoo(?)” and the following response: “The cage won’t be necessary, though I hope.”

Otelia goes on to talk about seeing the Disney film, “Snow White” calling it “brilliant” and compliementing it as “superb art.” However, she states her opinions about Snow White as “too sophisticated” for her. Even asking Adelaide:

Do you think that the interpretations of the dwarfs and Snow White herself are far away from the pictures of the fairy tale?

Photograph of fully transcribed letter from Otelia to Adelaide, 1938.
Photograph of fully transcribed letter from Otelia to Adelaide, 1938.

Transcribed letter from Otelia to Adelaide, 1938.

Cromwell Family Papers, Sophia Smith Collection.

Photograph of original letter from Adelaide to Otelia with edits, 1938.
Photograph of original letter from Adelaide to Otelia with edits, 1938.

Original letter from Adelaide to Otelia with edits, 1938.

Cromwell Family Papers, Sophia Smith Collection.

Questions to think about:

– How often do you listen to advice from your elders?

– What feelings are you left with after looking over this exhibit?

– What words of wisdom will stay with you from this exhibit?

– What more do you want to know about the Cromwells?

More about the Cromwells

Adelaide Cromwell, Oral History Interview

Adelaide Cromwell, Unveiled Voices, Unvarnished Memories: The Cromwell Family in Slavery and Segregation, 1692-1972, University of Missouri Press, 2007. 

Adelaide Cromwell, My Mothering Aunt: Otelia Cromwell, Smith College Class of 1900, Smith College Office of College Relations, 2010.  

Bibliography(Annotated)

Adelaide Cromwell Profile BU → Adelaide Cromwell (Hon.’95), Founder of BU’s African American Studies Program, Dies at 99. This profile provides an overarching recap of Adelaide’s work and career. It is useful in gaining context to her larger work and how she impacted higher education communities.  

Otelia Cromwell Bio Yale → Otelia Cromwell Biography and Bibliography from Yale provides a general overview of her life and career. The profile also includes listings of the work Otelia published and works that Adelaide wrote on Otelia.

Study Shows Strong Racial Identity Improves Academic Performance of Young Black Women → This study provides context for the importance of these types of projects. Making connections to the Cromwell’s legacy encourages Black students to acknowledge and feel pride in their racial identity.

Legacy

Additional

The legacy of the Cromwells’ spans generations.

These women made a career in higher education attainable for so many by being the first of their kind.

They were exceptionally young, Black, and gifted.

Black and white photograph portrait of Adelaide(left) and Otelia(right) Cromwell.
Adelaide and Otelia Cromwell, 1920s.
Cromwell Family Papers, Smith College Archives, 
CA-MS-01228, box 54, folder Photos of Adelaide, 1920-2010s

We cannot forget the circumstances that make these women truly extraordinary.

The Cromwells’ worked from within to push against the systems that have kept Black women in the margins.

That is their legacy.

We look to the Cromwells’ as ancestors, leaders, and guides through a system that was not built for us or with our success in mind. Today, Black students at Smith continue to do the work of creating culture and holding space for community that is safe. Within, a system that still does not fully recognize our struggles for equity and inclusion.

This is how our legacy ties to the Cromwells. We are living with our history on this campus. We must look beyond a day to see the importance of what the Cromwells have to teach us.

Let’s Talk About It

Additional

In 1989, in response to student activism, which called for further education and reflection around issues of race and diversity at Smith College, Otelia Cromwell Day was created. In 2019, the name was changed to Cromwell Day to honor the legacies of both Otelia and Adelaide Cromwell. Today, Cromwell Day is a full-day event. Classes are canceled, keynote addresses are given, music is sung. Workshops and other performances are held in the afternoon and evening. It is a well-planned event, with a lot of intention put into organizing speakers and workshop design.

This project came out of a desire to connect the past to the present. The Cromwells deserve to be more actively recognized for their contributions to Smith College, civil rights, and society. Centering the Cromwells’ and connecting their legacy to current black students’ experiences at Smith feels especially vital today. The narrative you hear is the story of how Otelia and Adelaide came to Smith and their legacy beyond it, through the voices of current Black Smithies speaking about their experiences and reflections that connect them to the Cromwells. 

