Julia Baxter Bates commutes to NJC

Julia Baxter Bates, the first known black woman to attend the New Jersey College for Women (NJC), enrolled in 1934. Baxter’s acceptance to the college was no easy feat. Once administrators realized that this fair-skinned woman was in fact African American, they asked her to withdraw her application. However, Baxter and her father—a chapter president of the NAACP—did not back down. Baxter stood her ground and enrolled in the institution. When one thinks about the college experience, joining extracurricular activities and living on-campus are among the hallmarks of that experience. Baxter opened the door for other black women to join the ranks of NJC students. Yet, the admission of black women did not signal their full inclusion into the institution. NJC remained a segregated space. It was not until 1946, twelve years after Baxter’s enrollment, that black women lived in the college’s residence halls.