Shifting Identities
An institutional archive like the Oxford College archives is the product of deliberate choices made by staff across the college, who decide what materials to include and what materials to exclude. The Oxford College Library’s staff regularly collects material retained by divisions and departments across campus according to a detailed records retention schedule, as well as material that is historically relevant to the college that falls outside those retention rules. However, those rules and processes have not always accounted for the variety of records produced at all levels of the college, or prioritized the collection of records documenting the activities of individuals and groups that have made a significant impact on campus culture.
Archives are further influenced by many external and internal factors, including major institutional goals, evolving professional guidelines, and storage considerations. However, individual biases also impact archival collections. College employees transferring records, and archivists and other library staff processing and maintaining them, make decisions influenced by their own beliefs, values, and prejudices that ultimately determine which records are preserved and how they are made accessible. The work of constructing narratives based on archival collections is impaired by collecting practices that, both intentionally and unintentionally, lead to historical gaps and archival silences. As you look at the sources below and throughout this exhibit, consider whose voices are missing.
Looking at the sources below, consider:
- How do you think the attitudes and values held by university officials influenced narratives of the experiences of Black students?
Explore
Oxford Admits its First African American Students
In 1968, Anthony Gibson, John Hammonds, and Angela Jinks (now Ann Slaughter) became the first Black students to be admitted to Oxford College. All three students graduated in 1970.
Anthony Gibson
Anthony Gibson was a member of Letterman’s Club, Circle K, Band, and Air Force ROTC during his time at Oxford College. He played soccer, was elected president of the Honor Council, and was elected to the Men’s Advisory Council for the Stone Dormitory.
Anthony Gibson, 1970
Anthony Gibson, 1970. Sports and Athletics: Soccer (2 of 2), 1966-1975, Subseries 5.3, Box: 26, Folder: 10. Oxford College Photograph collection, Series No. 025. Oxford College Archives. https://archives.libraries.emory.edu/repositories/6/archival_objects/478291
Spokesman, May 1969
“Six Elected to Honor Council.” Spokesman, May 9 1969. Oxford College Library (Oxford, Ga.). https://digital.library.emory.edu/purl/774qjq2czp-cor.
John Hammonds
John Hammonds enrolled as a “day student” living off campus. He worked while also attending school and serving in the college’s Air Force ROTC.
Air Force ROTC, 1970
Anthony Gibson and John Hammonds with their Air Force ROTC unit.
ROTC group photo, [1970]. ROTC (2 of 3), 1945-1969, undated, 2, Box: 6, Folder: 17. Oxford College Photograph collection, Series No. 025. Oxford College Archives. https://archives.libraries.emory.edu/repositories/6/archival_objects/477638
Memory [1970]
Sophomore year portrait of John Hammonds.
Memory [1970]. 1970. Oxford College Archives. https://digital.library.emory.edu/purl/24947d7wvz-cor.
Angela Jinks
(now Ann Slaughter)
Ann Slaughter participated in several student organizations, including Eta Sigma Psi and Blue Key. She was elected as the president of the Women’s Advisory Council and served as the WAC Representative to the Student Conduct Council. Hear from Ann Slaughter in her own words through the 2021 Newton Community Magazine article Sobering Perspectives.
Angela Jinks, 1970
Jinks, Angela, 1970, Subseries 5.1, Box: 16, Folder: 15. Oxford College Photograph collection, Series No. 025. Oxford College Archives. https://archives.libraries.emory.edu/repositories/6/archival_objects/477953
Spokesman, May 1969
“Jinx heads woman’s dorm council.” Spokesman, May 9 1969. Oxford College Library (Oxford, Ga.). https://digital.library.emory.edu/purl/774qjq2czp-cor.
“Minority Student Pressures”
Dean Bond Fleming reported on the admission, enrollment, and graduation of Anthony Gibson, John Hammonds, and Angela Jinks, as well as Mattie Fair, who enrolled in 1969.
In the transcript of a March 18, 1970 question and answer session submitted with the 1969-70 annual report, Fleming responds to a question about “minority student pressures and problems” with praise for the four Black students enrolled at Oxford College at that time. His impressions on Jinks and Fair are also included in the text of the annual report.
What narrative is being told by these statements?
Dean’s Annual Report, 1968
Dean’s Annual Report, 1967-1968. Series I, Box: 1, Folder: 10. Dean’s office files, Series No. 001. Oxford College Archives.
Dean’s Annual Report, 1969
Dean’s Annual Report, 1968-1969. Series I, Box: 1, Folder: 11. Dean’s office files, Series No. 001. Oxford College Archives.
Dean’s Annual Report, 1970
Dean’s Annual Report, 1969-1970. Series I, Box: 1, Folder: 12. Dean’s office files, Series No. 001. Oxford College Archives.
Dean’s Q&A, 1970
Dean’s Annual Report Q&A, 1970. 1969-1970, Series I, Box: 1, Folder: 12. Dean’s office files, Series No. 001. Oxford College Archives. https://archives.libraries.emory.edu/repositories/6/archival_objects/475008
Tate Films
Rev. John Tate was the Director of Religious Life at Oxford College and pastor at Allen Memorial Church from 1967-1970. During that time, Rev. Tate filmed many campus events, and captured footage of Gibson, Hammonds, Jinks, and others in the first years of Oxford College’s integration of the student body.
“Oxford College Events, 1967-1970”
Segments from 16mm films created by Rev. John Tate. Several of the films include shots of Mattie Fair, Anthony Gibson, John Hammonds, and Angela Jinks.
John Tate film collection, Oxford College Archives, Oxford College Library, Emory University. https://archives.libraries.emory.edu/repositories/6/resources/3655
Missing Stories
The Oxford College Library has yearbooks and the student newspaper, The Spokesman, but has few documents about African American students’ experiences after the first students enrolled at the College.
During the spring of 1969, students on the Atlanta campus protested the University’s treatment of Black students and staff. The Oxford Library has no records that document the perspective of Black students at Oxford College during this period.
Explore the history of the Atlanta BSA in the 2021 Emory Libraries exhibit: “From the Archives: Black Student Activism.”
Black Student Alliance
Black History Month Newsletter, n.d.
Black Student Alliance, 1988, Series III, Box: 2, Folder: 4. Office of Campus Life records, Series No. 008. Oxford College Archives. https://archives.libraries.emory.edu/repositories/6/archival_objects/475572
Covington News, April 1988
BSA President Yolanda Carter presenting Black Heritage plaque to Dean Murdy.
Found in: Black Student Alliance, 1988 April 7, undated, Box: 13, Folder: 8. Oxford Local History collection, Manuscript Collection No. 004. Oxford College Archives. https://archives.libraries.emory.edu/repositories/6/archival_objects/474023
Records of Oxford College’s Black Student Alliance (BSA) are sparse. They begin in 1988, when Black Student Alliance president Yolanda D. Carter formally presented a plaque commemorating 60 notable figures of Black history to Oxford Dean William H. Murdy, in recognition of Black History Month. The plaque was displayed for over twenty-five years and is now part of the Oxford College Archives art collection.
Some of these items are part of the Local History Collection because they were selected for the collection by library staff. This is in contrast to most other student-related records, which are created and transferred to the Oxford College archives. It is important to consider how decisions made by college staff about what to save, and what to discard, have created the existing record of Oxford College’s history.