Browse Items (50 total)

A group of Mount Holyoke and Amherst students went to Washington D.C. to lobby for the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Bill. In this photo, they are shown with Senator Keating, a member of the House of Representatives. Keating was influential in…

In February of 1965, Mount Holyoke co-hosted a Civil Rights Conference alongside Amherst, Smith, and the University of Massachusetts. A variety of guest speakers attended the conference and gave lectures, including Dave Dennis, Howard Zinn, and Ossie…

Actor-playwright Ossie Davis is shown speaking at the Civil Rights Conference in Mount Holyoke’s Chapin Auditorium. Political activists Malcolm X and Michael Harrington were scheduled to speak but did not arrive in time due to travel issues.…

This statement from the Mount Holyoke President in 1965 shows that the Civil Rights Conference caused some tension and controversy due to its radical speakers. President Gettell defended the Conference on the basis of “freedom of inquiry and…

In these excerpts from Tiffany McClain’s ‘01 oral history project, Barbara Smith ‘69 discusses what it was like being a Black student at Mount Holyoke in the 1960s. Smith describes racist assumptions from professors about her academic ability…

These Votes for Women pins are from the memory books of Margaret Niles ‘14 (bottom right), Madeline Wayne ‘15 (bottom left), and Ruth Sonn ‘18 (top center). The phrase “Votes for Women” was a common slogan used on suffrage ephemera and was…

During the spring of 1911, Mount Holyoke students established a chapter of the National College Equal Suffrage League on campus. Slava Balanbanoff x’13, the first secretary-treasurer, hand-copied and signed the group’s constitution, which set up…

Florence Tuttle ‘16 (left), Dorothy Phelps ‘18 (center), and Helen McConkey ‘18 (right) formed a band of trumpets and drums on Suffrage Day May 9th, 1916. The three students wear ‘Votes for Women’ sashes, one of which is featured in this…

In April 1960, Louise DeCosta ‘62, Marion Fitch ‘62, Susan Heineman ‘60, Susan Higinbotham ‘62, and Anne Martin ‘62 wrote this letter to the administration of Mount Holyoke to declare the formation of the Mount Holyoke Committee on Civil…

This letter shows that the Committee on Civil Rights worked with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in their fundraising efforts, specifically mentioning the group’s involvement in voter registration activism. Signed by the organizers of…

This article describes the Civil Actions Group’s Election Day initiatives in Springfield, as well as their long-term goals. Members of the group planned to raise “poll tax” money and babysit for voters—direct action that would impact the…

During the summer of 1963, Elizabeth Butters ‘66 spent eight weeks in rural North Carolina working in a voter education program organized by the American Friends Service Committee. Upon her return, she was interviewed by the school newspaper about…

This yearbook page gives a brief history of the Mount Holyoke chapter of the National College Equal Suffrage League and details its activities. Through its open meetings, the League brought many important suffragists to speak on campus. Mentioned on…

Before 1920, Mount Holyoke students held mock campaigns and elections in which they dressed up as the presidential candidates of that election year. These photos show students dressed as various figures from the 1916 national election including…