{"id":26,"date":"2025-04-15T10:56:52","date_gmt":"2025-04-15T14:56:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/beyondaday\/?p=26"},"modified":"2025-04-25T09:29:43","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T13:29:43","slug":"otelia-at-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/beyondaday\/otelia-at-smith\/","title":{"rendered":"Otelia At Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Black
Otelia Cromwell at her desk, 1900.<\/strong>
Record Group 80.02 Classes, Smith College Archives, box 1584, folder 17.
Smith College, Northampton, Mass.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Year<\/strong><\/td>Event<\/td>Notes<\/td><\/tr>
1874<\/strong><\/td>Born in Washington, D.C.<\/td>Parents: Lucy McGuinn and John Wesley Cromwell <\/td><\/tr>
1895-1897<\/strong><\/td>Teaches and takes classes at Howard University<\/td>After graduating from the Miner Normal School in Washington, D.C.<\/td><\/tr>
1898<\/strong><\/td>Enters Smith as a Junior <\/td>Otelia had been taking classes at Howard University while teaching before transferring to Smith College. <\/td><\/tr>
1898-1899<\/strong><\/td>Lived at 190 Roundhill Road<\/td>Otelia 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. <\/td><\/tr>
1899-1900<\/strong><\/td>Lived at 275 Main Street<\/td>For her senior year, Otelia remained off campus, with no other Smith students. <\/td><\/tr>
1900<\/strong><\/td>Graduates from Smith College <\/td>Otelia Cromwell was the first Black graduate of Smith College.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Otelia
Otelia Cromwell <\/strong>(second in line) marches with her classmates on Ivy Day 1900<\/strong> (from M.M. Roys Papers)
Smith College Archives, Smith College, Northampton, Mass.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Activity:<\/strong> Put yourself in Otelia's shoes.<\/strong> 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<\/em>? Reflect, explain it to a friend. Share in empathy<\/em>. <\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Year Event Notes 1874 Born in Washington, D.C. Parents: Lucy McGuinn and John Wesley Cromwell 1895-1897 Teaches and takes classes at Howard University After graduating from the Miner Normal School in Washington, D.C. 1898 Enters Smith as a Junior Otelia had been taking classes at Howard University while teaching before transferring to Smith College. 1898-1899 … Continue reading Otelia At Smith<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5462,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1800s-1900"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/beyondaday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/beyondaday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/beyondaday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/beyondaday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5462"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/beyondaday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/beyondaday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":177,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/beyondaday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26\/revisions\/177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/beyondaday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/beyondaday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/beyondaday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}