Because safety has always been part of the curriculum—if we make it so.[rosaschildren.com] Most history books will tell you that Lucy Diggs Slowe was
Because safety has always been part of the curriculum—if we make it so.
[rosaschildren.com]
Most history books will tell you that Lucy Diggs Slowe was the first Black woman to win a national tennis title. That she was the first Dean of Women at Howard University. That she co-founded Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. All true. All extraordinary.
But let’s also talk about what the textbooks leave out.
Let’s talk about how Lucy Diggs Slowe quietly, fiercely, and unapologetically fought to protect Black women students from sexual harassment on campus—when almost no one else would.
🛡️ A Quiet Warrior in a Loudly Unjust System
In 1922, Lucy Diggs Slowe became Dean of Women at Howard University. But she wasn’t interested in just monitoring curfews or policing hemlines. She was determined to build a sanctuary within a system not built to protect Black girls and women.
Slowe challenged the silence around something most refused to name:
Black women on campus were being harassed.
Sometimes by faculty. Sometimes by administrators.
Always by people with power.
And the price of reporting it? Shame. Retaliation. Academic sabotage. Isolation.
Slowe would not allow that to go unchallenged.
🧱 She Built What She Couldn’t Find
Long before we had Title IX, long before the phrase “sexual harassment” even had legal footing, Lucy Diggs Slowe:
Created confidential, protective support systems for female students.
Advocated for policy reforms that acknowledged the unique vulnerabilities of Black women in co-ed academic spaces.
Named sexual coercion as a violation of educational rights—not just a “moral failing.”
She did this in whispers and meetings, in letters and late-night conversations, because to speak too loudly could end her career. Still, she never stopped.
She protected her students in the ways that mattered most.
💬 “The right of every woman student to develop freely, without fear or favor, must be defended—not only in principle, but in practice.”
—Lucy Diggs Slowe
🧠 Why We Teach This at RosasChildren
Because Black girls are still targeted in schools, and still blamed for their own abuse.
Because even today, Black women in college are disproportionately dismissed, disbelieved, and dishonored when they report sexual violence.
Because systems still reward silence, still protect reputations over lives.
And because Lucy Diggs Slowe left behind more than history—
She left a blueprint for boundaried spaces.
She understood what we know deep in our bones:
🪶 Black girls deserve to learn without being hunted.
Black women deserve to lead without being harassed.
And no one should have to trade safety for a degree.
🌺 Say Her Name: Lucy Diggs Slowe
Athlete. Educator. Advocate. Protector.
A name every Black girl should grow up knowing.
A name every institution should be held accountable by.
📚 Primary Source for Citation:
Shaw, Stephanie J. What a Woman Ought to Be and to Do: Black Professional Women Workers During the Jim Crow Era. University of Chicago Press, 1996.
➡️ This book includes a detailed discussion of Lucy Diggs Slowe’s work as Dean of Women at Howard University, including her confrontation with university leadership over the mistreatment, surveillance, and sexual coercion of female students.
🔍 Related Sources:
Gasman, Marybeth. “Swept Under the Rug? A Historiography of Gender and Black Colleges.” American Educational Research Journal, vol. 44, no. 4, 2007, pp. 760–805.
→ Explores gendered power dynamics and includes reference to Slowe’s efforts to protect women students.Gregory, Sheila T. Black Women in the Academy: The Secrets to Success and Achievement. University Press of America, 1999.
→ Highlights Slowe’s leadership and advocacy within predominantly male, patriarchal academic structures.