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May 8,2008
Ms. Risa Grimes
716 Xenia Avenue
Yellow Springs, OH 45387
Dear Ms. Grimes:
I wish to commend you and your group for your efforts to save Antioch
College.
J am the first African American student to attend Antioch in modern times.
I enrolled at Antioch during the summer of 1943 and matriculated there until
1947, when I transferred to Ohio State. My sister Caretta Scott came two years
later.
Because Antioch pl,ayed such a large role in shaping my value system, I
consider myself an Antochian. And for this reason, I have been greatly disturbed
over the news of the possibility of the college being closed.
Antioch College has a destiny. Antioch’s destiny is tied in with America’s
destiny. And America’s destiny, at the moment, must be involved with the global
community.
Horace Mann and Arthur Morgan were visionaries. Horace Mann’s
statement “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanityJl
and Arthur Morgan’s co-op plan made ,an Antioch education global from the
beginning, taking it from the walls of the ivory tower.
When I was a student at Antioch we talked about Antioch’s being unique,
and indeed it was. It was unique in the sense that, unlike other colleges, it trained
its students to think of others, rather than be’ self-serving. I remember having
told many people that it w~s impossible not to. develop a social conscience if one
remained at Antioch long enough. Even at that tim’e, the ‘early 1940’s, there was
t~lk about socia:l chang.~. Man.y of us. aspired ~q_ ~h~,~ge.th~ world! An.d’on~e .
leaving.Antioch, we,did make a difference in places where we lived a·nd worked.
, .~ , ‘ .’ . . . -. … :’ -. -‘. ..
How can we let such an institution die? We can’t. Antioch College and its
products have already been an integral part of all the progress the human race
has made around the world.
It was no accident, it was providential that I, Edythe Scott, would go to
Antioch and be followed by my sister Coretta who became the wife of Martin
Luther King, Jr. Coretta said many times that her experiences at Antioch, more
than any others, prepared her for the life she was destined to lead as the partner
and helpmate of America’s twentieth-century prophet. And it was her efforts in
building the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta,
Georgia, and in getting the King Holiday Bill through Congress that
institutionalized Martin King’s legacy. Many Antiochians have made significant
contributions to Western civilization. It is our responsibility to save the institution
that produced this leadership.
Again, those of us who believe in Antioch College and its mission must fight
to the finish to keep it alive. Antioch’s innovative spirit is needed now more than
ever. The world needs Antioch College.
Yours in the struggle,
Edythe Scott Bagley, ’47
P.S. The enclosed letter supplied promising information. What has happened?
Enclosure- 1
