Newspaper Page Text
Spelman Spotlight
Page 13
November 14, 1983
Spelman Sisterhood
Existing Or Extinct?
by Nancy Travis
and Tiffany Bouknight
Sisterhood existing among
Black women: this is one aspect
of Spelman life promoted in
admissions literature, expected
by incoming freshman and
cherished by the students and
administration of Spelman
College. Many feel confident in
asserting that sisterhood in an
integral part of the Spelman
experience. However, others
feel that the achievement of this
ideal is yet a dream unfulfilled.
Therefore, we posed the follow
ing questions about sisterhood
to twenty Spelmanites in an
attempt to determine the
strength of our sisterhood and to
reveal the barriers which still lie
between us.
WHAT IS SISTERHOOD TO YOU
DO YOU SEE IT EXISTING AT
SPELMAN?
DEIRDRE HAYWOOD:
“Sisterhood is a deep caring,
loving and concern you show for
others you feel close to. I would
like to be able to say ‘yes’ but
there is always room for im
provement. At Spelman it is not
as visible as it should be. It’s not
displayed until a time of crisis.”
ANONYMOUS FRESHMAN:
“To me, sisterhood is a sense of
togetherness, understanding
and love. I see it here among
people who know each other in
dorms and clubs, but up
perclassmen don’t care. It seems
like no one will go that extra mile
for someone they don’t know.
The upperclassmen don’t treat
you like a person; they have
forgotten what it is like.”
ANONYMOUS JUNIOR:
“Yes, I see sisterhood at
Spelman, but it tends to be in
little isolated pockets.”
JANIS P. MADDEN:
“Sisterhood is unity, unity which
incorporates love, patience and
common sense. Common
courtesy and a sense of respon
sibility. At times I see sisterhood
existing at Spelman, but most of
the time I don’t. People who see
you everyday don’t speak and
people don't mind their own
business. A sister here would
rather pull a sister down, than
help her up.”
SANDY ANDERSON: “I see a
lot of cliques. People don’t want
to learn about those that are
different from themselves.
DO YOU FEEL THAT YOU
ARE RESPECTED BY YOUR
SISTERS?
Most questioned said they do
feel respect. A couple
Spelmanites noted that incidents
of “disrespect” may occur
because we just don’t think
about it.
ANONYMOUS SENIOR: "If
someone doesn’t speak to you
when they pass, you shouldn’t
take it as a personal snub. People
often just have other things on
their minds.”
JO-ANNA GRIFFITH: “I don’t
feel there is mutual respect
among Spelmanites. Everybody
has one set image of what a-
“Spelman Woman” is supposed
'to be. I was Jo-Anna Griffith
before I cam to Spelman College
and I’ll be Jo-Anna Griffith when
I leave Spelman College.”
MARVA WILLIAMS: “I don’t
feel there is mutual respect
among the students and I don’t
feel that the upperclassmen
respect the freshmen. I also feel
there is a separation in skin color.
Light-skinned women feel that
they are more superior than
dark-skinned women.”
SHAUGHN SMITH: “I don’t
feel that I nor others are
respected except by my friends. I
see a bond between friends, but
what if you need something from
your Spelman sister and she is
not your friend. Will she be there
to help you? In most cases no. If
your parents income isn't the
same as anyone else's and if you
don’t wear all designer clothes,
you just don’t fit in. You’re
basically like a little “black
sheep.” They don't measure you
by what you have upstairs, they
measure you by your physical
appearance.”
WHAT WAS YOUR IMAGE OF
SPELMAN
BEFORE YOU CAME HERE?
WHAT WAS THE REALITY YOU
FOUND?
JANIS P. MADDEN: "I
thought that Spelman College
was going to consist of a group of
Black women who laughed,
cried, worshipped and in some
places partied together. I
thought there was going to be a
great bond between the sisters
because of people who told me
how much they loved Their
friends at Spelman. My image of
Spelman now is a chocolate
factory or rainbow, where there
are different types of chocolate.
