By Stuart A. Yeager

Under the Direction of Professor David Jordan, Grinnell College, 1984

In 1981, Stuart Yeager began excavating the history of Black students at Grinnell College. Over three years, the American Studies major and Afro-American Studies concentrator conducted meticulous institutional research to contextualize his real interest — listening to and learning from Black alumni, including the first Black woman graduate, Edith Renfrow Smith, class of 1937. Forty years later, this publication of Yeager’s foundational study of Black presence and belonging at Grinnell College helps mark another important moment in the widening of the College’s institutional history — the opening of the Renfrow Hall student residence in 2024.

-- Tamara Beauboeuf-Lafontant, EdD Louise R. Noun ’29 Chair in Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies, Grinnell College

Want to Hear the Voices Behind the Stories?

Watch this website evolve! We will share Black experience oral history recordings here very soon!

You can gain a deeper understanding of the Black experience at Grinnell by visiting Digital Grinnell where the original interview audio files are available, as well as many photos and documents.