Fontbonne University - 1970 Sit-In

1970 Sit-In

On October 24, 1970, a group of eight African American women entered the library of Fontbonne University with a common goal. Yolande Nicholson, Rita Hunt, Jeannette Gauda, Collette Lemelle and four others chained the doors of the library shut and began to do their homework as they occupied the space. Their goal was this: to see the points in their previously written manifesto come to reality. These brave young college women took it upon themselves to make the rights of blacks be known and to bring about change at Fontbonne, positive change. In their manifesto they asked the following changes to be made at Fontbonne: to have an African American administrator, an African American officer in both Financial Aid and Admissions, an African American counselor,an orientation program more geared towards blacks, black cultural education experiences, a specific area in the library for black students and finally an establishment of a black artist series fund. In cohesion with these demands, the manifesto demanded that there would be an improvement of working conditions and wage increasement of black workers at Fontbonne. As it can be seen, the demands of these women were an effort to bring the black community into the Fontbonne Community, as they felt they were being excluded.