Credits  

Narration: 

Stevie Ordway 

Additional Voices: 

Ari Cross 

Tai Carson Smith 

Kim Estrada 

Music: 

“Faded Expressions” music for your project by theoctopus559 — https://freesound.org/s/630530/ — License: Attribution 4.0 

Transcript

Stevie:  What does it mean to be black at Smith College? 

Ari: I almost feel like I don’t have the words to answer it. 

Tai: It’s a, it’s a surreal experience to be in a Harlem Renaissance class and be the fourth, and be like one of four black people. 

Kim: It’s a lot about perseverance. Smith has painted its own narrative about what community looks like here…

Stevie: In 1897, Otelia Cromwell transferred from Howard University to Smith College. She had been taking classes at the HBCU while teaching in Washington, DC, the same city she was born in 1874. Otelia’s mother died when she was 12, leaving her responsible for her five younger siblings(Otelia Cromwell Bio Yale). So she stayed at home working and going to school until she packed her trunks and loaded them up to make the trip to North Hampton and Smith College.

In 1898 and 1899, during her junior year, Otelia lived at 190 Roundhill Road with a sophomore named Inez Louise Wiggin; for her senior year, Otelia lived at 275 Main Street with no other Smith students at this point. There were two other black students on campus. Ethel and Helen Chesnutt. They began their enrollment at Smith as freshmen in 1897, a year before Otelia transferred as a junior, making the Chesnutt Sisters, in actuality, the first black Smithies(Smith College’s First Black Students). 

The Chesnutt Sisters graduated in 1901. Neither of them was allowed dorm housing, and instead, they were forced to move to multiple off-campus locations throughout their time at Smith. This injustice led to advocacy from Otelia herself. Later in 1913, when Carrie Lee, a black student, was denied on-campus housing. Otelia wrote to President Burton, urging him to fulfill the promise he made to Carrie Lee upon admission.

This led to the Smith Board of Trustees voting in October 1913 to deny all proposals to exclude students of color from on-campus housing(Transformative Inclusion at Smith College). Which meant that in 1936, when Otelia’s niece Adelaide arrived at Smith, she got to move into a dorm.

Adelaide moved into Smith College with the help of her mother, Yetta Mavritee Cromwell. Otelia wouldn’t return to Smith campus until after Adelaide’s graduation in 1940. During Adelaide’s time at Smith, there was much correspondence between her and Otelia. Aunt Tee, as she’s lovingly called, provides much guidance and advice. How to navigate a tough German teacher, how to write proper letters, what classes to take, even the details of Adelaide’s wardrobe, which Otelia seems to construct mostly herself with the help of her sisters.

To learn more about their correspondence during Adelaide’s years at Smith College, please visit (https://sites.smith.edu/beyondaday/). 

Stevie: How do you relate to the Cromwells? 

Kim: I think I just have a lot of respect for them in terms of being the, the first, there was a year where she was by herself. I think sometimes what bothers me about the narrative about Otelia Cromwell in particular is that yes, she was this great person, but what about the strife? What about the fact that there was probably people who did not wanna sit next to her? There was probably teachers who did not want to teach her. Um, she also had to live off campus, so how was she really a part of Smith community? 

Tai: How many people, even in the faculty, really acknowledge much more about the Cromwell than the fact that Otelia was the first Black Smith student and that Adelaide was–correct me if I’m wrong–the first black teacher. 

Stevie: Mm-hmm. 

Tai: Right. And I feel like those two things are the most palatable to acknowledge. I feel like the thing that gets me about Cromwell Day is that it’s really Smith patting itself on the back for doing that thing. It’s very, it’s an example of the sort of performative nature around here that makes being a person of color hard.

Ari: Yeah. I certainly resonate with all of the being a first and like how hard it is to do that and how hard it is to stay in an environment that wasn’t initially created for you. 

Tai: The legacy of Cromwell is best left in the hands of black Smithies who do the work to actually make their entire stories heard. To make it so that we know about the struggles they went through, not just how great it was for them to be there, to make it known how a lot of those still are not over for Black Smithies right now. To make it known how we are still fighting for everything that they fought for. 

