Alumni Who Contributed to Racial Integration at St. Mark's

-Rebecca Wu ‘21

February is Black History Month. At this time of the year, while we commemorate the legacy of African Americans who made profound impact in history, it is also important to note the contributions of several St. Mark’s alumni to the cause of promoting racial equality. 

Martin Luther King Jr., Prominent Leader of the Civil Rights Movement, Biography.com

In the periods before and during the Civil Rights Movement, two St. Mark’s alumni, Jerome Kidder and Malcolm Farmer, worked to advance African American’s rights. Over the course of history, their alma mater, St. Mark’s School, also made concerted efforts to integrate students from diverse backgrounds into the predominantly white community. 

While the Civil Rights Movement took place mainly between 1954 and 1965, it took root in the liberal and radical milieu of the late 1930s, during which Jerome Kidder, St. Mark’s Class of 1901, worked against racism and prejudice. He worked on behalf of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a civil rights organization whose mission is “to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination.” Later, as the principal of the Calhoun Colored School in Alabama, Kidder dedicated to training African-American students to become teachers in rural communities. Furthermore, witnessing the unjust treatment of African Americans in the South, Kidder fought against lynching. In February of 1938, Kidder, then, in his 50s, traveled to St. Mark’s and gave a talk about the miserable situations of African Americans and his endeavors to improve the lives of African Americans  in the South. According to The Echo of Their Voice: 150 Years of St. Mark’s School by Nick Noble ‘76, Kidder informed students that in the South, “the whites believe the Negroes [are] worthless, [so] they try to obtain as much work as possible from the Negro with the least possible pay.”A student reporter of the In-between Times, which was a school newspaper at the time, reflected that “None of us could have helped being stirred by the talk, and besides amazement and pity, there must have been a great deal of admiration for a man who would undertake such an apparently thankless job.” Kidder concluded his speech by challenging students to take the initiative to follow his path of  protecting African Americans’ civil rights. 

An alumnus who followed Kidder’s path was Malcolm Farmer, St. Mark’s Class of 1957. When Farmer worked as a lawyer at a leading Providence law firm, he once saw a photograph of a police officer in Mississippi wrestling an American flag from an African-American child. Startled by the unjust treatment of African Americans presented in the photograph, he decided to quit his comfortable job to go to Mississippi to use the law as a means to protect civil rights workers and thousands of disenfranchised African Americans. In January of 2018, Farmer came back to St. Mark's and gave a presentation to the Third Form. He recalled his experience of being violently beaten for defending civil rights workers and being sent to a white jail. He was even threatened with a shotgun held to his head by a deputy sheriff. In addition to his compelling story, he explained to the Third Form that "The Civil Rights Movements ended state-sanctioned racial discrimination and segregation, but it did not end institutional racism. Racism continues today." Besides calling for civil rights, he also worked diligently in protecting human rights, voting rights, LGBTQ rights, and educational opportunities after Farmer returned to Providence. 

Malcolm Farmer '57, Distinguished Alumnus

In addition to these two St. Mark’s alumni, two heads of St. Mark's School also committed to advancing African-American rights, attempting to enroll African-American students in the School. For the first a hundred years of St. Mark’s, there were no African American students enrolled. However, a headmaster in the 1940s, Mr. William Brewster, and the headmaster after him, Mr. Barber, attempted the integrate the school. Despite the two headmasters’ attempts to enroll African-American students, the Board of Trustees were unsupportive of their decisions. For many years, no African-American students wanted to be the pioneers, coming to St. Mark's, who had never had an African-American student. They would rather go to other institutions, such as Milton Academy or Worcester Academy, who had been accepting African American students for years. In the early 1960s, however, A Better Chance, a program whose mission was to prepare students of color for a better education, started to recruit students of color for St. Mark's. Benefiting from the A Better Chance Program, Ethan "Tony" Loney, enrolled at St. Mark's in 1965. For a long time after, however, the number of African-American students at St. Mark's remained small, and many experienced difficult transitions into the predominantly white St. Mark’s community.

