Emile Treville Holley, center, spring 1922, being congratulated by CCNY classmates.
Holley had been an outstanding student at high school in Flushing, and enrolled in City College when he was only 16. The following spring, Congressman Martin Ansorge nominated him for admission to the Naval Academy at Annapolis. It caused an uproar at the school.
Midshipmen (undergraduates) said he would be “condemned to Coventry” (i.e., socially ostracized). Officers (faculty) expressed sympathy for Holley but said there was no regulation under which they could compel the white students to treat him as an equal.
In any event, Holley did not pass the entrance examination. He transferred to Middlebury College and became its first African-American graduate in 1925, earning a cum laude degree with honors in philosophy and English and membership in Phi Beta Kappa. He went on to earn a master’s degree from Middlebury and became a professor of English and philosophy in a number of African-American colleges and universities.
Taking a cursory look at the picture, I started reading the text and didn't know where this was going until I saw the "white students" referenced. Returning to the picture I realized the uniformed man was African-American. Wouldn't it be nice if we stopped focusing on the faces and instead saw the big picture. A group of young men congratulating another young man for his accomplishment, even if the event may have been staged.
ReplyDeleteLook closer. You may see a man who may have the facial features of other people from different nationalities and backgrounds. Some may be the sons of immigrants; Jews, Italians, Irish, Poles, Germans, Middle Europeans. All here for a better life, opportunity and acceptance. What is missing at this point are people from Asia and the Middle East,(possibly due to religious restrictions) which were beginning to immigrate but not in large numbers, and then used mostly for service jobs, not aspiring to higher education.
This in no way diminishes the accomplishments of Mr. Holley. He and people like him endured horrible treatment and hatred for another 40 years before being recognized as "equal under the law" but still are fighting for deserved rights even to this day.
Unfortunately, the tumultuous and ugly political climate in which we find ourselves is distracting, ominous and dangerous. One man and a large group of misguided citizens are trying desperately to return us to a time when the White Man with wealth ruled and the rest of us were considered property and there for his bidding. This must not happen.
-An occasional visitor
Visitor - Thanks for dropping by and leaving a terrific comment.
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