Blacks at Harvard: A Documentary History of African-American Experience At Harvard and Radcliffe

ELIZABETH FITZGERALD HOWARD

ELIZABETH FITZGERALD HOWAR D [Gertrude] Elizabet h Fitzgeral d wa s bor n o n 2 8 Decembe r 192 7 i n Baltimore, Maryland. Movin g to the Boston area, she attended Brooklin e High School . A t Radcliff e sh e concentrate d i n histor y an d develope d a lasting love of choral singing. Sh e was elected secretary of the junior class and, the next year, president and class marshal (the first black in Radcliff e history to be so honored). Afte r he r graduation in 1948 , she spent several years as a children's libraria n a t th e Boston Publi c Library. Late r a t th e University o f Pittsburgh , sh e earne d a Maste r o f Librar y Scienc e degre e (1971), followed b y a Ph.D. in the same field, with a dissertation on "Th e Reference Collectio n a s a Resourc e fo r Religio n Studie s i n Secondar y Schools" (1977). Sinc e 1978 she has been a professor o f library science at the University of West Virginia in Morgantown. He r interest in the young is reflected i n her study America as Story: Historical Fiction for Secondary Schools (1988) as well as her original fiction for children. He r recent book Aunt Flossie's Hats (and Crab Cakes Later) won a Parents* Choice Award. Miss Radcliff e Even fo r Radcliff e College , which for 6 9 years has gone abou t givin g women th e advantages of a Harvard education wit h littl e fuss an d n o feathers, Bett y Fitzgeral d wa s somethin g special . I n he r freshma n year, thi s swee t an d seemingl y sh y Brookline , Mass. , gir l showe d leadership ability and moved into extracurricular prominence by being elected t o th e boar d o f administratio n o f Brigg s Hall , her dormitory . A member of the Student Assembly in her sophomore year, she went up t o th e Studen t Counci l i n he r junio r yea r an d wa s electe d class secretary. Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard in midcareer Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard 303 In December 1946 , Betty was a Radcliffe representativ e a t the organizing convention of the National Students Association in Chicago and a founder of the permanent NSA at Madison, Wis., the following summer. O n the side she worked on the Radcliffe New s and sang with the famous Choral Society. Las t spring she was elected president of th e senior class and , to double th e honor, was chosen thi s year from a field of eleven candidates to be class marshal. For any girl, Betty's extracurricular record would be considered distinguished. Bu t though Radcliffe, traditionally reticent, was wisely matter-of-fact abou t it , ther e was one thin g which mad e he r even more noteworthy: Bett y was a Negro, a fact not mentioned in any of the newspaper publicity. Daughte r of a Harvard man, J. MacFarland Fitzgerald, and sister of the sophomore class vice president, the 20year -old senio r ha d risen i n school politic s o n th e strengt h o f th e popularity-winning personal charm and ability which had made her a success in Girls Latin School in Boston and Brookline High and later the biggest of campus"big wheels" at Radcliffe. Last wee k Bett y Fitzgerald' s greates t collegiat e momen t cam e when, as class marshal, she headed the procession of 218 women who were awarde d degree s a t Radcliff e commencemen t exercise s i n Sanders Theater, Harvard. Althoug h there had been Negro girls at Radcliffe sinc e its founding in 1879, Betty was the first Negro to be either senior president or marshal. He r reaction: "The best part of it is that whenmy class returns for its 25th and biggest reunion in 1973, I lead the whole caboodle into Sanders Theater again." Newsweek (1948) 304 Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard Three Generations of a Black Radcliff e and Harvard Family PROLOGUE, APRIL, 1944 A Brookline High School senior snatches the letter from the postman and tear s i t open . "I t give s m e great...