Item Information
Title
“UNC Black Women,” a story from the campus feminist magazine She, April 1978
Description
“UNC Black Women,” a story from the campus feminist magazine She, April 1978. Performed by AhDream Smith, Aubree Dixon, and Omolade Wey.
Creator
PlayMaker’s Repertory Company in collaboration with the University Archives at Louis Round Wilson Library
Date
2021
Language
English
Identifier
Transcription
Aubree: “UNC Black Women,” a story from the campus feminist magazine She, April 1978
AhDREAM: “Still black, still a minority.”
OMOLADE: The following report synthesizes the results of telephone interviews with 10 black women students.
AUBREE: As a woman in the midst of other women, I’m still Black. I’m still a minority. I still feel discriminated against among other women,” a sophomore English major said.
AhDREAM: Another English major who had trouble with her freshman English teacher said: “He was strict, but especially on me. I knew I had written a good paper, but I got a ‘D’ grade. The instructor said I had to start off low. He said the paper was almost too good to be my own words. He said there was no way I should know how to write like that. He didn’t accuse me of plagiarism, directly, but he said, ‘I’m not taking you to Honor Court for this. He discouraged me from continuing in English and said freshman English courses were designed to eliminate those who couldn’t make it.”
OMOLADE: Another woman said she had an unfriendly psychology professor who counted class participation as part of the course grade. “I would try to participate in class, but he wouldn’t call on me. There were two or three other blacks in the class, and he wouldn’t call on them either. He’d make comments and responses after white students spoke. He’d recognize blacks every once in a while as a favor, as if he had to.”
AUBREE: An industrial relations major said she was graded unfairly on a paper “even though I had gone to the professor for help with four times before handing it in.”
OMOLADE: Nine of the ten women cited examples of subtle forms of discrimination, which one woman called “just little things that hurt.”
AUBREE: “If I let myself feel defeated….,” one woman said, “everyday there’s something. You learn to live with it. The entire campus is geared toward whites – like the trend of discussions. There’s an absence of the black viewpoint. If you do speak out, you’re put on a pedestal. You’re taken as a spokesperson for your race not as an individual.”
AhDREAM; A junior journalism major cited examples of white males letting doors swing back in her face after holding them for white females, cars letting whites cross in the crosswalks, but “actually speeding up” when blacks tried to cross.
AhDREAM (continues): “Perhaps it’s my oversensitivity that I think certain things are done to me. But discrimination can work in many different ways. Some people go out of their way to be cordial. I get the impression it’s foreign for them to do that. I'd prefer it if they’d just be natural.”
AhDREAM: “Still black, still a minority.”
OMOLADE: The following report synthesizes the results of telephone interviews with 10 black women students.
AUBREE: As a woman in the midst of other women, I’m still Black. I’m still a minority. I still feel discriminated against among other women,” a sophomore English major said.
AhDREAM: Another English major who had trouble with her freshman English teacher said: “He was strict, but especially on me. I knew I had written a good paper, but I got a ‘D’ grade. The instructor said I had to start off low. He said the paper was almost too good to be my own words. He said there was no way I should know how to write like that. He didn’t accuse me of plagiarism, directly, but he said, ‘I’m not taking you to Honor Court for this. He discouraged me from continuing in English and said freshman English courses were designed to eliminate those who couldn’t make it.”
OMOLADE: Another woman said she had an unfriendly psychology professor who counted class participation as part of the course grade. “I would try to participate in class, but he wouldn’t call on me. There were two or three other blacks in the class, and he wouldn’t call on them either. He’d make comments and responses after white students spoke. He’d recognize blacks every once in a while as a favor, as if he had to.”
AUBREE: An industrial relations major said she was graded unfairly on a paper “even though I had gone to the professor for help with four times before handing it in.”
OMOLADE: Nine of the ten women cited examples of subtle forms of discrimination, which one woman called “just little things that hurt.”
AUBREE: “If I let myself feel defeated….,” one woman said, “everyday there’s something. You learn to live with it. The entire campus is geared toward whites – like the trend of discussions. There’s an absence of the black viewpoint. If you do speak out, you’re put on a pedestal. You’re taken as a spokesperson for your race not as an individual.”
AhDREAM; A junior journalism major cited examples of white males letting doors swing back in her face after holding them for white females, cars letting whites cross in the crosswalks, but “actually speeding up” when blacks tried to cross.
AhDREAM (continues): “Perhaps it’s my oversensitivity that I think certain things are done to me. But discrimination can work in many different ways. Some people go out of their way to be cordial. I get the impression it’s foreign for them to do that. I'd prefer it if they’d just be natural.”