Class of 1976 at the wishing well, 1974
Authored by Anisha Dhungana ’21 in “Beyond the International Festival, the Lives of Black International Students at Davidson College“
last updated 02.10.2021
After the partnership between Davidson and the Presbyterian Board of World Missions for ‘their’ Congolese students, integration at Davidson advanced with the acceptance of the first two African American students who joined in 1964. While it was a slow process, with only two African American students included the next year, the racial demographics at Davidson have improved, though there is still work left to be done. In 1972, exactly a decade after Benoît’s arrival, the number of Black international students for the incoming first-year class, pictured here, had dwindled back to one. There was also only one other African student, who was a senior at that time. For Iheanyi Okoli, pictured in the top row, who came from Nigeria, it was a culturally alienating time. However, as the yearbook records mention, he, as always, found ways to create community as a chemistry major, a North Carolina fellow (a three-year leadership development program that has since ended at Davidson), as well as a tennis and soccer player.
Hiding in the back, almost within the ivy covering the infamous wishing well at Davidson, Iheanyi is seen smiling between two white men from West Germany and Norway. People now say that if a couple kisses in that wishing well, they will get married. The clothing, accessories, and the no-nonsense attitudes mixed with some of the soft smiles that the students are showing indicates that the photo was taken in the 70s; 1974, to be precise.
1972, the year Iheanyi entered Davidson, was also the year that women were first accepted to the college. There are no Black women in Iheanyi’s cohort of international students. The women pictured here were from West Germany, Norway, and Brazil. There are no records of the first international Black woman to be enrolled in Davidson. Unlike the historical enrollments of Benoît and Goerges that were recorded and archived in Davidson’s history, there was nothing in the archives or yearbooks about Iheanyi, except this photo and his name with the other seniors of the class of ‘76, or the first Black African woman. However, that may also be because international students did not contribute or get their yearbook photos taken, since many of the international students are not featured in the years Iheanyi was at Davidson. Interestingly, the layout and format of the yearbook indicates a separation between international students and the general student body. Instead of incorporating their solo yearbook photos with others in their year, the internationals students were given a separate page and grouped together. Therefore, it was difficult to find the graduation years of the students and what groups or clubs they were involved in, since there were no photos of them in clubs, either. To find anything about Iheanyi and most of his classmates, you had to know exactly who and what you were looking for, showing the lack of organization and care placed in the recording of international, and specifically Black international, students.
While there was not a lot of information on Iheanyi, his presence, or lack thereof, in the archives speaks more about the Davidson experience and what is deemed ‘important’ enough to be recorded to Davidson’s standards. The experiences of Black international students was not one of those topics even during the socially changing times of the 70s. Furthermore, there is no mention of the first international Black woman who would have travelled across rivers and oceans to get to Davidson College in any of Davidson’s records. Therefore, while this exhibition aims to acknowledge and highlight the lives of Black international students at Davidson, behind every person featured here are ten students that have made just an impact by simply being at this predominantly white institution that has not thought of their contributions as worthwhile, when in reality it shows strength and character for surviving in an environment that constantly tells you that you do not belong, especially for someone like Iheanyi who was the sole Black international student in his year.
