Brenda Thomas '69
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- Brenda ThomasBrenda: Oh, so I don't have to answer all these questions, just-
- Alenka Figa & Brenda ThomasAlenka: Oh, no. Just whatever you wanna talk about.Brenda: Okay, well, I'll just kinda look at 'em, and..Alenka: Oh, but can you read your name first?Brenda: Yes, I will. You ready?Alenka: Yeah. I'm ready.
- Brenda ThomasBrenda: Hi, my name is Brenda Thomas. I currently live in Englewood, New Jersey, and I’m a member of the Grinnell College class of 1969. I think it’s important for me to say why I came to Grinnell. I came to Grinnell because it seemed like the most inviting place. I felt like the person who interviewed me wanted me to come, and it offered an open Theater department, and... All I wanted to do was spend four years reading books. I love books. I love literature. I was so excited about spending four years doing something that I loved, and then maybe learning a little bit more about acting.
- Brenda ThomasBrenda: I think... I’m trying to- when I think about my first memory of Grinnell, I came to Grinnell on the bus. I came to Grinnell on the Greyhound bus. It took 24 hours, and... I left New York City, and I was really dressed up. I wanted to make a fashion statement. I had no idea where Iowa was. I really didn’t. I didn’t- I didn’t know what to expect and I had visions; I don’t know if I necessarily want to share them, but, well, I will.
- Brenda ThomasBrenda: I really, I thought everybody was a farmer. I was just- I was this, I was a New York hick, you know? What I learned, actually, was that everybody in the rest of the country was ahead of New York City. New Yorkers think they’re so sophisticated but I’m telling you, I guess that was the thing that really knocked my socks off, was to meet people from all over the country, and I learned so much when I first got here.
- Brenda ThomasBrenda: And I suppose one of the first memories of the campus was the Rock Island railroad. When I went to summer camp, we used to sing a song. “Oh, the Rock Island Line is a mighty good road. The Rock Island Line is the road to ride.” And here I was in Grinnell, Iowa, riding the Rock Island railroad. It was really great.
- Brenda ThomasBrenda: And I think it’s crucial that I say that that’s why I came... People ask me about Grinnell, about the Grinnell experience and I want to say, I’ve been very reluctant to come to these reunions and this is the first time I’ve been here since 1972 and I am delighted. But I tell people about Grinnell, about the size of it, and the openness of it, at least that was my experience when I came here, and just coming back here and driving up Park street, and I remember one of my professors saw me walking in the rain and he said, “Oh! You look so insouciant.” That was my French professor.
- Brenda ThomasBrenda: But the, probably, the closeness that we felt with our professors, and there was one particular professor. When there were dances, he was a great fox trotter. And I would dance with that professor at every possible opportunity. And then of course he was this very, y’know, very erect, very proper French professor. He was wonderful. There were other professors with whom I created the best relationships. Sometimes – there were four faculty and Glen Leggett, the president at the time, who went hunting together. They gave me and my roommate some pheasant that they caught. It was so…
- Brenda Thomas & Alenka FigaBrenda: Those are my memories! I hope I don’t get any of these people in trouble.Alenka: I’ve told a few people, I’m sure the statute of limitations on anything that happened has passed.Brenda: Right? I... I really want to be mindful of the time. I’m looking down these questions that you have for me. I- there’s a question about the memories or images of Grinnell. One of the things that I will always remember is driving into Grinnell from Minnesota, once I left, and I swear the road has right angle turns in it, and I always knew I was in Grinnell because- in Iowa, because of the smell. I would come across the border and the windows were down and there was this pungent odor. People tell me it was alfalfa or maybe it was the pigs, the hogs. And it's- you know, it’s indelible. That is the Iowa countryside.
- Brenda ThomasBrenda: Yesterday when I was driving down I had a similar experience. It was just so delightful to see the road stretching out in front of me on my way through Minnesota into Iowa, and the endless sky. And the endless, rolling land. It was just, it was just a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful thing. It really revived to me.
- Brenda ThomasBrenda: My era was the era of- We were the class of ’69. And we... much- the Kinsey Report had come out and so there was much talk about what to expect from the women. It was like the, just the beginning of women’s lib and the sexual revolution and also, of course it was a very turbulent time in terms, in social terms, in terms of race relations. I had marched in the March on Washington in 1963, and part of the outcome was this explosion of... interest in advancement for Black people outside of traditionally Black colleges.
- Brenda ThomasBrenda: So, here we were in Iowa or other strange, really strange places. Not so strange for me, but I did meet Henry Wingate, who was from Mississippi. And I was a Northerner who participated in the Congress of Racial Equality, the student… S-N.. SNICC, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, and I did as much as I could to support the Civil Rights movement in the South. And the violence that had been going on for probably the previous ten years, you know, finally we were able to address it and ultimately to overcome.
- Brenda ThomasBrenda: And in my first week here at Grinnell, Henry Wingate said something to me that stayed with me to this very day. Sorry he’s not here today but he- he really talked to me about the difference between being a Black Southerner and a Black Northerner, and my eyes were opened. As much as I helped the cause, I really came face to face with, y'know, what- how fortunate I was and how much greater a sensitivity I had to have in understanding the breadth of the situation that existed in the country at that time. And, y'know, it was no surprise to me that he became the first Black Justice on the Mississippi Supreme Court. I mean, who else but Henry Wingate? So, I mean that, that is something that I will always, always remember. And I forgot what I was going to say in the first place but I’m riffing, you know, and it came up, you know. Henry Wingate came to mind.
- Brenda ThomasBrenda: I think I’d like to... So, yes, I do remember. So, the campus at the time was- you know, it was sort of like a- It was percolating, you know? There was the demonstration in front of the Playboy representative. The women- six women, including Bonnie Tinker, took off their bras in the South Lounge of the Student Forum... I did a- I was on a double bill of one act plays, one of which was banned for being, I can’t remember if it was lewd or whatever. It was an Ionesco play, and our- the then head of theater just censored it and that made the news, and I and my partner performed our play under protest.
- Brenda ThomasBrenda: So, it was this fervent time where people were just taking up causes and fighting passionately to the very end about everything. When there were disasters Grinnell students would go and help with the disaster relief. We just... we just really involved ourselves in whatever concern was pressing, and- even to extend the Burling Library hours, some of my classmates had a sit-in. We were just raring, raring to go, and I think that that group of people left Grinnell and did some really remarkable things.
- Brenda ThomasBrenda: I don’t know; I couldn’t compare us to the students at Grinnell today. They’re pretty serious, and they’ve inherited a world that’s... it’s difficult to navigate. The issues and the concerns are very complex, and we have to help them. We really have to help them.
- Brenda ThomasBrenda: And that- and finally, that was the year that our yearbook was banned, because- It is such a beautiful yearbook. Henry Wilhelm and Hodierne and Phillips and… Oooh, I can’t remember the other person. Anyway, that yearbook is brilliant. And- you just open it up and that was Grinnell. I mean, they captured it. All of it. The absurdity, the conservatism, the radicalism, the wildness, the youth, all of it is all there and it’s a perfect document of our time.
- Brenda ThomasBrenda: And I’m just gonna say thank-you for this opportunity.
Alumni oral history interview with Brenda Thomas '69. Recorded June 2, 2012.