Meet Lucy Ann & Mary Jane: the pioneering Black women behind two characters in “Ancestra” – The Cauldron
“Ancestra” opened Thursday, Feb. 22 in the Outcalt Theater.
Aside from its woman-led cast and original story, there’s something special about the show you should know about. Lucy Ann Stanton and Mary Jane Patterson, both characters featured in the show, are based on the real women who made history as the first African American college students to earn their degrees.
Maciah Davis as Lucy Ann Stanton, center and Kaleny Balfour as Mary Jane Patterson, sitting on the floor second from right, in a scene from “Ancestra.” Photo credit: Steve Wagner
Oberlin College
Oberlin College, widely known today as Oberlin University, was the first coeducational institution in the United States when it opened in 1833, meaning it accepted both male and female students. In 1835, its open-admissions policy was “irrespective of color,” meaning that both White and Black students were accepted and permitted to study together.
Oberlin was the first college in the United States to grant a bachelor’s degree to a woman (1841) and was the first college to admit Black students. By 1900, one in three practicing Black professionals in the country had a degree from Oberlin.
That being said, women still didn’t have the same educational freedoms as men.
On Mondays, female students were dismissed from classes so they could do the men’s laundry. Female students were not permitted to study alongside men and many subjects, including theology, elocution, mathematics, and science, were forbidden to them. Instead, female students were permitted to study literature, music, art and household tasks, such as sewing and stitching, so that they could better serve their households and not threaten men by having proper educations.
Eventually, as the years went by and the feminist movement gained traction, women were granted more privileges in the classroom.
Lucy Ann Stanton
Lucy Ann Stanton, a Cleveland native, was the first African American woman to finish a four-year degree. Photo Credit: Wikipedia
Lucy Ann Stanton, a Cleveland native born in 1831, attended Oberlin College in the mid-1840s and made history as the first African American woman to finish a four-year degree when she graduated in 1850.
Stanton could not comfortably live with the fact that she was born free but so many African Americans still suffered as slaves. Her graduation address, “A Plea for The Oppressed,” was a bold anti-slavery speech that pleaded for those with the privilege to do so to fight for abolition. Stanton argued that feminism, which initially rejected abolitionist ideas, is inherently anti-slavery.
“Woman, I turn to thee,” Stanton said in her address, which was published in the Oberlin Evangelist. “Is it not thy mission to visit the poor? to shed the tear of sympathy? to relieve the wants of the suffering? Where wilt thou find objects more needing sympathy than among the slaves!”
Stanton’s speech heavily influenced the writing of her character in “Ancestra,” and keen playgoers might even spot direct quotes in her onstage dialogue and speeches.
Before completing her Literary Degree, Stanton was elected president of the Oberlin Ladies Literary Society. After graduation, she went on to teach in a number of schools across the country and, in 1854, she wrote a short story about slavery for The Aliened American, Cleveland’s first Black newspaper. Upon publication it was the first time a Black woman had published a fictional story.
Machiah Davis, a CSU theatre major, plays Lucy Ann Stanton in CSU’s production of “Ancestra.” She says that she can relate to Stanton because of how passionate she is, and she appreciates the complexities of Stanton’s character.
“She wanted everybody, not just women, to stand up for themselves and speak up for themselves, and to understand that we’re all here together,” Davis, 22, said. “She’s very passionate and she’s very understanding.”
In the show, Stanton can be seen mentoring a young girl named Mary Jane and, while it’s likely the two didn’t know each other in real life, they’re connected through their pioneering academic accomplishments.
Mary Jane Patterson
Mary Jane Patterson was the first African American woman in the country—and, likely, in the world—to receive a bachelor’s degree. Photo Credit: Wikipedia
Mary Jane Patterson, born in Raleigh, North Carolina in 1840, was likely born to fugitive slave parents who eventually made it to Ohio. She also attended Oberlin College and graduated in 1862 with her bachelor’s degree, making her the first African American woman in the country—and, likely, in the world—to receive a bachelor’s degree.
While Stanton did graduate over a decade earlier than Patterson, she was not awarded an official bachelor’s degree. Patterson elected to study a four-year “gentlemen’s course” rather than the two-year program for women and ended up completing the program with a Bachelor of Arts with high honors.
In “Ancestra,” we meet Patterson as an eager young girl with a desire to expand her mind and study the “secret knowledge of men.” Her innocence and eagerness are foreshadowing, considering what she goes on to accomplish later in life.
Kaleny Balfour, a theatre major at CSU, plays Mary Jane in the show. She says that Mary Jane brings a “lightness” to the play.
“She got more and more interesting as I found out what her historical significance was,” Balfour, 23, said. “Mary Jane is a lightness in a show that covers very serious, heavy topics and situations.
Balfour says she sees a lot of herself in Patterson.
“I’m pursing a BFA, a degree of a similar study, and now I get to play this person who not a lot of people know about,” Balfour said. “She’s a very important figure in women in education and post-secondary education.”
After graduating, Patterson became an educator, serving as both principal and teacher. She moved to Washington D. C. to teach at the Preparatory High School for Colored Youth (now Paul Laurence Dunbar High School), which was the first public high school in Washington D. C. and the first public high school for African American students.
Patterson went on to found the Colored Women’s League of Washington, D.C., advocating for equal rights for women of color.
Showings of “Ancestra” will run through Sunday, March 3. You can buy tickets at playhousesquare.org and CSU students can use code STUCSU to buy $5 tickets.