Some come out to be sweeter
than others. You have chocolates
who are trying to be white and
snotty, chocolates who are really
into their African heritage and
chocolates who are really down
to earth and will always be there
when you need them. But even
though the snobs and the cauca-
sion acting people exist here,
they have not devoured my
image of a Spelman women. I
wouldn't leave or try to change
my establishment here for the
world.”
ANONYMOUS
SOPHOMORE: “I thought that
Spelman would be much more
organized and put together. I
was told I could major in certain
things, only to find out once I got
here that I couldn’t. I also
thought that Spelman was an
academically great institution.
My image now is exactly the
opposite. There is entirely too
much friction and competition
between all of the other schools
in the Atlanta University Center
Complex. The image of the
institution seems to be more
important to the institution, than
the education that the students
leave with.”
JO-ANNA GRIFFITH: “I
thought that as a dark-skinned
woman coming to a school that
had mostly light-skinned
women, that I, the dark-skinned
woman would be left out and
ignored. I found my image to be
very invalid. Even though I have
come across several people who
are color-struck, I have found
that most people accept you for
your mind and personality."
ANONYMOUS SENIOR:
“Before I came to Spelman I
thought it would be like a
fashion show, that everyone
would be light-skinned, have
long hair, great clothes and be
stuck-up and unfriendly. I found
that Spelman is not like that. The
people I associate with are down
to earth. Sure, there are some
stuck-up people here, but you’ll
find some of that everywhere.”
ANONYMOUS SENIOR: “I
had pictured a sisterhood that
would go beyond appearances
and labels. However, since com
ing to Spelman I have become
MORE aware of this preoccupa
tion with physical appearance,
skin color and hair texture. I
thought a sisterhood would
allow us to escape this pettiness.
Some sisters told me how lucky I
was to have “good” hair, yet I
was bothered because I knew
where their concept of "good”
came from. I felt they were
viewing me with like or dislike
based on my physical
apperance: seeing me as a
“semi-white” rather than as a
true sister."
IS THERE ROLE PLAYING OR
IMAGE BUILDING AT
SPELMAN?
IMG IA BASKIN: “Yes, I like
when they bring Black leaders to
campus and alumnae who have
furthered their education to take
important positions in society.”
SHAUGHN SMITH: “Yes, I see
a fashion show everyday. It’s all
about who can dress better.
Everybody is all about can you
top this and who can get the
cutest boyfriend."
KIM BRONSON: "It is hard to
be unique. If one person has a
mini-skirt, everybody has a mini
skirt. If one has a Polo shirt,
everyone has to have one. Many
people play the role of being an
Economics or English or any
major, but they are in name only;
they spend most of their time
hanging out.”
ENID CRUISE: “Most of the
girls here are trying to be
something they’re not. They put
themselves on a pesdastel, but
they eat, drink, and fart just
like everyone else. We are all
Gods children and to the White
man we are all the same.”
WHAT ARE THE CAUSES OF
LACK OF UNITY (if any)?
WHAT CAN BE SOME
SOLUTIONS?
SANDY ANDERSON:
“Spelman has a slight lack of
unity. It needs to start tooting its
own horn. The Administration
and students tend to live under
the shadow of Morehouse. We
should have our own homecom
ing. It doesn’t have to be a
football game. We need to
establish an annual homecoming
outside of Founders Day.”
RENEE CHUBE: "As a senior it
is hard to relate to freshmen. I’m
not in contact with lower
classmen. Once a month we
should have some type of
program to assemble together. It
may have to be mandatory. Also,
try a little harder to appreciate
each other for what each of us
can offer.”
MARVA WILLIAMS: “The
night of thefreshman initiation is
when all of the lack of unity starts
because the freshmen are turned
off. People need to get rid of the
snobish, goddess, or I’m better
than you attitude. There are so
many cliques with people who
won’t “clique” with anyone else.
