New fellowship to deepen engagement with Grinnell’s Black alumni history
June 17, 2025 — There was much joy and a sense of overdue recognition of Grinnell College’s Black alumnae during and after the 2024 dedication of Renfrow Hall, recalls Dr. Tamara Beauboeuf-Lafontant, Louise R. Noun ’29 Chair in Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies.
On Sept. 28, Grinnell’s new downtown residence hall was dedicated in honor of Mrs. Edith Renfrow Smith ’37, DHL ’19, the first Black woman to graduate from Grinnell. The College’s oldest living alum, Renfrow Smith will turn 111 years old on July 14, 2025.
Dr. Tamara Beauboeuf-Lafontant, left, and Valeriya Woodard ’25 talk during the Rooted in Resilience exhibit event that was on display at the Edith Renfrow Smith ’37 Student Art Gallery.
“While the dedication of Renfrow Hall was historic, I knew that much more work needed to be done to understand and learn from the legacy of Edith Renfrow Smith at Grinnell College,” Beauboeuf-Lafontant says. “So many Black alumnae took pictures in front of the Renfrow Hall Dedication Wall and were moved by the huge banners DAR [Office of Development and Alumni Relations] created to feature Black women who followed in Mrs. Renfrow Smith’s groundbreaking footsteps. The dedication of Renfrow Hall was a moment of acknowledging and correcting oversights. It also created an important opportunity to allow for a more honest and inclusive telling of Grinnell history if there could be a person dedicated to doing this reparative work.”
And now there is. Beauboeuf-Lafontant helped establish a new public history post-baccalaureate fellowship. Valeriya Woodard ’25 was selected for the role, which will begin next academic year.
Woodard graduated last month with degrees in psychology and Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies. She was a member of Team Renfrow that Beauboeuf-Lafontant founded in summer 2021 to bring needed visibility and recognition to Renfrow Smith. As a student researcher, Woodard conducted foundational research into Edith Renfrow Smith’s nine-decade long legacy of Black women students at the College.
“Valeriya is an ideal candidate for this position,” Beauboeuf-Lafontant says. “She has exquisite people skills and has already made contact with several Black alumni who gravitate toward her warmth, sincerity, knowledge of Black student organizations, and deep interest in filling in the gaps in our institutional history.”
Woodard is excited to continue the work she started as a student. During the Renfrow Hall dedication weekend, she led the Walk A Mile In Her Shoes event. The historic walk traced the route from campus to 411 1st Ave. (the Renfrow family home), giving the community a chance to honor Renfrow Smith’s daily journey to and from school.
Woodard also gave remarks at the Renfrow Hall Dedication Dinner, took part in the Hazelwood Cemetery Walks: African Americans of Early Grinnell, and put together the “Rooted in Resilience” exhibit with Feven Getachew ’24 that was displayed at the Edith Renfrow Smith ’37 Student Art Gallery in the Joe Rosenfield ’25 Center (JRC) last fall.
Woodard gave a speech Sept. 27 at the Renfrow Hall Dedication Dinner held at Hotel Grinnell.
Woodard says the research and relationship with Renfrow Smith has been life changing.
“She’s living history. Because of Miss Edith, I have a new perspective of Grinnell and a new perspective of life in general,” Woodard says. “When I say I love Grinnell, I love the Grinnell that Miss Edith sees and loves. Truthfully, I was able to gain this perspective and lens-filtering system because of how Miss Edith lives life. I’m able to move around the world in a way that is way less negative. She doesn’t carry the negative things. To be able to walk around and pick and choose what to give weight to has been an extreme shift in my life that has helped me immensely.”
The public history fellowship builds on the work of Team Renfrow and Stuart Yeager ’82 to broaden the institutional narrative and contribute to initiatives that foster inclusion, historical awareness, and relationship-building with Black alumni communities. In the 1980s, Yeager conducted 40 oral histories with Black alumni and contextualized their narratives within archival research covering the College’s first century.
Woodard will conduct and archive interviews with Black alumni to support the development of an institutional oral history collection.
“I’m excited to hear their stories, and I’m excited to listen to their feelings that come through the stories,” she says. “What emotions they are portraying will be telling to learn their true feelings about Grinnell. I’m also eager to hear how the stories are paralleled or different.”
Woodard knows some Black alums don’t have the best memories of Grinnell. “I hope through these interviews it can be somewhat of a healing process for alumni. I hope to help settle some turmoil alums have with Grinnell.”
Another part of the post-baccalaureate position is to curate a permanent display and plan related programming and activities for Renfrow Hall that reflect and honor Black alumni experiences.
Monique McLay Shore ’90, left, visits with Mrs. Edith Renfrow Smith ’37, DHL ’19 in front of a display about Renfrow Smith’s life at Renfrow Hall.
“With a deep personal connection to Mrs. Renfrow Smith, Valeriya is well-poised to design and introduce activities to help residents understand the namesake of Renfrow Hall and the legacy of Black women’s persistence and joy she began in the 1930s,” Beauboeuf-Lafontant says.
One of Woodard’s first orders of business will be attempting to allow all students to access the non-residential parts of Renfrow Hall, such as the hallway displays honoring Renfrow Smith and the Katherine Howell Weingart ’61 Civic Innovation Pavilion.
“The limited access to Renfrow Hall essentially defeats the purpose of that gathering space,” Woodard says. “I’m very excited to host events and make sure the space is being used in a way that honors her legacy. It hasn’t been interacted with so far, so I’m excited to make sure Renfrow Hall becomes alive.”
Woodard was born in St. Louis and moved as a child to Sartell, Minnesota. In addition to her work on Team Renfrow, she was Grinnell Singers president this past school year and served on the Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies Student Educational Policy Committee (SEPC).
Another aspect of her new role is collaborating with faculty to support creating and integrating courses in oral history and public history.
“I think it will be different to be an employee of the College and begin working with former professors and the people I look up to. But I’m very excited to build these relationships,” she says. “I’m excited to do this important work and grateful to Dr. B [Beauboeuf-Lafontant] for fighting for this.”
—by Jeremy Shapiro
For your information:
Read more about Renfrow Hall and its namesake. For Renfrow Smith’s 111th birthday on July 14, the alumni office is hosting a birthday card drive. Please join us in lavishing Mrs. Renfrow Smith with birthday greetings by sending your cards by July 11 to:
Edith Renfrow Smith c/o the Office of Development and Alumni Relations
733 Broad St.
Grinnell, IA 50112
To read more alumni news, check out our news archive and like the Alumni & Friends Facebook page.