Celebrating Black Alumni at FSU

Courtesy of FSU Archives

By Avery Slavin

Asst. News Editor

Six years ago, Framingham State formally recognized the first Black woman to graduate from the University, Mary Miles Bibb, by renaming what was then known as North Hall in her honor. 

Miles Bibb Hall now serves as a reminder of the robust history of Black culture and community on campus.

Long before Mary Miles Bibb stepped foot on campus, Framingham State was established as the Lexington Normal School in 1839.

In the 1800s, a normal school was an institution that specialized in educating high school women graduates who wanted to become teachers. It tried to set a “norm” for how future students should be taught, hence the name “normal.” 

The Lexington Normal School gave out what they called “certificates,” which would be the equivalent of diplomas now, to recognize students' completion of the program.

In 1843, Mary Elizabeth Miles Bibb became the first African American to receive one of these certificates from what is now Framingham State. 

She was one of the first Black women to teach, becoming an educator in Boston and Philadelphia after her time at the Lexington Normal School. 

After the Fugitive Slave Act was passed in 1850, Mary Bibb and her husband, Henry, moved to what is now Windsor, Canada, for their safety. During this time, they became leaders of the Refugee Home Society, which helped formerly enslaved people become educated and established in the community. 

In 1851, the Bibbs founded their newspaper, Voice of the Fugitive, which was directed toward freedom seekers and promoted emigration. 

Two years later, the newspaper’s office burnt down. A few months later, Henry died. However, Bibb continued her activism until her death. 

The Bibbs were named Persons of National Historic Significance by the government of Canada in 2005, and as recently as 2021, Sandwich Town Park in Windsor, Ontario, was renamed the  Mary E. Bibb Park. 

In 2020, Framingham State renamed North Residence Hall to Miles Bibb Hall in honor of her. 

Admissions Counselor Liv Beverlie was a part of SGA during the time of the name change, and remembers it being a “very intentional process.”

Beverlie said the name “Miles Bibb” was chosen specifically to separate Mary’s legacy from her husband’s.

“Most resources and historical things refer to her as Mary Bibb, which is her name, but Miles is her maiden name, and the reason we chose that is because typically, she is known as related to her husband and his activist work. While that is great, we didn’t want it to be named after her husband. We wanted it to be named after her because of her historical significance to the University as the first African American graduate,” he said. 

The process of North Hall becoming Miles Bibb Hall was a seamless one, according to Beverlie. He said along with the topic being discussed during SGA meetings, it was also something the Board of Trustees was involved with as well. 

“Everyone was on board, thinking it was a great idea and what not, so it wasn’t too hard to convince anyone. It was talked about by the senators, and then brought to the Board of Trustees, and then it just went from there and got approved,” he said.

Beverlie said it’s something the school is very proud of, as Framingham State’s student population becomes more diverse.

He said it’s important to “recognize where that all started, and that was with Mary Miles Bibb. Tying into our current goals of increasing our diverse population of students year after year, I think it’s important to also look back at our history and where it all started. She was a phenomenal person, and [with] her activism in terms of being a part of the abolitionist movement and education, it’s just important for us to recognize our history as we move forward and continue being a diverse and inclusive school.” 

A few years later, in 1847, an African American by the name of Chloe Lee applied to the Normal School after it had moved from Lexington to West Newton due to space limitations, according to Colleen Previte, University archivist.  

Cyrus Peirce, the first principal of the normal school, accepted her and saw the same potential in her as any other student, she said.  

While she was accepted to the school, she was denied room and board until Horace Mann, the Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education at the time, opened up an extra room in his home for her, according to Previte. 

Mann and his wife openly stood against segregation and followed traditional Christian values, such as “help thy neighbor,” and treated Lee like family until she graduated, according to historical records held in the University archives. 

Today, two residence halls on campus are named in honor of both Mann and Peirce for their contributions to what Framingham State is today. 

In 1881, Olivia Davidson graduated as one of six honors students. Davidson co-founded Tuskegee Institute in Alabama with Booker T. Washington, who later became her husband.

Washington was a leader in the African American community. On his own, he was one of the biggest advocates for change for the Black community in the South. 

The two founded the institute as a way to provide higher education to Black people, which was one of the primary rights Washington advocated for, according to the archives' historical records. 

Davidson taught at the institute and held the role of vice president. She advocated for teachers to reach out to young Black girls and women in an attempt to make the next generation of the Black community stronger. 

She worked hard teaching at Tuskegee until she died in 1889. She is remembered today as an essential leader who advocated for Black people’s access to higher education. 

As for some more recent alums, Jeff Stetson, Class of ’73, was one of the first Black men enrolled at Framingham State, as the school enrolled women until 1964. He started as an English major, later switching to psychology. He was also SGA president during his time in college, Previte said. 

Following graduation, he wrote a play called “The Meeting,” about a fictional meeting between Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., taking place in a Harlem hotel room during the 1960s, according to Previte.   

This play was televised on PBS’s American Playhouse and was produced for the public to watch in places like Canada, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, and the Netherlands. It received national awards, and Stetson went on to write a few novels, his most popular being “Blood on the Leaves.” 

With a long history focusing on diversity and inclusion, Framingham State continues to honor and remember the alumni of color who have shaped the University’s community.