Ari: Creativity and knowledge building of my own. Um, and like accepting the fact that like the knowledge that I build is just as creditable or just as worthy of. Um, respect as like the knowledge that has been built before. Um, as far as like building tradition, it’s not a realization that I’ve always had. 

Stevie: Mm-hmm. 

Ari: Um, that was definitely like a large hurdle to hop over.

Kim: It was probably tough for her, but what Otelia did was exceptional. And so we must talk about the circumstances that allowed her to be that. You do a disservice to Smithies, truly, um, you do a disservice to how she lives on.

[Music]

Stevie: During her time at Smith, Adelaide worked towards a major in sociology. She may not have dealt with as many barriers as her aunt, but she still faced an uphill battle every day at Smith. Whether it was white mothers expressing their disgust that their precious white daughters would be sharing a bathroom with Adelaide, or professors leering at her as they teach like she was an exotic zoo animal.

Her friends were often her frontline support. Telling fellow students off when they made racist remarks about Adelaide, some instances of racism she didn’t even know occurred during her time there, and were told to her by classmates years later(Adelaide Cromwell Oral History).

Stevie: What is legacy to you? How do you make one?

Kim:  Yo, the Cromwells did it big. Let’s talk about it. That is an ancestor, like she paved the way for so many people, generations of people.

Tai: I think legacy is what you leave behind for other people to build off of. In terms of the Cromwells, I feel like obviously they left a lot for us that we probably don’t even realize that we are still trying to build on as Black Smithies in shaping the experience of black people at the college. 

Kim: One of my professors was like, Smithies, um, all carry the weight of the world on them. We carry that with us. Um, it would be an honor for me if I had a daughter for her to go to Smith. What is it to intentionally raise our daughters, even a radical shift in what it meant and what it means to be a woman. The acceptance of what it means to be a woman, like different, um, definitions of femininity. So yeah. When we talk about Legacy Smith and the seven Sister colleges are monumental for women and for queer people in particular. 

Ari: Also too, with the amount of tradition that Smith has, it’s very much open to like creating your own tradition as well. The ability to community build and create something that’s your own on top of tradition–I think at a place like Smith that’s so old, um, I think that that’s really awesome. I think that what I’ve done on Smith volleyball has certainly been like breaking barriers. I think I may be the first I don’t know if this like stat is real, but I think I may be one of the first or few Black captains on Smith volleyball, what I was touching on earlier, which is that like adding tradition to what’s already what, what tradition we already have. Um, and I definitely think that that’s part of my legacy as a Black student athlete. 

Kim: Yeah. I think when you even go into the archives, like Smith is rich in history and will probably continue to be rich in history. And I also view it as like what it means for the generations of women to have needed to survive the things possible for me to be here, which is also very monumental. Shout out the ladies for real like. [Laughter] Yeah. 

Stevie: The legacy of the Cromwells spans generations. These women made a career in higher education, attainable for so many by being the first of their kind. We look to them as ancestors, leaders, and guides through a system that was not built for us or with our success in mind.

They were exceptionally young, Black, and gifted, naming their truth matters. We cannot forget the circumstances that made these women truly extraordinary. The Cromwells worked from within to push against the oppressive systems that kept black women out of education and leadership. Today, Black students continue to do the work of creating culture and community at Smith that is safe within a system that still does not fully recognize our struggles for equity and inclusion.

This is how our legacy ties to the Cromwells. We are living with our history on this campus, and we must look beyond a day to see the importance of what the Cromwells have to teach us. 

[End]

Acknowledgements

Additional

I’d like to thank…

Kelly Anderson my professor for this course for her support and guidance through this semester.

Nanci Young for her help guide my research in the archives and special collections. Also, providing citations for hard to find items.

Esther Roth-Katz for meeting with me to discuss secondary research materials.

My classmates for their support and patience as I was quite new to archives work at the beginning of this course, their help and expertise was monumental in my achieving what this project ended up being.

Works Cited and More

Additional
Primary Sources

The History Makers. “Adelaide Cromwell Oral History.” connect.liblynx.com, December 2004. https://da.thehistorymakers.org/storiesForBio.

University of Arkansas Press. “The Other Brahmins.” University of Arkansas Press, July 1995. https://www.uapress.com/product/the-other-brahmins/.

