Not Always Black and White

Vassar’s history is not impervious to the shameful stains of a blatantly racist time.

Meet Anita Florence Hemmings, Vassar’s first Black graduate, and descendant of Thomas Jefferson.

Entering Vassar in 1893, Hemmings proved herself an excellent, well-rounded student: Classes in Latin, French and Greek, and soprano extraordinaire in the glee club and other musical ensembles, Hemmings was not much different form your typical good-looking, overachieving Vassar student today – save her jumbo-sized sleeves.

But just days shy of graduation, Hemmings’ roommate voiced concerns that Hemmings might not be quite white enough, sparking an investigation that uncovered what wracked the Higher Education headlines with a pearl-clutching scandal. While a Boston newspaper noted that “the strength of her strain of white blood has so asserted itself that she could pass anywhere simply as a pronounced brunette of white race,” this didn’t protect her from the ssearing scandal. And though she was eventually awarded her diploma, heartbroken by the strife, Hemmings retreated into obscurity.

But Hemmings would would not go gently into the night, not as a victim of a cruel and unjust time – she would marry an almost-white man, become Anita Hemmings Love, and (go to questionable lengths to) raise her children as white. And some 25 years later – her ovaries of steel still raging against the injustice – she would send her daughter, Ellen Love, off to Vassar…as white!

While the college’s administration discovered Ellen Love’s genealogy, it protected this information, for reasons unclear, and in 1927, Love graduated – much to the chagrin of Hemmings’ old roommate who was still nursing the heartache that Hemmings “proved to be a Negress.”

Welcome (Back), VC!

~ Deece Cat.

Vassar Summer Drama

There is never a dull moment of summer at Vassar – genius SIG kids scurrying through the college center, Ford Scholars, URSI breakthroughs, Reunion, construction work. And Vassar & New York Stage and Film’s Powerhouse Theater. From singeingly convincing recreations of the Salem witch trials to magnificent musicals, the Powerhouse Theater has thrilled audiences for 28 seasons. And  this summer, it is officially poised to do so again in its 29^th season.

Since its inception in 1985, this VC-NYSF collaboration has been dedicated to assisting both emerging and established artists in the development and production of new works for theater and film. Having served thousands of artists and tens of thousands of audience members, this open-to-all opportunity continues to provide an exceptional chance to experience stunning premier works at unmatched rates.

Past seasons have supported the works of stars like the incomparable Meryl Streep ‘83 and the award-winning Chloe Sevigny. And this season, promising to live up to its reputation of world class, star-studded entertainment, it will feature works from the multiple-award-winning Steve Martin and legendary creator of In the Heights, Lin-Manuel Miranda. From June 21 to July 28, you will be treated to a spectrum of genres of theatrical delights you definitely do not want to miss.

Go here for more information on the 2013 Powerhouse Theater season, and here for more on VC during the summer.

And wherever you are, until we find each other again in the fall, have a fantastic summer! 🙂

Ancient Gleeks

Glee redefined what it means to be different, a little off-center, or just plain weird, leaving a mammoth footprint in pop culture and the hearts of the underdog in us all. You may have wondered why then Vassar, in its culture of quirk, and with a thriving a cappella scene doesn’t have a glee-club. Well, it’s probably because we’ve been there and done that.

In the winter of 1882, then director of the School of Music, Professor Frederick Ritter organized VC’s first glee club. It was a resounding (no pun intended) success spawning numerous concerts with the glee clubs of MIT, Smith, Princeton, Harvard and other colleges, and performances  and concerts across the country.

Although we do know that the glee scene at VC still existed through the late 1950s, it is unclear what exactly became of it, or when exactly whatever it is happened. Perhaps we simply evolved from Glee to Pitch Perfect? In any case, we do know that while the glee scene lasted, it featured some pretty famous and controversial alumnae, including the eternally boss Edna St. Vincent Millay and Vassar’s first black graduate, Anita Hemmings.

Although our a capella scene is pretty great, it might be awesome to gleek out again though, no?

VDate

So once upon a better time, there was likealittle (I still have no clue what a lucuma tastes like). And when it bid us an unfortunate goodbye, likememaybe made a valiant attempt to fill its shoes, and – with sleeplessinpoughkeepsie proving feeble competition – fell woefully short. And somewhere between-during all of that there was queerchatvc. But does anyone remember when VDate existed? Probably not.

Depending on whom you ask, you might be told that Vassar’s dating scene may better be described as a thriving hook-up scene interspersed with the occasional jackpot hook-up-turned-romance relationship. The school’s image as a college devoid of a dating scene has long persisted, even being publicly perpetuated in a scandalous Spin Magazine article from the late ‘90s. But on October, 24 2011, an unknown student (whose contact e-mail would have us dub him/her/them Tom Riddle) decided to challenge that notion by introducing a dating website for the Vassar community: VDate.

With a witty tagline that played on the idea of disappointingly “losing your VCard at the Mug”, VDate sought to counter the perceived prevalence of a hook-up culture as the norm, while also attempting  to create a space to share ideas on finding, building and sustaining healthy “affectionate and long-lasting” relationships.

Unfortunately VDate never really took off. Although a brilliant concept, the site did not enjoy much patronage and the flimsy, infrequent posts – the last of which was about 2 years ago – are sadly reminiscent of an abandoned love story. Whether due to a poor publicity, a lack of interest or intrinsic shortcomings of the site itself, we cannot say for sure.

And s/he-who-would-have-been-named-did-we-have-an-actual-name did not respond to any e-mails for further details concerning VDate. But if you were curious, it did exist – and still does.