A Look Back: Meet the First Howard College Class of Coeds in 1913-1914

This picture of ten of the new class of co-eds was published in the Entre Nous in 1914.

In the 1913-1914 school year, Howard College (now Samford) became a co-educational institution by allowing women to attend regularly. There were earlier female graduates, the first of which was Anna Judge in 19895-1896, but co-education was quickly suspended. It wasn’t until 1913 that coeducation began, once more, to be seriously discussed on campus. 

In the 1913-194 school year, seventeen women are listed as students at Howard College. Their names were Louise McCoy, Geraldine Armstrong, Mary Swindall, Lois Hendricks, Mrs. L. L Stillwell, Menona Alford, Anna Fay Barnhardt, Mrs. G.W. Bouldin, Nell Gray Ellis, Mrs. J.C Hockett, Lucy Jones, Olivia Massey, Lula Mehaffey, Anna Montgomery, Susan Norment, Miriam Tyler and Miriam Waltersdorf. 

The Entre Nous of 1914 features photographs of ten of the co-eds, as they were known. 
In 1916, the first female graduate from this group was Lula Mehaffey. Her photo was published in the Howard College Bulletin. 

Lula Mehaffey graduated Howard College in 1916.

Special thanks to Rachel Cohen and the Special Collection for text and photographs.