Black History Month at K: Pauline Byrd Johnson

Posted

March 16, 2024

Harper Schrader

As Black History Month ends, it’s important to recognize that Kalamazoo College is coming up on almost 100 years since their first Black graduate, Pauline Byrd Johnson.

“When I went to Kalamazoo College people couldn’t believe that I could go there,” she said in an interview for the book “Emancipated Spirits: Portraits of Kalamazoo College Women” (1983).

Ms. Pauline was admitted to the college in 1922, after her mother insisted she attend an integrated college rather than Howard University. She studied many things, including history, English, and French.

She published in the Index, was associate editor of the year, Boiling Pot, and become a part Alpha Sigma Delta Literary society. Despite being a part of these associations, she faced racial discrimination from students and was not able to serve as a leader or board member for any of these organizations. She was excluded from many parts of student life. “I studied every night- there were no social things at the College for me,” she described. “My life was very limited and very narrow socially.”

During her time working on the Index and Boiling Pot, she was automatically excluded, saying for Emancipated Spirits: “You see, it was hard to eliminate somebody as good as I was. It’s interesting that some of the kids who were the head of [the Index] didn’t want me on, and never called me into staff or general meetings unless they just had to.”

Ms. Pauline persisted despite discrimination at K because of her great-grandmother, her biggest influence, who had experienced slavery. She admired her dedicated work ethic. “I always remember that she never talked to me without emphasizing the importance of an education. I must learn. The only salvation for Negroes in America was education, was learning, and if I learned things nothing could make me a slave. Nothing could ever be taken away from me if I put it into my mind,” she said when describing why education was central in her life.

Ms. Pauline graduated from Kalamazoo College in 1926, obtaining a BA in English. She later went on to become the first Black teacher in the Kalamazoo Public School systems in 1945. In 1947 she earned her master’s degree from New York University through a Rosenberg Fellowship. There she met other Black civil rights icons such as Langston Hughes and Mary Macleod Bethune. She returned to Kalamazoo where she continued teaching at Kalamazoo Central High School. Former student Bette Bommerscheim remembers Ms. Pauline being one of around five Black teachers in the 60’s at Kalamazoo Central. “I felt she was more respected because she would never tolerate any disrespect from students.”

After her retirement in 1969, she wrote editorial pieces for local newspapers. Because of her achievements at the college and within the community, K created the Pauline Byrd Johnson Award for Excellence in Secondary Education.

Pauline Byrd Johnson was born in 1904 in Kalamazoo. She was the great-granddaughter of enslaved ancestors. At this time, African Americans were only around 2% of the overall population in Kalamazoo, leaving her to be the only Black student in most of her classes, and experiencing racism and harassment from teachers and students. Ms. Pauline spent much of her time socializing at the Douglass Community Association while growing up. She graduated from Kalamazoo Central High School at a time when continuing to high school education levels was still not considered useful for African Americans because the only jobs available to them didn’t require an education. Notably, she was one of the few people who graduated high school in 1922 with no activities listed next to them because she wasn’t allowed or expected to take part in any school programs. Pauline Byrd Johnson died on December 3, 1988.

The following is an excerpt from the May 13, c1926 edition of the Kalamazoo College index, volume 47 on Ms. Pauline: