Excerpt: In 1926, the college saw major reorganization. A study by the Board of Education and the Women's Home Missionary Society (WHMS) and a survey done by the Phelps-Stokes Foundation recommended Bennett College be transitioned from a coeducational institution into a college for women.

The WHMS had previously voiced that an institution of higher education was needed for black women. After naming a board of trustees and surveying the campus, the next step was naming a new president.

[13]In May of 1927, Dr. David Dallas Jones was inaugurated as Bennett College’s president. At the beginning of his presidency, the course schedule included four years of high school and only two years of college work. As demands and preparation of the students increased, two years of the college level courses were added, making Bennett College both a four-year high school and a four-year college.

Dr. Jones’ presidency saw the establishment of many new traditions, including the Campus Illumination Ceremony, White Breakfast, and the Home Making Institute. The Home Making Institute invited prominent guests such as Eleanor Roosevelt [14] to visit campus and speak. Other traditions established at this time were those specific to dress code.

The students were limited to wearing pants and shorts during recreational activities, work, and breakfast. To go downtown, the students were required to wear dresses with hats and gloves. This remained the expectation until the 1960s when the students sought to change this dress code through a series of protests.

Unlike other university and college leaders during the time, Dr. Jones always sought to stay in touch with his students and was known for openly supporting activism while speaking out against white supremacy and segregation.

It was common to see him sitting on the steps of the chapel speaking informally with students and he went on air on the local airwaves. Dr. Jones led the college until 1955 and his supportive and close-knit style of presidency would be maintained by subsequent Presidents of Bennett College, Including Dr. Willa B. Player[15].

Dr. Willa B. Player was inducted as Bennett’s first woman President in 1955 and was the first Black female president of any private 4-year college.

Under Dr. Player’s leadership came another new era for Bennett. Highlights of her time include establishing academic committees to improve the academic program, gaining full membership in the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools [16], and her invitation to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.[17].

Dr. King answered this invitation and spoke on campus in 1956; this was the sole speech of Dr. King’s in Greensboro. It was also during her presidency that the students of Bennett were active in protests of the Civil Rights era.

Source: https://www.ncpedia.org/printpdf/1951