26-04-2025
At Bryn Mawr, a Monumental Plaza Traces the Steps of Black History
For an elite liberal arts college rooted in rigorous academics, Bryn Mawr is filled with superstitions. Don't kiss on certain benches or under certain arches or you'll break up. Walk through these poles with a friend and you're bound to have an argument. Beware the customs reserved exclusively for seniors and alums, who alone are entitled to begin the school's ancient Greek chant.
Lurking behind the rituals at the suburban Philadelphia women's college are some ghosts that Bryn Mawr would rather forget. Underneath the Cloisters — the courtyard next to the campus library, where students still leave offerings to a statue of Athena for luck — lie the ashes of M. Carey Thomas, the school's second president. An educator and suffragist for white women, Thomas led Bryn Mawr from 1894 to 1922. She also harbored eugenicist and antisemitic views, and she fought to keep Black students out of the university.
