Winsor Bulletin, Alumnae magazine

The story of Winsor’s first students of color who joined the school in the mid-1960s.

In 1964 Ellen Pinderhughes and I were the first black girls to enter the hallowed hallways of Virginia Wing’s school for girls.  We didn’t realize the weight of history we carried in our 10 year-old bodies.   

Ellen remembers she and I took the Winsor entrance exam in the library, just the two of us.  At one point she heard urgent chatter from behind and turned to see white girls at the window pointing and saying, “Look at the negro girls taking the test.”  It was then, Ellen notes with residual sadness and resignation, she “knew what it was like to be an animal in a zoo.” Although my memory of that day has been erased, I trust Ellen’s because her hurt is still eviden