This article needs additional citations for verification .(July 2010) |
Type | Women's College | ||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Active | 1855–1974 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Location | Oxford , Ohio , United States 39°30′14″N84°43′40″W / 39.5038889°N 84.7277778°W | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Western College for Women, known at other times as Western Female Seminary, The Western and simply Western College, was a women's and later coed liberal arts college in Oxford, Ohio, between 1855 and 1974. Initially a seminary, it was the host of orientation sessions for the Freedom Summer in 1964. It was absorbed by Miami University in 1974 after dwindling finances. Now known as the Western Campus of Miami University, it was designated a U.S. Historic district known as the Western Female Seminary Historic District in 1979.
Western College was founded in 1853 as Western Female Seminary. [2] [3] It was a daughter school of Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, and its first principal, Helen Peabody, was a Holyoke graduate. [4] The college changed its name three times, in 1894 to The Western: A College and Seminary for Women, in 1904 to Western College for Women, and in 1971 to The Western College when the institution became coeducational. [4]
Western remained an independent women's college until 1970 when it formed a "committee of cooperation" with the adjacent Miami University, which opened enrollment between the colleges on a limited basis. This allowed Western students to take classes at Miami and use Miami's computer and hospital facilities, for example, while allowing Miami students access to intramural fields, library space, and cross-country runways on Western grounds. Before the 1973–74 school years, both presidents signed an agreement for an affiliation between the two schools. In 1974, Western became part of Miami due to financial difficulties. [4]
On September 17, 1979, 15 buildings and 11 structures from the former Western College were designated the Western Female Seminary Historic District.
In June 1964, an orientation and training in nonviolence techniques was held on the campus of Western College for Women for volunteers heading south to Mississippi for Freedom Summer. While training at Western was still on-going, Mickey Schwerner, a veteran civil rights worker who had come to Oxford to help train the new recruits, received word that one of the churches that had agreed to host Freedom Summer activities had been attacked and burned. Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, a new volunteer, left Oxford immediately to head back to Mississippi. Schwerner's wife, Rita, remained behind at Western College to finish the training. Within days, Schwerner and Goodman, along with James Chaney, a native Mississippian and voting rights activist, were reported missing in Philadelphia, Mississippi. Their bodies were found months later, buried in an earthen dam. Public uproar over these murders helped pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act a few months later. A memorial to the Freedom Summer activists was dedicated in 2000 on the Western College campus. [5] [6]
In 1974, the Western College for Women merged with Miami University and became the Western College Program (School of Interdisciplinary Studies). In 2007, the Western College Program was integrated into the College of Arts and Sciences and is now known as the Western Program for Individualized Studies at Miami University. [7]
Of the original Western College buildings, Boyd Hall, Clawson Hall, Hoyt Library, Kumler Chapel, McKee Hall, Thomson Hall, and Peabody Hall were retained as either academic building or dormitories. Since the merger, four new dormitories and a dining hall were also added to the Western Campus.
Mount Holyoke College is a private liberal arts women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts, United States. It is the oldest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of historically female colleges in the Northeastern United States. The college was founded in 1837 as the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary by Mary Lyon, a pioneer in education for women. Mount Holyoke is part of the Five College Consortium in Western Massachusetts.
Andrew Goodman was an American civil rights activist. He was one of three Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) workers murdered in Philadelphia, Mississippi, by members of the Ku Klux Klan in 1964. Goodman and two fellow activists, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner, were volunteers for the Freedom Summer campaign that sought to register African-Americans to vote in Mississippi and to set up Freedom Schools for black Southerners.
Oxford is a city in northwestern Butler County, Ohio, United States. The population was 23,035 at the 2020 census. A college town, Oxford was founded as a home for Miami University and lies in the southwestern portion of the state approximately 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Cincinnati and 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Dayton. It is part of the Cincinnati metropolitan area.
Michael Henry Schwerner was an American civil rights activist. He was one of three Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) field workers killed in rural Neshoba County, Mississippi, by members of the Ku Klux Klan. Schwerner and two co-workers, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman, were killed in response to their civil rights work, which included promoting voting registration among African Americans, most of whom had been disenfranchised in the state since 1890.
Miami University is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio, United States. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio and the 10th oldest public university in the United States. Miami was one of the original eight Public Ivy schools, a group of publicly funded universities considered as providing a quality of education comparable to those of the Ivy League. The school's system comprises the main campus in Oxford, as well as regional campuses in nearby Hamilton, Middletown, and West Chester. Miami also maintains an international boarding campus, the Dolibois European Center in Differdange, Luxembourg. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".
Freedom Summer, also known as the Freedom Summer Project or the Mississippi Summer Project, was a volunteer campaign in the United States launched in June 1964 to attempt to register as many African-American voters as possible in Mississippi. Blacks had been restricted from voting since the turn of the century due to barriers to voter registration and other laws. The project also set up dozens of Freedom Schools, Freedom Houses, and community centers such as libraries, in small towns throughout Mississippi to aid the local Black population.