We need to get rid of these
phony people and focus on
being ourselves.”
ANONYMOUS FRESHMAN:
"Silly stuff divides us. One thing
that ruined the bond between
upperclassmen and freshmen
was the tradition of waking us up
in the middle of the night to dog
us out. It didn't promote
sisterhood, it just made us angry.
By telling us we were stupid
because we think these guys
(Morehouse) were going to
abuse us ruined the
brother/sister image. Made it
seem like a battle between us.
You have to develop a rapport
before you go off on
somebody.”
NEIMAH WARSOME: “The
Administration should en
courage sisterhood awareness by
having a day just for Sisterhood
Day.”
ANONYMOUS SENIOR:
“There is a lack of unity because
of a lack of participation. At the
Town Hall meeting only five
percent of the Student Body
showed up. Why should the
SGA put forth the effort?”
JANIS P. MADDEN: “The lack
of unity hereatSpelman isdueto
a lack of concern, compassion
and too much egotism, vanity,
arrogance and not enough love.
We should stop looking at
ourselves and look towards the
general needs of others. Such as,
respecting one another and what
they believe in.”
KIM HARDING: “There is a
lack of participation. The SGA or
Administration invite speakers
and the turnout is not so good. I
can't blame the Administration
because students should take the
initiative.”
SHAUGHN SMITH:
"Everybody is stepping on
everyone elses toes to get to the
top and once they get there they
don’t want to help anyone to get
where they are. People need to
get together on different things
and stop judging a book by its
cover. We need to dig deeper for
other qualities in people.
Everybody is different and
everyone has something to offer.
The school has opened my eyes
to a lot and has showed me how I
don’t want to be. We are all one
paycheck away from poverty.”
INQIA BASKIN: “If you don’t
look a certain way or in a certain
class, you can’t hang. We need to
stop prejudging people and
assuming we know about them,
we should look inside. Begin to
communicate and stop being so
fake.”
ANONYMOUS JUNIOR: “We
don’t ever come together (ex
cept in party situations). So how
can we do anything?
J 0| A N N A GRIFFITH:
“Women have always been
raised to look upon each other as
their enemy. Whereas, men have
been raised to look upon each
other as their allies. We should
start worrying less about attrac
ting the Morehouse man and
worry more about getting
ourselves together as young
Black sisters of our future.”
JUNE STEWART: “The
students have no ability to accept
people as they are. We need to
be more friendly to those inside
of the Spelman community as
well as outside.”
KIM BRONSON: “There is a
lack of unity because of color
consciousness. Even at parties
during freshman week there was
a favortism to girls with light skin
and long hair. There are other
things which exist to divide us
like, the Honors Program and
State Clubs divide us. There is
also a lack of unity because so
many women are so darn busy
competing for men.
ENID CRUISE: “The girls are
afraid of one another, so they put
a shelter around themselves
because they are afraid of gettin'
hurt.”
Among the barriers which
separate us, one seems to stand
out and this trend among
Spelmanites is noted by alumnae
(c'1975) and music faculty
member CAROLYN IRVIN
BRAILSFORD: “Most Spelmen
women look cute, fine,
beautiful, like they stepped right
off the cover of ESSENCE. It
seems as if they are more in
terested in being beautiful than
in cultivating their inner beauty
or spiritual values: those earthy
things that in the past have
gotten us over.” Why have our
values changed?
"The media and television
have a lot to do with it. We do
what TV dictates without exam-
ing or questioning. If they say
drink Diet Coke, we drink Diet
Coke. If they say drink Perrier
water, we drink Perrier water. If
they say wear blue eye pencil, we
wear blue eye pencil. If they saw
wear short dresses, we do,
without questioning if it is
suitable for us.”
Now that some Spelman sisters
have voiced their opinions on
sisterhood we must begin to
recognize the problems and
individually take one step
towards solving them. Do you
believe that the Spelman
sisterhood is in trouble? Do you
think the sisterhood is strong?