Clara Belle Williams -- First Black Student to Graduate from NMSU

By Michelle Shocklee

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...I was a young student at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico. My mom and dad met on the campus of NMSU back in the 1940s when they were also students there. I even lived in the same dormitory Mom lived in. Dad received his degree in Engineering, making use of his GI benefits after serving in WWII. Mom eventually transferred to a smaller college in Texas to finish her degree in Elementary Education, but they'd fallen in love and married in 1950, settling in Santa Fe. Getting a college education was something my parents believed in, and they made certain all five of us children continued our educations after high school. I wasn't a great student and goofed off more than I studied. It never dawned on me, however, that the privilege of higher education--the very thing I took for granted--was something many people fought for, including one very determined black woman who'd been a student on the same campus where I played.

Clara Bell Drisdale, Valedictorian 1908

Clara Belle Drisdale was born in Plum, Texas in 1885. Although the Civil War ended twenty years prior to her birth, life was still difficult for black citizens. Segregation laws were in place across the country, including in schools and colleges. Despite many obstacles placed in front of her, Clara had a deep love of learning. In 1903, she attended Prairie View Normal and Independent College (now Prairie View A&M University) in Prairie View, Texas and graduated as valedictorian of her 1908 class with a certificate in teaching.

In the years following her graduation, Clara met and married Jasper Williams. They had three sons. Her love of learning never waned, and she went on to take courses at the University of Chicago. In the fall of 1928, Clara enrolled at the New Mexico College of Agriculture & Mechanic Arts (now New Mexico State University), working toward a bachelor's degree in English. While taking classes only offered in the summer, she became the first African American teacher in Las Cruces, teaching at Booker T. Washington, a segregated school. She would teach there for twenty years.

During her time as a student at NMSU, Clara was subjected to discrimination from students and faculty alike. Many professors would not allow Clara to enter their classroom, not even to sit in the back. Unwilling to give up, she stood in the hallway, listening to the lectures, and took notes. Her hard work and determination eventually paid off, and she earned a Bachelor's Degree in English in 1937 at the age of 51.

Can't you picture her proudly walking across the stage to receive her well-deserved diploma, becoming the first African American person to graduate from NMSU?

Well, scratch that image from your mind. Clara was not allowed to graduate with her class. In fact, in a 1980 interview, Mrs. Williams recalls that commencement ceremonies were cancelled after a group of students refused to walk with her. She received her diploma through the registrar’s window.

Clara passed her love of learning on to her three sons. They all attended NMSU and went on to earn medical degrees. Charles attended Howard University Medical School in Washington D.C.; Jasper and James graduated from Creighton University Medical School in Omaha, Nebraska. They founded the Williams Clinic which served Chicago’s Southside for more than three decades.

It would be many years before NMSU would recognize and honor Clara. In 1961, the university named Williams Street on the main campus in her honor. She received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws degree from NMSU in 1980. And in 1981 -- the same year I attended NMSU -- the Clara Belle Williams Hall (formerly known as the English Building), was built. It houses English Department classrooms and offices as well as the Writing Center. The hall was renamed on February 13, 2005, in honor of Clara Belle Williams. There is also a scholarship given to undergraduates in her memory.

Mrs. Williams passed away July 3, 1994 at the age of 108.

I wish I'd known Clara Belle Williams' story while I was a student at NMSU, but I'm glad I know it now. 

Your turn. Did you attend college? Does Clara's story of determination to overcome obstacles and a love of learning inspire you to further your education?

Michelle Shocklee is the award-winning author of The Planter's Daughter and The Widow of Rose Hill, historical sagas set on a Texas cotton plantation before and after the Civil War. Her NEW historical time-slip novel set in Nashville will release in September 2020 from Tyndale House Publishers Inc. STAY TUNED! Michelle and her husband of 32 years make their home in Tennessee. Connect with her at www.MichelleShocklee.com.



THE WIDOW OF ROSE HILL

Widowed during the war, Natalie Ellis finds herself 

solely responsible for Rose Hill plantation. When Union troops arrive with a proclamation freeing the slaves, all seems lost. In order to save her son’s inheritance she strikes a deal with the arrogant, albeit handsome, Colonel Maish. In exchange for use of her family’s property, the army will provide workers to bring in her cotton crop. But as her admiration for the colonel grows, a shocking secret is uncovered. Can she trust him with her heart and her young, fatherless son?

