From Whence Cometh My Help: The African American Community at Hollins College

163 Pages·1999·1.08 MB·English

by  Ethel Morgan Smith

F W C M
ROM HENCE OMETH Y
H
ELP
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F W C M
ROM HENCE OMETH Y
H
E L P
The African American Community at Hollins College
Ethel Morgan Smith
❖
University of Missouri Press Columbia and London
Copyright © 2000 by
The Curators of the University of Missouri
University of Missouri Press, Columbia, Missouri 65201
Printed and bound in the United States of America
All rights reserved
5 4 3 2 1 04 03 02 01 00
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Smith, Ethel Morgan, 1952–
From whence cometh my help : the African American community
at Hollins College / Ethel Morgan Smith.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-8262-1260-3 (alk. paper)
1. Afro-Americans—Virginia—Hollins—History. 2. Afro-
Americans—Virginia—Hollins—Biography. 3. Hollins (Va.)—
History. 4. Hollins (Va.)—Race relations. 5. Hollins College—
Biography. 6. Hollins College—History. I. Title.
F234.H65 S55 1999
975.5'792—dc21 99-047290
This paper meets the requirements of the
American National Standard for Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, Z39.48, 1984.
Jacket design: Stephanie Foley
Text design and composition: Vickie Kersey DuBois
Printer and binder: Thomson-Shore, Inc.
Typefaces: Carlton, Florentine, Korinna, Goudy, VAG Rounded
Frontispiece: Women with baskets of laundry, The Spinster, 1903, p. 31.
For Mrs. Mary Emma Bruce
and the Silent Voices of the Hollins Community,
both past and present

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills,
from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the LORD,
which made heaven and earth.
—Psalm 121
Levavi Oculos (“I have lifted my eyes”) is the motto for Hollins College.

Contents
Prologue xi
Acknowledgments xiii
In the Beginning 1
Meet Julius Caesar of Hollins College: The Most
Widely Known Colored Man in Virginia 19
I Saw Lee Surrender 31
Thursday Afternoons 49
Dean of Servants 59
The Price of Change 69
The Voice of Mrs. Mary Emma Bruce, Historian
and Philosopher 81
The Lord Keeps Me 91
Other Voices of Silence 103
President in a Pot 119
Epilogue 129
Notes 133
Bibliography 137
Index 141