Secondary Sources

Barlow, Rich . “Adelaide Cromwell (Hon.’95), Founder of BU’s African American Studies Program, Dies at 99.” Boston University. BU Today, June 20, 2019. https://www.bu.edu/articles/2019/adelaide-cromwell-dies-99.

Cheung, Floyd. “Transformative Inclusion at Smith College.” Smith.edu. Smith College 150th Anniversary, March 25, 2025. https://www.smith.edu/news-events/news/transformative-inclusion-smith-college.

Familysearch.org. “Helen Maria Chesnutt,” 2015. https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LTXQ-DWZ/helen-maria-chesnutt-1881-1969.

Fivecolleges.edu. “Otelia Cromwell (Class of 1900).” Five College Compass Digital Collections. Accessed May 8, 2025. https://compass.fivecolleges.edu/islandora/object/smith:420.

Fivecolleges.edu. “Otelia Cromwell (Class of 1900) Sitting at a Desk.” Five College Compass Digital Collections. Accessed May 8, 2025. https://compass.fivecolleges.edu/islandora/object/smith%3A419.

Foster, Pamela E. “Smith College’s First Black Students: Letter and Other Texts Illuminate Smith Journey of Charles W. Chesnutt’s Daughters Ethel and Helen, 1897-1901.” Google Docs, 2020. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1wTvmPAudkyVw9KuYiqFuNjLMacc1bRPolUbZxY4fPQU/htmlpresent.

Mink, Sarah. “Carrie Lee – Lighting the Way, Historic Women of the SouthCoast.” Lighting the Way, Historic Women of the SouthCoast – Profiles of Women of the SouthCoast, February 12, 2020. https://historicwomensouthcoast.org/carrie-lee/.

Smith.edu. “Speaking to Today: New Video Explores Life and Legacy of Otelia Cromwell.” Alum News, October 31, 2014. https://www.smith.edu/news-events/news/speaking-today-new-video-explores-life-and-legacy-otelia-cromwell.

Wikidata.org. “Ethel Chesnutt,” 2022. https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q57379123.

Yale.edu. “Otelia Cromwell Biography and Bibliography .” Women Faculty Forum, 2024. https://wff.yale.edu/otelia-cromwell-biography-and-bibliography.

Yale.edu. “Otelia Cromwell Shining Light on Truth: Early Black Students at Yale .” Yale University Library Online Exhibitions. Accessed May 8, 2025. https://onlineexhibits.library.yale.edu/s/early-black-yale-students/item/21151#?cv=&c=&m=&s=&xywh=-94%2C0%2C649%2C649.

Further Research

August I.C. Jenkins, Agus Surachman, and Marina Armendariz. “Where I’m Livin’ and How I’m Feelin’: Associations among Community Stress, Gender, and Mental-Emotional Health among Black Americans.” Social Science & Medicine 348 (May 1, 2024). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116763.

Butler-Barnes, Sheretta T., Seanna Leath, Amber Williams, Christy Byrd, Rona Carter, and Tabbye M. Chavous. “Promoting Resilience among African American Girls: Racial Identity as a Protective Factor.” Child Development 89, no. 6 (November 20, 2017): e552–71. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12995.

Fourtané, Susan. “Black Women in Higher Education: Navigating Cultural Adversity throughout the Centuries.” Fierce Network, April 23, 2021. https://www.fierce-network.com/administration/black-women-higher-education-navigating-cultural-adversity-throughout-centuries.

Jaschik, Scott. “‘Black Women in the Ivory Tower.’” Inside Higher Ed, June 20, 2007. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/06/21/black-women-ivory-tower.

Misra, Joya, Alexandra Kuvaeva, Kerryann O’meara, Dawn Kiyoe Culpepper, and Audrey Jaeger. “Gendered and Racialized Perceptions of Faculty Workloads.” Gender & Society 35, no. 3 (April 14, 2021): 358–94. https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432211001387.

Smith Charles, Linda, and Martha Southgate. “To Be a Black Woman—Why We’re Telling Our Stories.” www.smith.edu. Alum News, April 15, 2019. https://www.smith.edu/news-events/news/be-black-woman-why-were-telling-our-stories.