The Renfrow Story

There is a small group of us who have been dreaming of widespread awareness of the Renfrow story for several years. Dan Kaiser started researching the Renfrow family around 2014 for his Grinnell Stories blog. It was because of him that I first made contact with Edith and was able to scan dozens of her family photos in 2015 for the library archives. On that same trip, an overflowing crowd at the library heard Dan interview Edith. At age 101, she was dressed in a sharp pink dress and charmed the crowd with her wit and life wisdom. You can watch the video here.

Dan is a regular in the library so I see him frequently. There were several times over the next few years that we spoke of how we wished Edith’s story would be more widely known. Then in 2019, Grinnell College decided to present her with an honorary degree. What a wonderful day it was to see her get that honor! The students in that class for sure remember that moment (they gave her a prolonged standing ovation) and know a bit about Edith. The coverage helped more people learn about her as well. So it was a really good thing. Was it unfair to still think there should be more?

After the lost years of the pandemic, a first year student walked into the library and asked if we had anything about Edith in our archives. Feven Getachew was from Ethiopia and would be staying in Grinnell for the summer of 2021. She was helping Professor Tamara Beauboeuf do summer research on Edith. Tamara is a professor of women’s studies whose academic research has focused on African American women and education, so she was the perfect person to champion Edith’s story. She had arrived at Grinnell the fall of 2019 and had heard about the honorary degree. She wanted to learn more about this woman who was the first Black woman to graduate from Grinnell. Tamara had been frustrated that not many people on campus seemed to know much about Edith and that there wasn’t more in the college archives. So she set about trying to correct that.

Since that first introduction to Feven, and to Tamara a few days later, the momentum around spreading Edith’s story has increased exponentially. Feven organized a beautiful rededication of the student gallery on campus in the fall of 2021, bringing Edith back to campus just as things were starting to open up after the pandemic.

As wonderful as that celebration was, there was still something prodding us that there was more that should be done. As I started helping Tamara look into the stories Edith had told us about her family, the more incredible things we found. Her roots in Poweshiek County go all the way back to 1859 when her grandfather was escaping slavery, via the Underground Railroad, travelling with John Brown. (Learn more about her family story at here.)

We were compelled to share what we had found with Grinnell College President Anne Harris, who happens to be a long time friend of Tamara. It wasn’t long before Anne was as excited as we were and was full steam ahead in pursuit of having the new college building named Renfrow Hall in her honor.

The naming of Renfrow Hall was announced in early December at a wonderful event on campus, with Edith streamed in live from Chicago where she was surrounded by family and friends. It is hard to express the joy we all felt that day. It just doesn’t get much better than that!

About a month later, I received a letter in the mail from a fellow alumni. He isn’t someone I’ve ever interacted with as far as I know. But he was prompted to write this lovely note of thanks from the other side of the country. He wrote “Racism manifests itself via thousands of tentacles, some seen, some invisible. It is through thousands and thousands of actions that racism will ultimately be defeated.”

I came across the letter again this morning and found myself tearing up as I reread it. The ripple effect of this story has the power to make a difference. It is such a humbling and beautiful thing to be a part of.

My dream with this book is to have her story, and the inspirational message she shares, available to kids across the country. I want to create a book fund to provide free copies to as many libraries as I can. My dream is to keep the ripple effect spreading far and wide.

You’ll be able to support the project starting April 10 via Kickstarter.