Still a Long Way to Go: Report on “I Was One of the First to See Daylight” Black Women at Predominantly White Colleges and Universities in Florida Since 1959 by Stephanie Y. Evans (2006), Florida Historical Quarterly 85 (1), 42-63

Still a Long Way to Go:

Report on “I was one of the first to see daylight” Black Women at Predominantly White Colleges and Universities in Florida since 1959 by Stephanie Y. Evans (2006), Florida Historical Quarterly 85 (1), 42-63

Still a Long Way to Go:

Report on “I was one of the first to see daylight” Black Women at Predominantly White Colleges and Universities in Florida since 1959 by Stephanie Y. Evans (2006) Florida Historical Quarterly 85 (1), 42-63

The experience of the Black woman is one impacted by both racism and sexism, and despite having to combat these two adverse forces, Black women have prevailed and excelled in all areas in society. In the journal article “I was one of the first to see daylight” Black Women at Predominantly White Colleges and Universities in Florida since 1959, (2006) Florida Historical Quarterly 85 (1), 42-63, Stephanie Y. Evans examines the history of Black access to higher education in Florida providing a brief history spanning from the antebellum era until the present day, primarily focusing on the time period from the 1960s on. Using narrative and statistical data, this analysis of Black women’s participation in the Florida State University System serves as a valuable perspective of the impact of gender and race on access to higher education and details the persistence of Blacks in the face of a discriminatory educational environment.

Evans begins her article with a narrative of Kitty Oliver, one of five Black freshmen at the University of Florida in 1965. Through examining her experience as a Black woman in a predominantly White educational institution you see the issues of cultural identity, alienation, stereotyping, lack of male counterparts, and discrimination which are common to Black women attending these types of institutions. Evans includes two more narratives from that era within her article, the first being that of Daphne Beatrice Duval, the first Black woman to enroll at the University of Florida in defiance...