Natalie Ellis is everything Colonel Levi Maish loathes: a Southern slave owner. When he and his men arrived in Texas with the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves still in bondage despite the war having ended, he feels little concern for the trail of plantation owners left in its wake without workers. But the plight of the beautiful Widow Ellis stirs to life his compassion and the heart he’d thought cold as stone after witnessing the carnage of war. While the army camps on her land, Levi finds himself contemplating a future with Natalie and Samuel. But when he learns where her husband perished during the war, he knows a life with Natalie is impossible. How could she ever forgive him for what he’d done in battle on the banks of the Bull Run?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078CN65FH/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

A NEW WOMAN EMERGES - INDEPENDENT WOMEN OF THE 1920s

ANNE GREENE here. I’m writing a book, working title, AGAINST ALL ODDS, about the 1920s. The research is so fascinating I’m sharing with my readers. I hope you enjoy learning more about that jazzy decade. 

A woman of 1920 would be surprised to know that she would be remembered as a new woman. Many changes would enter her life in the next ten years. Significant changes for women took place in politics, the home, the workplace, and in education. Some were the results of laws passed, many resulted from newly developed technologies, and all had to do with changing attitudes toward the place of women in society.  

When passed in 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment gave women the right to vote. Surprisingly, some women didn’t want the vote. People believed women’s roles and men’s roles did not overlap. This idea of separate spheres held that women should concern themselves with home, children, and religion, while men took care of business and politics.

Though slow to use their newly won voting rights, by the end of the decade women influenced the political agenda of the federal government. They put more emphasis on social improvement, such as protective laws for child labor and prison reform.

Female high school students seldom expected to go to college. If they did, most women became teachers or nurses as these were considered suitable professions for women. Few women earned degrees during the 1920s. But times were changing, and each year more women earned college degrees.

Before WWI most women lived in rural areas without electricity. Imagine trying to keep food fresh without a refrigerator, ironing with an iron that had to be reheated constantly, cooking on a woodstove, going to an outside well for water, and visiting an outhouse instead of a bathroom.

The 1920s women found that electricity made housework easier, with electrically run vacuum cleaners, irons, and washing machines. Electricity meant that people could stay up later at night, because electric lights were more efficient than kerosene lamps and candles. Indoor plumbing brought water inside and introduced a new room to clean—the bathroom. 

In the 1920s only about 15 percent of white and 30 percent of black married women with wage-earning husbands held paying jobs. Most Americans believed that women should not work outside the home if their husbands held jobs. As a result, wives seldom worked at outside jobs. However, some married women in desperate need took jobs in textile mills.

By 1922 mills hired female floor workers. Cotton mills employed a few nurses, teachers, and social workers to staff social and educational programs. Black women worked as domestic and child-care workers. Public acceptance of wage-earning jobs for young unmarried women grew. No longer being limited to work as mill girls or domestics, women began to perform clerical work in offices and retail work in shops and department stores. Some young married women worked until they had children. Working for wages gave women independence, and by 1930 one in four women held a paying job.

Despite increasing opportunities in employment and education, and the expanding concept of a woman’s place, marriage remained the goal of most young women. Magazine articles and movies encouraged women to believe that their security and social status depended on a successful marriage. The majority worked only until they married.

Today the easily recognized image of the flapper symbolizes the 1920s for many people. The flapper—with her short skirts, short hair, noticeable makeup, and fun-loving attitude—represented a new freedom for women. The old restrictions on dress and behavior were overthrown.

Is this glamorous and rebellious image of the flapper a true representation of the 1920s woman? Not entirely. In order to be a flapper, a woman had to have enough money and free time to play the part. College girls, unmarried girls living at home, and independent office workers most frequently presented themselves as flappers. However, the average woman did wear the fashions made popular by flappers. As often happens, unconventional clothing integrated into fashion.

Flappers popularized slender, boyish fashions. Figures were flattened with undergarments. Hemlines, straight or uneven, gradually crept up, and waistlines dropped. High-fashion evening wear in tubular, sleeveless styles featured beading and fringe. Day dresses copied the evening lines. Short skirts were complemented by flesh-colored stockings worn with decorative shoes. Hair was cut close to the head and covered outdoors by the close-fitting cloche hat. Makeup became respectable. Between 1920 and 1930 women’s appearance changed completely.

Women’s lives changed. Society accepted that women could be independent and make choices for themselves in education, jobs, marital status, and careers. Women’s spheres broadened to include public as well as home life. The new woman was on her way.

Leave a comment on what you think was the best change for women in the 1920s for a chance to win an autographed copy of MARRIAGE BY ARRANGEMENT.

