Virginia
She Was Battling Virginia Segregation at the Age of 9
Sometimes you can tell a book by its cover. That’s certainly the case with former Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust’s new memoir, Necessary Trouble: Growing Up at Midcentury. The last thing Faust wants her readers to care about is what she is best known for—being the first woman to lead Harvard.
The front cover of Necessary Trouble is a close-up of Faust at 19, lying on the lawn at Bryn Mawr College looking intently through oversize glasses at whoever is photographing her. The picture is from the period in Faust’s life when she was shedding her identity as a young woman from a wealthy Virginia family and becoming a political activist who in the 1960s would define herself by her participation in the decade’s civil rights and anti-Vietnam War movements.
Becoming Harvard’s 28th president and presiding over the university’s dramatic expansion during an administration that went from 2007 to 2018 may be a story Faust tells in a future book, but what matters to her in Necessary Trouble is explaining why her privileged background and her education at Concord Academy and Bryn Mawr College did not lead her to the conventional life she was expected to embrace.
Faust takes pride in being a traitor to her class—an epithet applied to President Franklin Roosevelt during the New Deal era. The title for her book comes from a speech that civil-rights leader John Lewis, later a friend of Faust’s, gave in 2020 on the 55th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery Voting Rights March.
At an early age Faust became aware of the genteel racism that prevailed at her home in Virginia. The Black servants who made her parents’ day-to-day life easier (her mother never learned to cook) were expected to use a separate bathroom behind the kitchen and were addressed by the younger Faust by their first names.
When the Montgomery Bus Boycott took place in 1955-56, it prodded Faust into thinking about how widespread racism in America was. In the fifth grade she sent a letter to President Eisenhower letting him know she believed segregation was unchristian. “I am nine years old and I am white, but I have many feelings about segregation,” she wrote.
Four years later, when Faust left home to enter Concord Academy in Massachusetts, she faced the same contrast between the comfortable world she enjoyed and the racism around her. Concord was, as Faust saw it, a “bubble for white Anglo-Saxon Protestants,” but it was also a bubble she did her best to reach beyond. When Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at the nearby Groton School, Faust was one of 20 Concord girls who took the school bus to hear him.
Drew Gilpin Faust’s passport photo from 1963.
Courtesy of Drew Gilpin Faust
By the time Faust entered Bryn Mawr College in 1964, she was even more skeptical about the moral values of the world in which she was being educated. Rightly so. While Bryn Mawr was a highly intellectual women’s college, it embraced an unspoken racism similar to that which Faust grew up with. Bryn Mawr students were waited on at dinner by maids in uniform, and the heavy work at the school was done by porters, who, like the maids, were Black. The maids lived on the top floor of the residence halls, the porters in the basement.
It was a system that Faust was unable to change, despite the efforts she and a classmate made to expose the “plantation atmosphere.” Faust responded to her disappointment with Bryn Mawr’s administration by joining the college’s Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).
In March 1965, when the voting rights protests in Selma, Alabama, began, Faust was at a point in her life when she felt capable of turning her words into actions. Seeing television clips of “Bloody Sunday,” the day on which John Lewis and other protesters were beaten as they marched in Selma, was a turning point for Faust. “From that moment, I knew I had to do something. If I did not stand up, if I did not act after witnessing this, I would be ashamed forever,” she writes.
Drew Gilpin Faust at a protest in Birmingham during the summer of 1964.
Courtesy of Drew Gilpin Faust
With her Haverford boyfriend and a car borrowed from his roommate, Faust drove the 1,000 miles from Bryn Mawr to Selma and became part of the Selma protests. The march accelerated the changes she was already going through. Staying in Selma with a Black family who housed her and her boyfriend was eye-opening. The family’s goodness and the risks they were taking in a town in which whites controlled most of the jobs touched Faust profoundly.
