Invisible Founders: How Two Centuries of African American Families Transformed a Plantation into a College

Sweet Briar College's transformation from a plantation to a private women's college in 1906 was enabled by African American labor, despite the college not integrating its student body for sixty years. Invisible Founders challenges our ideas of what a college founder is and restores African American narratives to their central place in the story of the institution.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 232 pages
Publication date: 01 April 2022
Publisher: Berghahn Books

Literary and metaphorical excavations at Sweet Briar College reveal how African American labor enabled the transformation of Sweet Briar Plantation into a private women's college in 1906. This volume tells the story of the invisible founders of a college founded by and for white women. Despite being built and maintained by African American families, the college did not integrate its student body for sixty years after it opened. In the process, Invisible Founders challenges our ideas of what a college "founder" is, restoring African American narratives to their deserved and central place in the story of a single institution — one that serves as a microcosm of the American South.

The college's founders were African American families who built and maintained the institution, yet it did not integrate its student body for sixty years after it opened. This book challenges our understanding of what a college founder is and restores African American narratives to their rightful and central place in the story of a single institution, which serves as a microcosm of the American South.

Through literary and metaphorical excavations at Sweet Briar College, it becomes evident how the labor of African American individuals played a pivotal role in transforming the Sweet Briar Plantation into a private women's college in 1906. This volume delves into the untold story of the invisible founders of a college initially established for and by white women. Despite the college being constructed and maintained by African American families, it took sixty years for it to integrate its student body. In this process, Invisible Founders challenges our conventional notions of what constitutes a college founder and seeks to reclaim the narratives of African Americans, restoring their rightful and significant place in the narrative of a singular institution that serves as a microcosm of the American South.

ISBN-13: 9781800734449