Since the death of Spelman Sister, Jasmine Lynn c/o 2012, two weeks ago only blocks from Spelman’s gates I have been unable to shake thoughts of my alma mater and the senselessness of the crime. As today is a 13th day of the month (my favorite day to look within to make sure I’m still on the right track) I’ve thought a lot about my years at 350 Spelman Lane and its impact on my life.
Last month I was given the honor of presenting my newest Spelman sister before the community as we celebrated our local students leaving for college. For the occasion I was asked to speak on Spelman’s history and its meaning. What follows is the text of the speech. My heart remains “supreme and true”.
Good Afternoon,
I am here today to honor one of ours as she takes the next step on her life’s path toward all her goals and dreams. That next step begins at my alma mater, Spelman College. I’ve been asked to share a little of Spelman’s history and try to give some context to what lies ahead for my newest Spelman sister.
With only $100 and an invitation to use the basement of Atlanta’s Friendship Baptist Church, Sophia B. Packard and Harriet E. Giles, missionary teachers from Massachusetts, opened the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary on April 11, 1881.
They had eleven students, all black—ten women and a girl eager to learn to read and write.
In 1882 while on a fundraising trip to New England, Miss Packard and Miss Giles were introduced to John D. Rockefeller. The next year Mr. Rockefeller financed the purchase of nine acres of land west of downtown Atlanta and five buildings. Prompting Miss Packard to change the school’s name to Spelman Seminary in honor of Mr Rockefeller’s wife, Laura Spelman Rockefeller in 1884.
Later that decade the Seminary was granted a Georgia state charter. And by 1910 enrollment had grown from those first eleven students to 800 high school and college students and the curriculum included basic high school and college programs with specializations in teacher, missionary and nurses’ training.
In 1924 Spelman Seminary became a liberal arts college for Negro women.
Since 1987 it has been headed by three distinct African-American women. Two of which are Floridians. Dr. Johnnetta Betsch Cole served as President from 1987 to 1997 and hails from Jacksonville. Appointed in 2002, the current Sister President, Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum was born in Tallahassee. Thus, Floridians continue to play a pivotal role in the legacy of Georgia’s most distinguished institution.
Miss Bri Taylor: You are about to embark on a journey that is both a point of public pride for your family and community and a personal endeavor for yourself, both honored and historic. You will encounter young women very different from yourself while at the same time in surprising ways they will be the same. You will create lifelong memories and make life-sustaining friendships. You will face new ideas, new obstacles and challenges to who you are and what you believe about yourself and the world around you and it will not always be easy.
You will be introduced to an entirely new vocabulary. One that distinguishes between colors like Columbia, Carolina and Spelman blue. You will become all too familiar with the Spelman white dress, brown hosiery and black shoes; and you will learn what Spelman white is not: it is not eggshell, mother-of-pearl or ecru, but white—Spelman white. You will embrace green as the color of 2013 and the emblem of the Lamp, for light and guidance, challenging you and your classmates to strive to send forth your light into the world. You will learn more than anyone cares to know about the natural habits and environs of big cats—including the Clark-Atlanta Panther, the Morris Brown Wildcat, the Morehouse Tiger and the most regal of the species, the Spelman Jaguar.
Your speech with be littered with ramblings about convocations, Spelmanites, Spel-House, Club Woody, Abbey Hall, the LLCs. You will chat for hours about Fridays at Manley, your adopted Morehouse Brother and tons of Big Sisters that your parents may never meet. And most importantly, you will live the words “supreme and true”—a phrase that will take on new meaning and set the standard for the rest of your life.
Again, let me stress that it will not be easy. Yet, you will persevere because you have been chosen for your strength and intelligence and your promising potential to serve and to lead.Sitting on 39 acres of prime Atlanta real estate and an endowment of more than $340 million, Spelman College (The crème de la crème of the “Black Ivy League”) continues to hold its own as one of America’s elite institutions. With students from 42 states and 25 countries and nearing 14,000 alumnae worldwide, wherever your life or travels take you, you are likely to encounter Spelman women by word and/or deed.
Throughout its 128 year history, Spelman College has remained steadfast in its mission of educating African American women for leadership and service. Forever “supreme and true.”
Miss Bri Taylor, welcome to the Sisterhood.







I’m challenging myself, during these busy days of winter, to 28-Days of Flash Fiction. I pledge to write and post a piece of flash fiction (200 words or less) everyday for four weeks.