The problem for Faust was she could not stay in Selma until the end of the march. “Soon I was back at Bryn Mawr, which had not changed a bit during the four momentous days I had been gone. Its quiet seemed surreal after the intensity I had experienced,” Faust writes. A professor, aware that Faust had missed his class in order to go to Selma, made sure she felt his wrath for the hastily done paper she turned in. “I cannot help deploring the effect on the paper that decision all too evidently had,” he wrote in his comments.
After Selma, Faust turned her attention to the protests over the Vietnam War. In 1967 she traveled to Washington to participate in the October antiwar demonstrations at the Pentagon that Norman Mailer so memorably captured in The Armies of the Night.
“Faust the historian has been fueled by the same awareness of racial injustice that moved her in boarding school and college.”
Finally, at the end of her senior year, at a time when she was president of Bryn Mawr’s Self-Government Association, Faust was instrumental in getting the college to abandon its rules forbidding Bryn Mawr students from signing out for overnight, off-campus stays. For a college that prided itself on educating independent woman, the change in rules governing students’ sexual freedom that Faust helped engineer was a breakthrough event at a time when the women’s movement was in its early stages.
Necessary Trouble concludes with Faust pointing out that in the 1968 presidential election, she voted for the Black comedian and activist Dick Gregory because she could not bear to support either Hubert Humphrey or Richard Nixon, the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates. She is delighted to report that 40 years later her home state of Virginia broke from its past by casting its electoral ballots for Barack Obama.
Drew Gilpin Faust, center, graduating from Bryn Mawr college.
Stephen Faust
The result is a bittersweet ending to a memoir in which Faust does not tell us that after leaving Bryn Mawr she earned a Ph.D. in American Civilization from the University of Pennsylvania and embarked on a distinguished academic career. Her modesty is admirable, but there is an important connection between the first decades of Faust’s life and her last half century. As her books, particularly The Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War and Southern Stories: Slaveholders in Peace and War, make clear, Faust the historian has been fueled by the same awareness of racial injustice that moved her in boarding school and college. She has not mellowed with age.
In contrast to such civil rights memoirs of the 1960s as Anne Moody’s Coming of Age in Mississippi and Paul Cowan’s Making of an UnAmerican—both published when their authors were young—Necessary Trouble has significant distance from the period it describes. In Faust’s case that distance is a plus. Her memory is sharp, and she has been able to put the successes and failures of the era in which she grew up in perspective. By coincidence Necessary Trouble was published just a month after Claudine Gray, Harvard’s first Black president, took office.
Nicolaus Mills is professor of American literature at Sarah Lawrence College and author of Like a Holy Crusade: Mississippi 1964—The Turning of the Civil Rights Movement in America.
The No. 13 SMU Mustangs play against the Virginia Cavaliers in a college football game today. The matchup will begin at 11 a.m. CT on ESPN 2. Fans can watch this game for free online by using the free trials offered by DirecTV Stream and Fubo TV. Alternatively, Sling offers a first-month discount to new users.
The Mustangs enter this matchup with a 9-1 record, and they are undefeated in conference play. Notably, the team has won seven games in a row. In their most recent game, the Mustangs defeated Boston College 38-28.
During the victory, SMU accrued 438 total yards. The team’s star quarterback Kevin Jennings threw for 298 yards and three touchdowns. He has thrown for 15 touchdowns and nearly 2,200 yards this season, so he will be a key player to watch today.
The Cavaliers enter this matchup with a 5-5 record, and they are coming off a 35-14 loss against Notre Dame. During the loss, Virginia struggled offensively. The team had five turnovers, which included three interceptions. Notably, Virginia only completed 17-36 passes against Notre Dame, so they will need to rely on their rushing attack today.
Fans can watch this game for free online by using the free trials offered by DirecTV Stream and Fubo TV. Alternatively, Sling offers a first-month discount to new users.
