About
Feven Getachew '24 and Tamara Beauboeuf-Lafontant outside Mrs. Smith's home, June 28, 2021.
This website was designed by Dr. Tamara Beauboeuf-Lafontant, Louise R. Noun Chair in Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies at Grinnell College, with the assistance of Grinnell College Digital Liberal Arts Specialist, Tierney Steelberg.
In summer 2021, I began the project, "First among us: The undergraduate experience of Edith Renfrow Smith '37," with student researcher, Feven Getachew ’24. A number of serendipitous interactions within the Grinnell College network quickly expanded our work from an archival project to an opportunity to engage with and interview Mrs. Renfrow Smith in person. You may read Ms. Getachew's reflection on her experiences in the November 2021 Grinnell Magazine article, "When a name becomes a person: My summer research with Mrs. Edith Renfrow Smith '37."
Since 2021, I have been heading up Team Renfrow, a group of faculty, students, alumni, and townspeople committed to bringing needed recognition and visibility to Mrs. Edith Renfrow Smith as well as to other African Americans who have called Grinnell home since 1854.
Acknowledgements
- Mrs. Edith Renfrow Smith and Miss Alice Frances Smith
- Monique Shore '90, Systems Administrator, Drake Community Library, Grinnell, IA
- Dr. Dan Kaiser, Professor Emeritus of History, and author of Grinnell Stories: African Americans of Early Grinnell (2020)
- Team Renfrow Student Researchers -- Feven Getachew '24 and Evie Caperton, Libby Eggert, Hemlock Stanier, and Valeriya Woodward (all class of 2025)
- Tierney Steelberg, Digital Liberal Arts Specialist, Grinnell College
- Chris Jones, Special Collections Librarian and Archivist of the College, Grinnell College
- Allison Haack, Library Special Collections & Archives Assistant, Grinnell College
- Stuart Yeager, '82, author of The Black Experience at Grinnell College Through Collected Oral History and Documents, 1863-1954 (1984: Grinnell College Libraries Special Collections)
- Abbey Scheckter '02
- Rachel Fore '18
- Dr. Irma McClaurin '73
- Dr. Julia Jordan-Zachery
The quoted material in these pages comes from several interviews that Mrs. Smith has given with members of the Grinnell College and town community. These sources include:
- Oral history interview with Laura M. Wieman and David H. Jordan, June 2, 1981.
- Oral history interview with Stuart Yeager '82 and David Jordan, February 25, 1982, Grinnell, IA.
- Interview with Jackie Hartling Stolze, Web extra for 'A woman worth knowing,' The Grinnell Magazine, 39(4), 2007.
- Interview with Ben Binversie '17, All Things Grinnell, October 19, 2019.
- Remarks made upon receipt of honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Grinnell College, May 20, 2019.
- Oral history interviews with Feven Getachew '24 and Tamara Beauboeuf, June 28, 2021 and August 11, 2021, Chicago, IL.
Click below for more information about Renfrow Hall:
- Grinnell College Board of Trustees Approves Construction of the Civic Engagement Quad Core Project, Grinnell College, 10/6/22
- Naming of Core CEQ Building, Grinnell College, 12/5/22
- Grinnell College Recording of the Naming of Renfrow Hall, 12/5/22
- Grinnell College Civic Engagement Quad Core to be Named After Beloved Grinnellian Edith Renfrow Smith ’37, Grinnell College, 12/5/22
- Grinnell College names new off-campus dorm after pioneering 108-year-old alum, by Nina Baker, Des Moines Register, 12/5/22
The images used on this website can be clicked upon for additional information, including image sources and rights.