Ethan "Tony" Loney '69, Distinguished Alumnus, First African-American graduate of St. Mark's, and for many years Director of Diversity at NBC.

St. Mark’s has become much more diverse over the past few decades. “Of course, the definition of diversity has also broadened," said School Historian Nick Noble '76. “For example, the idea of having a wide variety of food offerings and appealing to different cultures would not have crossed people’s minds back in the 60s and 70s. The concept of affinity groups was unknown as well. We had good teachers and a tight community, but it was so much less diverse.” 

Today, St. Mark’s is a very different place than it was during its first century, before integration. And as we celebrate the life of Dr. King, it is good to look back at St. Mark’s history and at individual alumni who advocated for Civil Rights.

Meet the Chilean Exchange Students!

Written by Grace Lee 23 and Ivy Li ‘23

Six students from The Grange School in Santiago, Chile are attending our school for the next month. We interviewed them on how their St. Mark’s experience is so far, and how it differs from their own Chilean culture.

First off, here’s to get to know the students and their hobbies. The three boys, Clemente Torres, Tomas Opazo, and Benjamin Zamorano all play sports but have musical talents as well. Clemente enjoys playing the trombone and golf. Tomas likes soccer, as well as the guitar. Benjamin plays rugby, but better enjoys video games and playing the piano. The three girls, Anna Oemich, Antonia Correa, and Francisca Anna all share a love of reading. Anna has many hobbies such as baking and building things with legos. Antonia loves sports and plays volleyball. Francisca is very artistic, and her hobby is drawing.

In addition to that, knowing random facts about the students can help you to relate to them better. Tomas has a brother and two sisters. Clemente mentioned that he likes spicy food whereas Francisca likes all types of food. Anna has eaten impala meat, and said that it doesn’t taste any different from regular meat. Surprisingly, Antonia has never tried any fast food chains in the USA because she is a vegetarian. Here are some things to know about our exchange students that might help everybody to relate to them more.

St. Mark’s and The Grange School have many noticeable differences. The first is the class sizes. The Grange school classes have around 24 students as opposed to the 13 students here. The St. Mark’s campus is very big, and has lots of different options for sports. At Grange, there are also eight levels for classes so students can further in subjects like chemistry and graphic design. The Chileans  appreciates the positive energy that the St. Mark’s students had and likes the independence that every student gets here. Some of them even noticed that most of the tables were arranged in circles, and they liked how that setup encouraged community. 

 Why did the Chileans want to come to St. Marks? Here are their answers. All of them wanted to experience school in a brand new environment and meet new people. Francisca wondered if American schools were really like they are in the movies. Antonia has experienced a pre-college class at Stanford before, so she was curious to see how American schools work. 

Additionally, Chilean culture is drastically different from the American culture. The Chilean independence day (Cueca) is on September 18th where they listen to folk music, dance, and spend time with family. Antonia noted that they speak Spanish very quickly, which makes Chilean culture recognizable from other Spanish-speaking countries. Anna loves Chilean food: empanadas, lucuma (a fruit) ice cream, and more. Everybody mentioned different things that they relate to in Chilean culture, and that every culture is celebrated in many different ways. 

Along with culture, the Chileans have been celebrating different parts of St. Marks. Every single student mentioned that everybody was smiling and radiated positive energy! Tomas noted that the classes are more focused on the students, and Benjamin said that he liked how the classes have fewer people. Antonia liked that many different cultures are represented at St. Marks, which St. Marks students definitely value as a big part of our community. 

The Chileans are adjusting to a completely new lifestyle, so for us to help them adjust, here are a few things the St. Markers can do to help them adjust easier. Keep in mind, most of them are adjusting just fine so we should treat them as a regular part of our community. However, don’t be scared to go up to them and make friends. Benjamin and Tomas want to do sports with other people while Francisca is interested in studio art, so don’t be shy to talk to them about these topics.