Not all soccer fans may be aware of the +/- statistic used in basketball and hockey which records a team’s point differential when a player is on the floor compared with when she’s not. In theory, this is a clever way to measure not just a player’s scoring but something media types love: the so-called intangibles. This is a format I use for reporting on the men’s and women’s basketball teams, and I’m feeling punchy following the soccer team’s loss, so I’m going to apply it here.
Minus
It has now been four seasons since the Virginia women’s soccer team has advanced to the Round of 16 in the NCAA tournament. Just four years ago the women possessed the second longest streak of reaching the Sweet 16 (second only to UNC) but two seasons ago, the women lost in the opening round and last year the team was not invited to the tourney. And now a loss to a middling Wisconsin: a team like Virginia, which finished an underwhelming 9th in a power conference.
Plus
I’ll label my bias: I love PKs. Once a game hits overtime, I’m actively rooting for penalties. There is no more gut-wrenching cauldron in all of sport than PKs on a soccer pitch. I think it’s the walk. Players stand huddled at midfield and have to walk, by themselves, one by one, to the appointed penalty spot. Going from a constant-motion game like soccer to a static skill is jarring. Golfers have to make that walk all the time, but soccer players, not so much. The pressure is unbelievable.
Minus
Wisconsin’s Hailey Baumann sent Victoria Safradin the wrong way for the first penalty. Maggie Cagle took Virginia’s first and hit it pretty much straight down the middle for an easy save. Yuna McCormack and Lia Godfrey hit textbook pass-the-ball-into-the-side-netting shots, bringing up Linda Mittermair who pushed the ball wide left. Season over. Despite what I said about loving PKs, it is an anti-climactic way to end a season.
Minus
Head coach Steve Swanson had brought in Mittermair cold to take that penalty. She had not played a minute of the game’s 110 minutes. Every coach who has designs on playing in the NCAA Tournament knows that there will be no ties and that penalties loom on everyone’s horizon. Swanson has had all season to determine who his five best penalty takers are, and he must have settled on Mittermair at some point. But to expect her to take a penalty cold, to put her under that kind of pressure, well, that’s just coaching malfeasance.
Plus
After missing the last seven games, Alexis Theoret returned to the pitch in the second half and she logged 62 minutes. Theoret is my favorite Virginia player over the past decade and it has been a joy, and privilege to watch her. Unfortunately, she was not match fit and was not her usual forceful presence.
Minus
Chloe Japic did not play either of Virginia’s two NCAA games, and while inconclusive, I couldn’t see her on the sideline. I don’t know if her absence was disciplinary or due to injury, but she has been a versatile contributor to the team. On the bright side, Swanson may have found the replacement for Samar Guidry, who is graduating, in Laughlin Ryan who was solid in defense and adventurous in attack.
Minus
Virginia was called for offsides six times. That’s just a lack of situational awareness and it cost Virginia because four of those could have sprung a Virginia attacker for a dangerous opportunity.
Minus
Virginia sent way too many crosses into the box. For the most part, they were lovely balls, but this team doesn’t have anyone with the aerial presence of a Meg McCool, Diana Ordonez or Haley Hopkins. And because there was no commanding presence, every weak side runner crashed toward the penalty spot – as they should – but no one ever ran to the back of the box. At least four nice crosses went rolling wide, free for a Wisconsin defender to start the attack.
Plus
Defenders Kiki Maki and Moira Kelley put in lights-out shifts today. Wisconsin didn’t get a single shot on goal and the pair completely shut down Wisconsin’s best attacker, Aryssa Mahrt.
Minus
Virginia has struggled to play the ball out of the back all year. For the past two games Swanson has opted for a five-back defensive line, ostensibly to give the defenders more targets. It didn’t work, even against a decidedly average Wisconsin press. I personally think you need more targets in midfield. In any event, Yuna McCormack and Lia Godfrey weren’t able, by themselves, to control midfield. Virginia was so inept controlling the ball that on the second half kickoff, the Cavaliers possessed the ball for less than three seconds before Kelley hit the ball out of bounds in desperation.
