Racial Integration At Barry College

When I started doing the public relations photography for Barry College in the late sixties it was a Catholic girls college. All of the girls were non-Hispanic white Catholics and the teachers were mostly all nuns wearing habits. In fact so was most of the management and office staff. One of the reporters at the North Dade Journal took over the public relations at Barry and asked me to do their photography. Kathy convinced me that being about the only Jew on campus wasn't going to be a problem. I guess she'd already convinced them.

It was an exciting time at Barry. Sr. Jeanne O'Loughlin became president and embarked on a massive expansion of both the campus and the student body. Probably the most ambitious endeavor was diversifying the student body. When I first came on board there were a few Anglicans in addition to the Roman Catholics, and most all of the students lived in dorms. Everybody was white and female. There were strict curfews. Everybody attended mass in the school chapel on Sunday morning. Parents could be assured that their daughters were safe and in good hands.

It was during this period that the first male students were enrolled (lucky them!) as well as the first black students. The school needed photographs for brochures and publicity. This was shot in January of 1976.

A few years later Barry College became Barry University.