Class of 1959 Fishman, Laura Thomasson interviewee Humm, Katherine Robinson Hempstead interviewee Jones, Jacqueline interviewee Krooss, Nina Wiita interviewee Nieforth, Caryl-Ann Miller interviewee Scola, Diane interviewee Taft, Liza interviewee Lancaster, Jane interviewer mixed material 2009-05-25 eng After introducing themselves, Diane, Kathy, Caryl-Ann, Laura, Jackie, Nina, and Liza begin by discussing why they chose to attend Pembroke, listing a variety of reasons from adventuring to the east coast to scholarship money. Laura, one of two black women students on campus, remembers that her mother was worried about her going to a predominantly white school. She says of attending Brown: "I came with really no, absolutely no preconceptions. And I did not realize, until way later, that I would also get my real introduction into race and oppression, and that it would define my existence, and maybe perhaps even more so than my intellectual formative development." At this, the six other women ask Laura to keep talking about her experience as a black student at Pembroke, initiating a profound discussion about race and exclusivity at Pembroke. Laura speaks about acute experiences of discrimination in the dorms, social life, and classrooms: "I found out how to live as an invisible woman within two worlds... and to be invisible, and I discovered black rage. And that basically colored my experiences at Pembroke." The six white women agree that the race issue was something they just didn't get, while Laura explains her lived experience. The seven women speak in almost relieved tones, discussing perhaps for the first time the negative aspects and exclusions inherent in their time at Pembroke. Caryl-Ann talks about being a Jewish girl on campus, and the realization that social differences, not just scholastic ones, counted at Pembroke. Nina describes the difficulty of being poor at Brown. She says she was willing to accept a kind of minority status because she was poor and felt lucky to be there, but later she looked back and said "Oh, that existed. And maybe it wasn't fair." Diane adds that city girls were treated as "lunch baggers" and "townies." Jackie mentions an additional difference in being a public student from the Midwest, and not engaging in drinking and smoking while at Brown. These differences seem to have become most obvious in the dating scene and social life at Brown. All of the women agree that there were lots of exclusions, some worse than others. Kathy suggests that as women in 1959, they felt they couldn't challenge anything, and perhaps they did what they were told because it was easier. Laura considers that Pembroke wasn't just unaware of race, sex, religion, or other differences - the campus refused to talk about different experiences and oppression. When Kathy asks if this atmosphere of silence and oppression was specific to Pembroke, Laura tells of a study she performed on the social and academic adjustments of black female students at universities, explaining that Pembroke was significant in its exclusion and closedness. The interviewer brings up the dropout rate at Pembroke, with 83 women out of 283 leaving the college before graduation. Jackie suggests that a lot of women, including herself, went to Pembroke for the experience rather than the education. Nancy and Caryl-Anne offer that when women got married, the expectation was that they would drop out, and that the policies for married students at Pembroke encouraged this and made it difficult for them to continue their education. The women continue to discuss painful memories of exclusions, and experiences of feeling deeply uncomfortable socially. Laura describes her "triple burdens" as a black female student at Brown in 1959, and the sense of real danger she carried when she was a student here. The women discuss exclusions based on womanhood, and all of the rules, limitations, and discrimination they experienced both at Pembroke and in their careers, remembering that they were not even expected to desire anything more than physically being at college. The women agree that they felt as if they were part of the 60s and the revolution. Diane remembers: "the biggest compliment I ever got in my entire life was when my mother got old, and turned to me one day, and said, 'I should've been more like you.' So, we initiated, in some way, some small way, a revolution." A particularly salient and somewhat tense moment is prompted when Laura explains the difficulty of getting people to listen to her: "I tried. I tried, I tried, I tried. And I had a tremendous burden on me to try. I was the only one in this mass of forest of... People who might go out and wave their hands, but I wanted a radical overhaul of this society. And I wanted a radical overhaul of what we call a capitalist society." The women try to make sense of rage at being so completely excluded, and discuss the concept of revolution. The women end their interview with a series of reflections on their time at Pembroke. All seven women agree that to be a Brown student was to learn to question, to discuss existentialism, and to value learning. Most of all, to be at Brown was to engage with themselves and their identities. The women end by synthesizing that a little rage is what we need. 1959 Laura Thomasson Fishman studied sociology at Brown. She went on to earn a Master's degree at the University of Chicago in 1966 and then a Ph.D. from McGill University in 1984. She worked in an anti-poverty agency in New York before beginning her full-time career as a teacher of sociology in New York colleges. In the 1970s, Laura began teaching in the sociology department at the University of Vermont, where she remained for the duration of her esteemed teaching career and became a Professor Emerita of Sociology and an Associate Professor. An expert in criminal justice, she published Women at the Wall: A Study of the Wives of Prisoners and worked in consulting in correctional systems in New York and Vermont on issues facing prisoners with HIV. She also served on the board of directors for Women Helping Battered Women, the Vermont chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, and Dismas House. Laura passed away in 2014, and is survived by her two sons and grandchildren. Kathy Humm (Katherine Robinson Hempstead) studied American Civilization at Brown. She describes her career as "eclectic." Now retired, she was the executive director of the York County Bar Association in Pennsylvania, part of the American Bar Association. Jaqueline "Jackie" Jones was born and raised in Kokomo, Indiana. She studied Spanish at Brown, and went on to earn a Master of Arts in Teaching from Brown. She taught Spanish at variety of levels, including 4-12, advanced placement, learning disabled, university, and adult education. She says of Brown's valuation of teaching as a profession: "I faded into the sunset in glory, for having taught." Nina Krooss studied American literature at Brown before going on to earn a Master's from NYU in English literature. In her career, Nina taught English in community college and worked with her husband in his manufacturing business, Pace Packaging. Nina Krooss lives in New Jersey, where she is the editor of her local paper. Caryl-Ann Miller Nieforth studied psychology at Brown. Part of three generations of Brown graduates, Caryl-Ann's mother is part of the class of 1935, while her son graduated in 1986 and also earned his MD at Brown in 1991. Caryl-Ann is active in the Jewish community in Providence, and was president of the Jewish Community Center's BBG group in her mid-forties. A retired museum administrator, Caryl-Ann lives in Barrington, Rhode Island. Diane Scola studied American Civilization at Brown. She earned a Master's degree in 1969 from the University of Rhode Island and became a schoolteacher in English. In 1979 she began her own jewelry manufacturing company with her brother. She currently lives in Rhode Island, and has two "defiant" daughters and granddaughters. Liza Taft grew up abroad in the foreign service before returning to the states for high school. She pursued pre-nursing at Brown, studying for two years at Pembroke before transferring to Johns Hopkins to complete her degree. She has two Master's degrees. 1950s Academics Dating Dormitories Gender expectations Marriage Racism Religion Sexism Social life oral histories (literary works)