Cleaning Up

Cleaning Up  

"Slipping": the act of associative mis-speaking and the importance of attending to the gaps that open up when we mis-step, mis-speak. As I read Anne's essay titled, "Slipping", I found this quote very thought-provoking. "Instead of chastising people for "slipping", for describing the way in which they honestly think about the world, perhaps we should consider the meaning behind words spoken in our moments of "slipping" and really think about how they speak to our world … sometimes only by slipping and falling to the floor do we notice that there is something down there that needs to be cleaned up" (Pg. 256).  

I do agree and believe that we need to clean up when we slip. Going off on that thought, on Monday I took the Black at Bryn Mawr tour and went to four of the ten locations: The Servant corridors under Thomas, the Deanery Garden, the fourth floor of Merion, and the Harriton Family Cemetery. It was interesting to witness the sites in which dealt with African American history at Bryn Mawr. It was only until the next day when I learned a troubling piece of information during my ESEM class. I learned that Bryn Mawr's Second President, M. Carey Thomas, was a white supremacist. I was stunned. 

As we discussed more about Thomas in class, I learned that she believed White women of extreme wealth and privilege only apply to Bryn Mawr College. I dug deeper into learning more about Thomas and I also found out that after she retired as President, she traveled throughout the middle east. Unfortunately, her experiences reinforced her belief in the eugenic theory and the firm belief of White Supremacy. Thomas said the country served as "… an object of lesson of what will happen to us if we ever permit intermarriage with our American Negroes … I came home with a stronger belief than ever in racial integrity and in putting a stop to immigration before it is too late". This slip is evidence of what Thomas truly believed.  Many White people of the time period believed Whites were superior while some White people fought for the equality of Blacks.  

I also learned more information about Bryn Mawr's history with Blacks. Bryn Mawr's property line runs parallel to that of what was once a slaveholding plantation. Enid Cook; who was the first Black woman admitted to Bryn Mawr, was forced to wait several months until she could attend the institution due to the President's bias towards Blacks. The third president Marion Park, finally admitted Enid Cook to attend only if she lived off campus. And it was only until 1950 that a Black woman was allowed to live on campus. 

I am shocked that only 7% percent of current students at Bryn Mawr are Black. Why is this number so low? As I was visiting the school before I was admitted, I remember how Admissions Counselors told us how "diverse" Bryn Mawr really was. Bryn Mawr is definitely more diverse than it was in 1880 but I am shocked as to why the percentage of Blacks is not higher. Is it because many Black applicants applying to Bryn Mawr look up the college's ethnic backgrounds and find out that percentage of Black students is extremely low? Does this influence their decision? 

Going back to cleaning up when we slip, it is of the utmost importance to clean up the mess that M. Carey Thomas made during her time at Bryn Mawr. I believe that her mindset influenced future presidents in the 20^th century to carry on her beliefs. Actually, I am glad that Thomas had slipped. "Cleaning up is, also, not the only … thing that can be done with a mess. What about exploring it?" (256). We can explore the mess she made and by doing so, find the different ways on how to make it right. We can't change what happened in the past and it is difficult to make amends for our actions in history. Now we are in a new time period and we have to encourage others to separate the racial barriers that are prominent in society.  

"We have an ongoing relationship, an ongoing commitment to working it out together, which gives us time to attend to, and clean up some of, the messes we make" (275). People are slipping everyday and as Anne Dalke has stated, this gives us time to attend to and clean up the messes we make. I believe Bryn Mawr College Admissions is trying to make the school more diverse in who they are admitting. But what else can we do to encourage more people of color to apply to Bryn Mawr?                           

Works Cited: 

Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz, The Power and Passion of M. Carey Thomas (New York: Alfred P. Knopf, 1994: 430).  

Cohen, Jody and Anne Dalke. Chapter 8, "Slipping." Steal This Classroom: Teaching and Learning Unbound. New York: Punctum Books, forthcoming 2017.