Mary Mason Lyon was an American pioneer in women's education. She established the Wheaton Female Seminary in Norton, Massachusetts, in 1834. She then established Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in South Hadley, Massachusetts, in 1837 and served as its first president for 12 years. Lyon's vision fused intellectual challenge and moral purpose. She valued socioeconomic diversity and endeavored to make the seminary affordable for students of modest means.
The Western College Program was created in 1974 when the Western College for Women merged with Miami University. The program consisted of an interdisciplinary living/learning community with small class sizes and student-designed focuses. Majors included Interdisciplinary Studies, Environmental Science, and Environmental Studies. Academics were divided into three core areas: Creativity and Culture, Social Systems, and Natural Systems.
The murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner, also known as the Freedom Summer murders, the Mississippi civil rights workers' murders, or the Mississippi Burning murders, were the abduction and murder of three activists in Philadelphia, Mississippi, in June 1964, during the Civil Rights Movement. The victims were James Chaney from Meridian, Mississippi, and Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner from New York City. All three were associated with the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) and its member organization, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). They had been working with the Freedom Summer campaign by attempting to register African Americans in Mississippi to vote. Since 1890 and through the turn of the century, Southern states had systematically disenfranchised most black voters by discrimination in voter registration and voting.
Lake Erie College is a private liberal arts college in Painesville, Ohio. Founded in 1856 as a female seminary, the college converted to a coeducational institution in 1985.
The following is a timeline of women's colleges in the United States. These are institutions of higher education in the United States whose student population comprises exclusively, or almost exclusively, women. They are often liberal arts colleges. There are approximately 35 active women's colleges in the U.S. as of 2021.
Freedom Schools were temporary, alternative, and free schools for African Americans mostly in the South. They were originally part of a nationwide effort during the Civil Rights Movement to organize African Americans to achieve social, political and economic equality in the United States. The most prominent example of Freedom Schools was in Mississippi during the summer of 1964.
The Elias Kumler House is a historic residence in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Constructed in the 1850s, it was originally the home of Elias Kumler, who held large influence at multiple educational institutions in Oxford. The house has been continuously used for residential purposes, and it has been named a historic site.
Peabody Hall is a mixed-use academic and residential building located on the campus of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. The original building, known as Seminary Hall, was built in 1855, and was the central building of Western College for Women. That building burned down in 1860 and was rebuilt the following year, only to become damaged by an 1871 fire. Rebuilt again that same year, the building was renamed Peabody Hall, after Helen Peabody the first head of Western College, in 1905. Peabody Hall is one of two residential buildings on Miami's Western Campus still used for their original purposes. It is one of 15 contributing buildings to the Western Female Seminary National Historic District.
Fisher Hall was a building at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Originally the Oxford Female College, the building was later used as a sanitarium and was purchased by Miami in 1925. It served as a first-year men's residence hall, Naval training school, and theatre. The building remained in use as a dormitory until 1958, when the upper floors were condemned and the theatre remained the only part of the building still in use. With the construction of Miami's Center for Performing Arts in 1968, the theatre became unused and the building turned into a storage facility. After a push to save the building in the mid-1970s, the hall was razed because the cost of renovating the building was identical to the costs of new construction. Miami University's hotel, The Marcum, was built in 1982 on the former site of Fisher Hall.
Alumnae Hall was the second building to be built on The Western Female Seminary's campus, and was completed in 1892. The building was constructed from funds donated by Olivia Meily Brice, class of 1866, and other alumnae, trustees, and friends of the college. The architecture style of the building was Romanesque Revival. The building remained in use as a library until 1970 when Hoyt Hall opened. Between 1972-1974 it was used as a student center. It was torn down in 1977.
Mary Lyon Residence Hall was a three-story student dormitory on Western Campus at Miami University, demolished in 2016. It was a co-ed dormitory and only the first and second floors were used for living space. The third floor was vacant and only the employees of the Physical Facility Department had keys to enter that story. The building was made of limestone. It housed 81 students; three of the 81 were residence hall agents and there was only one hall adviser.
Hoyt Hall is located on the western campus of Miami University in Oxford, OH. Currently Hoyt houses the Career Planning and Placement Office and IT Services.
Kumler Chapel is a building of architectural interest located on the Western Campus for Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. It was built in 1917-18 for what was then the Western College for Women by the architect Thomas Hastings, in a "Transitional Gothic" style with both Gothic and Romanesque influences. It is now a venue for church services and weddings.
"Here's to the State of Mississippi" is a civil rights protest song by Phil Ochs, an American topical singer and songwriter in the 1960s. Ochs is best known for his anti-war and freedom songs. "Here's to the State of Mississippi" was released in 1965 as the last track on his album I Ain't Marching Anymore. The song criticizes the state of Mississippi for its oppression of African Americans. It describes how Jim Crow laws and white supremacy in the South maintained the inequality of African Americans in states such as Mississippi. "Here's to the State of Mississippi" touches on segregation, corrupt and biased school systems, the frequent murders of African Americans and civil rights activists and the crookedness of government officials who ignored or collaborated in the murders.