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Exploration creativity, cultivated cooperative spirits and
developed leadership skills. The clubs also
Spelman afforded us a number of
opportunities to “find ourselves”. Our dorms not fostered interaction with upperclassmen and
only offered us a habitat, but served as an insular cemented friendships along interests lines. While
environment to organize ourselves and practice beginning major courses was were required in the
social skills. We elected dorm officers, planned math and science disciplines, for the most part our
dorm parties, enacted rules of discipline for sharing expanded core curriculum and variety of electives
our common spaces as we learned how to gave us an opportunity to discover our strengths
harmoniously live together. and explore different subject areas during our first
two years.
While we dreaded the required physical
education classes, and the mandatory swimming Black Power
requirement, we welcomed the opportunity to In May, 1966,
participate in athletic classes which were not Stokely Carmichel
available to us in many of our segregated became Chair of
hometowns. Bowling classes were enjoyable, SNCC. He had
despite the fact that we manually set up pins; and previously touted
ballet was open, even if you had never had a class. “Black Power” as a counter-theme to the non-
Plays in the Fine Arts building were enthusiastically violent protest movement which characterized the
attended and student actors often found Civil Rights Movement. Based in Atlanta, Stokely
themselves in the company of Broadway Black and his successor, H. Rap Brown were a frequent
stars. Music and the Arts were encouraged; glee presence on campus and in our classrooms. In
club rehearsal, student concerts and exhibits February, 1968 he spoke to a crowed audience of
formed a major part of our social life, without the more than 1000 in the Morehouse gymnasium.
necessity of leaving campus. With the growth of the Black Power Era came an
increased emphasis on “blackness” as expressed
Although we were not aware of it then,
participation and planning in our departmental in style, art and political awareness. Across the
clubs and other organizations encouraged our campus, we developed an enhanced awareness of
our black identity, renewed interests in African
