Episode 1: 200 Years of Amherst College

Amherst College, the third oldest institution of higher learning in Massachusetts, is a private liberal arts college originally founded to train impoverished young men for the ministry. When the College went coed in the mid-1970s, the first Black female students encountered a campus that was not designed, built or ready for them. Discussion topics: Amherst College history Edward Jones, class of 1826, the first Black graduate of Amherst College, who was admitted with the expectation that he would serve as a missionary in Africa Dr. Anna Julia Cooper (“The Mother of Black Amherst”), the educator responsible for creating a pipeline to Amherst and other elite colleges for Black students from Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C. The legacy of Alexander Meiklejohn, president of Amherst college from 1912 to 1924, an early trailblazer in diversity and inclusion in education The dawn of coeducation at Amherst College during a time of societal shifts in the United States, and how the first Black women on campus confronted issues of belonging and intersectionality Featured interviews (in order of appearance): Bob Howard ’76 Matthew Alexander Randolph ’16 Martin Garnar, Director, Amherst College Library Cheryl Black Blair ’78 The Hon. Denise Francois ’80 LeAnn Shelton ’80 Sheila Maddox ’80 Adrienne White Faines ’82 Kim Leary ’82, Amherst College trustee emerita