Panel text reads:
Opening Black Doors at Black Mountain College
Black Mountain College has often been described as an experimental college, a kind of place where new ideas are welcomed and tried. Whether or not this label is entirely accurate, it is true that in the summer of 1944 the radical experience that was racial integration was started here, long before other colleges in the South had moved in that direction. Though only one Black person was admitted at that time, Black Mountain deserves greater recognition for this achievement than has generally been accorded.
I was Black Mountain’s first Black student. The pioneering arrangement, however, almost did not happen. The college community, all-white since its 1933 beginning, was not sure it was ready to take on this new risk, to which it was challenged by students and a few teachers. In human terms, it appears now that it should not have been so reluctant. In the time of war, the school was able to recruit one, Josef Albers, who spoke no English. It could expect fellow Americans to have no special problems in transporting fleeing European scholars to work or study in a southern place of refuge. Problems of nationality, religion, language, political allegiance, and money—these the college could handle on its resilience and its progressive, democratic design. But the college leaders were not sure in the spring of 1944 that they could bring, or desired to bring, an American Black person to join their ranks and study beside them.
The battle over extending such an invitation raged mightily. Fears and concerns over acceptance and community repercussions fill the minutes of the college over months of debate and are reported by authors Duberman and Harris. Finally, compromises were made, and Clark Foreman proceeded to look for a student through the college in Atlanta, where he had a home.
The time was right for me, as well as for those people at Black Mountain College who were pleased with the decision. I was a graduate of Spelman College as class valedictorian with majors in English and music and had acquired a master’s degree in English from Atlanta University. After a year of teaching at Fort Valley State College, I was eager to get back to music study. President Horace Mann Bond informed me that a Rosenwald Foundation fellowship was available if I would attend Black Mountain College, which I had never heard of, rather than my own choice, the Julliard School of Music.
Thus, I came to Black Mountain for its first Music Institute in the summer of 1944. The timing was perfect. I had an exhilarating, unforgettable eleven-weeks experience that helped shape my life.
Using the theme “Interpretation,” the institute gave me the opportunity to study piano with Johanna Jalowetz, a Czech pupil of the great Schnabel, to play in performance classes under Rudolph Kolisch with other fine musicians; to study new directions in music education under Edward Lowinsky; and to sing in the community chorus under Heinrich Jalowetz. There was also the truly magic music of concerts which lifted our hearts together to new heights of challenge and sharing. I was at home among these people: students and teachers, northern and southern, regulars and institute members, American and foreigners, Thomas Mann’s daughter and Sigmund Freud’s daughter-in-law. The arts brought us together, and differences were not so much threatening as they were attracting.
Black Mountain College found other problems to cope with that summer, serious problems. Integration, as it turned out, was not one of them. I was told that the experiment was considered a success and that two Black persons would be invited as teachers for the next summer’s music institute. I went to Julliard in the fall of 1945 as I had planned and on with my life. Going with me, and informing every day and every aspect of that life, have been the mountain setting, the friendships I made, and the glorious music I experienced at Black Mountain College and will forever cherish.
Alma Stone Williams
Opening Black Doors at Black Mountain College
Black Mountain College has often been described as an experimental college, a kind of place where new ideas are welcomed and tried. Whether or not this label is entirely accurate, it is true that in the summer of 1944 the radical experience that was racial integration was started here, long before other colleges in the South had moved in that direction. Though only one Black person was admitted at that time, Black Mountain deserves greater recognition for this achievement than has generally been accorded.
I was Black Mountain’s first Black student. The pioneering arrangement, however, almost did not happen. The college community, all-white since its 1933 beginning, was not sure it was ready to take on this new risk, to which it was challenged by students and a few teachers. In human terms, it appears now that it should not have been so reluctant. In the time of war, the school was able to recruit one, Josef Albers, who spoke no English. It could expect fellow Americans to have no special problems in transporting fleeing European scholars to work or study in a southern place of refuge. Problems of nationality, religion, language, political allegiance, and money—these the college could handle on its resilience and its progressive, democratic design. But the college leaders were not sure in the spring of 1944 that they could bring, or desired to bring, an American Black person to join their ranks and study beside them.
The battle over extending such an invitation raged mightily. Fears and concerns over acceptance and community repercussions fill the minutes of the college over months of debate and are reported by authors Duberman and Harris. Finally, compromises were made, and Clark Foreman proceeded to look for a student through the college in Atlanta, where he had a home.
The time was right for me, as well as for those people at Black Mountain College who were pleased with the decision. I was a graduate of Spelman College as class valedictorian with majors in English and music and had acquired a master’s degree in English from Atlanta University. After a year of teaching at Fort Valley State College, I was eager to get back to music study. President Horace Mann Bond informed me that a Rosenwald Foundation fellowship was available if I would attend Black Mountain College, which I had never heard of, rather than my own choice, the Julliard School of Music.
Thus, I came to Black Mountain for its first Music Institute in the summer of 1944. The timing was perfect. I had an exhilarating, unforgettable eleven-weeks experience that helped shape my life.
Using the theme “Interpretation,” the institute gave me the opportunity to study piano with Johanna Jalowetz, a Czech pupil of the great Schnabel, to play in performance classes under Rudolph Kolisch with other fine musicians; to study new directions in music education under Edward Lowinsky; and to sing in the community chorus under Heinrich Jalowetz. There was also the truly magic music of concerts which lifted our hearts together to new heights of challenge and sharing. I was at home among these people: students and teachers, northern and southern, regulars and institute members, American and foreigners, Thomas Mann’s daughter and Sigmund Freud’s daughter-in-law. The arts brought us together, and differences were not so much threatening as they were attracting.
Black Mountain College found other problems to cope with that summer, serious problems. Integration, as it turned out, was not one of them. I was told that the experiment was considered a success and that two Black persons would be invited as teachers for the next summer’s music institute. I went to Julliard in the fall of 1945 as I had planned and on with my life. Going with me, and informing every day and every aspect of that life, have been the mountain setting, the friendships I made, and the glorious music I experienced at Black Mountain College and will forever cherish.
Alma Stone Williams
Artwork: 1995.29.1
Opening Black Doors at Black Mountain College
This work was created for the 1995 exhibition Remembering Black Mountain College curated by Mary Emma Harris in conjunction with Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center and the BMC alumni reunion organized by Mary Holden Thompson, founding director of BMCM+AC.
24 x 18 inches
In copyright
Gift of Ray Spillinger
Alma Stone Williams, Opening Black Doors at Black Mountain College, 1995. Printed paper on foam board. Collection of Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center. Gift of the artist.
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