Minus
Karma bit Maggie Cagle in the butt today. With three minutes left in the game, Cagle got the ball at the top of the box, turned two defenders and got baseline within the six-yard box. As she turned toward goal, she was brought down. She sold the foul hard but the referee’s initial call was not a penalty. Sure, the ref went to VAR for review, but given that the initial call was not a foul, there wasn’t enough evidence to rule for a penalty. Cagle has developed a penchant for embellishing her fouls as the season progressed, and on this night, the ref simply didn’t believe her. And it cost Virginia a chance for the win.
Plus… and Minus
For the most part, this was an uninspiring game and yet the announcers gave it their all. At one point when a Virginia player slipped trying to make a turn in the Wisconsin box, one announcer opined that “the pitch had gotten in her way.” I’ve watched a lot of soccer and never heard that turn of phrase.
But the announcer gave it away in overtime when he stated that “Virginia had a plethora of chances in a myriad of ways,” which is pretty close to word salad.
Plus
Three times the camera closeup on Wisconsin keeper Drew Stover showed her delivering no-look distributions to her teammates. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before. That was pretty cool.
Next Up? Well, it’s been a pretty crummy mid-week for Virginia athletics. The women are out of the tournament and men’s basketball got hammered in two games in The Bahamas. I invite you to join me watching women’s basketball. The women play with a greater ferocity than do the men, and in Kymora Johnson, the women’s team has maybe the best player in the athletics department. You know, this side of the women’s swim and dive team. Next game is Sunday, November 24th. Game time is 4pm and is on the ACC Network.
Virginia
How to watch Louisville volleyball vs. Virginia (11/22/24) online without cable | FREE LIVE STREAM for ACC game
The No. 3 Louisville Cardinals volleyball team face the Virginia Tech Hokies on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024 (11/22/24) in ACC play at in Charlottesville, Va.
How to watch: Fans can watch the game on ACCNX, or ACC Network Extra, a streaming-only service which is available through ACC Network authenticated subscribers, such as DirecTV Stream (watch with free trial) or fuboTV (watch with free trial).
If your TV provider includes the ACC Network, you already have access to ACCNX. You can view the ACCNX broadcast via the ESPN app or espn.com/watch using your TV provider credentials.
Here’s what you need to know:
What: ACC volleyball
Who: Louisville vs. Virginia
When: Friday, Nov. 22 (11/22/24)
Where:
Time: 7 p.m. ET
TV: N/A
Live stream: fuboTV (free trial), DirecTV Stream (free trial)
***
Top 25 NCAA Volleyball Rankings
Games through Nov. 18, 2024
1, Pitt; 2, Nebraska; 3, Louisville; 4, Penn State; 5, Creighton; 6, Wisconsin; 7, Stanford; 8, Purdue; 9, Arizona State; 10, SMU; 11, Kansas; 12, Kentucky; 13, Oregon; 14, Texas; 15, Georgia Tech; 16, Minnesota; 17, Baylor; 18, Dayton; 19, Utah; 20, Florida; 21, Southern California; 22, TCU; 23, Florida State; 24, BYU; 25, Missouri.
***
Here are the best streaming options for college sports this season:
Fubo TV (free trial): fuboTV carries ESPN, FOX, ABC, NBC and CBS.
DirecTV Stream (free trial): DirecTV Stream carries ESPN, FOX, NBC and CBS.
Sling TV – Sling TV carries ESPN, FOX, ABC and NBC.
ESPN+ ($9.99 a month): ESPN+ carries college football games each weekend for only $9.99 a month. These games are exclusive to the platform.
Peacock TV ($5.99 a month): Peacock will simulstream all of NBC Sports’ college football games airing on the NBC broadcast network this season, including Big Ten Saturday Night. Peacock will also stream Notre Dame home games. Certain games will be streamed exclusively on Peacock this year as well.
Paramount+ (free trial): Paramount Plus will live stream college football games airing on CBS this year.
Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting us with a subscription
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