ANNE GREENE delights in writing about wounded heroes and gutsy heroines. Her second novel, a Scottish historical, Masquerade Marriage, won three prestigious book awards. The sequel Marriage By Arrangement released November, 2013.  A Texas Christmas Mystery also won awards. Anne’s highest hope is that her stories transport the reader to awesome new worlds and touch hearts to seek a deeper spiritual relationship with the Lord Jesus. Anne makes her home in McKinney, Texas. She loves to talk with her readers. Buy Anne’s books at http://www.Amazon.com. Talk with Anne on twitter at @TheAnneGreene. View Anne’s books, travel pictures and art work at http://www.AnneGreeneAuthor.com.

Learn more about Anne as well as get tips on writing award-winning books at http://www.anneswritingupdates.blogspot.com.

Female Colleges of the Late 19th Century

Naomi Rawlings here today and I have with me a special friend who is near and dear to my heart. Melissa Jagears is the author of Love by the Letter, a free ebook novella, and A Bride for Keeps, a full length novel

releasing in October.

The heroine of Melissa's novella intends to go to an all girls college in the late 1850s, which then begs the question: Why did all girls schools exist? Weren't young women expected to get married and manage a household regardless of their education?

So Melissa is stopping by to answer that question. Here's what she has to say:

*****

The heroine in Love by the Letter, likes to do Algebra for fun. What about you? Was I the only secretary on break who wrote out algebraic equations to solve for fun?

Um, so nobody but me huh?

Well, whereas I could pretty easily get a math degree and put it to good use today, my heroine had very few choices in 1858. But, finishing schools weren’t the only places to go at that time, there were these new-fangled four year female colleges that awarded women degrees equivalent to men.

But why?

Wanting to make sure I had the attitudes of the time right for my novella, I searched out some contemporary editorials on why women were encouraged to get these degrees.

Oberlin Students of the late 1850's: Oberlin College Archives

It’s because …..they wanted women to get married. So how was that new?

Yes, even with a four year degree, the object for women was matrimony. But now, women had the opportunity not to marry just for “establishment, an occupation, or mere support,” but because “true freedom and equality are the essential requisites of genuine affection.”

Because there were more colleges available to men and therefore more “general intelligence,” the female colleges were there to help women become more educated so that marriage to these educated men could be on a more equal footing, and so they didn’t have to marry someone they didn’t care for out of desperation. Hopefully they could support themselves in a decent vocation if necessary, allowing them to wait until a man offering them genuine affection proposed.

Mary Sharp’s College and Elmira Female College are the schools my heroine debates over attending. But as Elmira’s literature of the time said, they didn’t want to “make or encourage radical changes in the social position or employments of women.”

How would you have fared in my heroines’ Protomathian year of an all-girl college? (“Elmira [Female] College, had to figure out what to call the first year students, i.e. freshmen. For its first ten years, Elmira referred to this class as the protomathians, before deciding to return to the established usage.”) Here’s her probable schedule if she’d chosen to attend Elmira Female College:

*Cicero’s Orations lectures

*Robinson’s Algebra

*Physical Geography “with frequent lectures”

*Sallust with the Germania and Agricola Tacitus Lectures (This is history, by the way, not mumbo-jumbo. I had to look it up!)

*Botany with Excursions

*Philosophy of History lectures

*Bible Lessons on the Sabbath

*Original English essays required every two weeks

*Weekly Recitations

*Drawing

*Rhetoric and Elocution

*Chorus  

**Theory and Practice of Music and Oil Painting classes are extra!

Sources:

The True Remedy for Wrongs of Woman with a History of an Enterprise Having that for its Object by Catharine E. Beecher in 1851

Annual Report of the Regents of the University of the State of New York

*****

Thanks for stopping by to explain things to us, Melissa. If you're interested in her novella, Love by the Letter, it's free on Amazon and Barnes and Noble and serves as a prequel to her novel A Bride for Keeps. Learn more about Melissa Jagears and her novels at www.melissajagears.com.

Now here's a little glimpse at Love by the Letter:

Dex Stanton has never had much time for book learning. He's been too busy helping to provide for his family. Now that he's heading west, Dex is hoping to start a family of his own. However, his attempt to acquire a mail-order bride fails miserably when the lady writes back ridiculing his terrible spelling. Rachel Oliver may be the last person he wants to know what a dunce he is, but she's also the smartest woman in town--and it's clear he needs her help.

Rachel Oliver has lingered in town for three years secretly mooning over Dex Stanton, but now she's done. If the fool wants to write to a mail-order bride company, so be it. Once she begins giving Dex lessons, however, Rachel realizes she may not be prepared to give up just yet.

As their time together runs short, can two of the most stubborn people in town set aside their pride long enough to find love?