For the majority of my life, it has been difficult to see myself within the primarily white institutions that I have attended. My identity as a Black woman is not shared with many of my classmates around me. I, like many other Black women at Barnard College, struggle to see ourselves within the course curriculum, campus spaces, classrooms, etc. Many times Black students question why this is the case. Although it is 2019, there have been generations of Black students who have grappled with this dilemma. There have been many advancements in the betterment of racial uplift in higher ed. But while on campus for the Black race but in many predominately white institutions these have been born out of the student.

As much as it is expected that we move forward and see the great achievements and successes of the college, it is imperative that we look back at our history and examine it within its entirety. It is crucial that we, the members of the college, study how the college has gotten to the place at which it stands today. Barnard is not unique. Many students have put pressure on institutions of higher learning to better understand the past, so we can progress in my effective ways. 

I embarked on this research project to uncover many of the hidden histories that are so often associated with the Black woman and specifically, Black Barnard students. I became interested in this topic after doing archival research about Barnard’s historical social and spatial ties to colonist history through archival data collection. Through this, I was able to understand that because Barnard was established as a reaction to Columbia University’s policy of not allowing women equal access to education, the college’s sole mission at that time was to provide education to women who could not only get a degree from the university but also be seen as an elite intellectual. Therefore, the reaction to Columbia University of not allowing everyone of all genders equal access to a degree limiting founders of the college about thinking about who the college could serve. This reaction caused founders to believe that they were establishing an institution that would be inclusive of all people, but overlooked students who had no access: Black students and Black women-identifying students. This is not shocking or new information, given that the college was founded in 1889.