MSS16806Gritty Women Podcast Series FilesGritty Women Podcast Series Recordings finding aid MSS 16806Joseph Azizi, ArchivistAlbert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library

2023-08-23

Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections LibraryP.O. Box 400110University of VirginiaCharlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110URL:

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2026-03-05 17:44:46 +0000.Description is written in: English, Latin script.Describing Archives: A Content Standard Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library Gritty Women Podcast Series Recordings MSS 16806 Archival Resource Key /repositories/3/resources/1585 .953 Gigabytes 5 files (4 mp3, 1 wav) 2020-08-25-2021-05-23 Good English Content Description

This collection contains the four documetnary style episodes of the Gritty Women podcast series, by Giovana Benatto de Oliveira, and one audio file of an interview used to create the episodes. Each episode includes segments of interviews conducted by the podcast's creator. The podcast explores the history, and legal, political, and social context of UVA's coeducation, and balances both scholarly and personal perspectives through interviews with both scholars and first women admits.

The podcast is divided into four episodes which examine UVA's decision to begin coeducation. The first episode focuses on the institutional decision-making process and the discussions happening within the walls of the University from 1967-1970. In interviews with Ernest Ern, the Dean of Admissions 1967-1973, and with Ann Brown (class 1974), alumni from first coeducational class, the episode explains what pushed these institutional leaders to support coeducation, and how they dealt with those who vehemently opposed it.

The second episode focuses on the 1969 lawsuit, Kirstein v. Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia, when Virginia "Anne" Ginger Scott sued for her admission into the College of Arts in Sciences, and includes interviews with Anne Coughlin who teaches criminal law and procedure and feminist jurisprudence at the University of Virginia School of Law, and Ann Brown (class '74). It also explores the local and national legal landscape of the 60s/70s, and national legal trends that made coeducation an imperative at the University of Virginia.

The third episode focuses on the political and social climate of that era. Interviews with Professor Melody Barnes, Co-Director for Policy and Public Affairs at UA's Democracy Initiative, Blake Morant (class '75), Paulette Morant (class '74), Betty McGehee (School of Education '71), Daniel Sullivan (Law '70), Charles Vasaly (Law '70), and Ann Brown (class '74), explain some of the context that created a societal consensus in favor of coeducation.

The fourth examines the experiences of some alumni from the first coeducational class. This episode includes interviews with Betty McGehee (School of Education '71), Blake Morant (class '75), Paulette Morant (class '74), Barbara Lynn (class '73), alumnus from first coeducational class and the first woman to be admitted into the Jefferson Literary and Debating Society, and an anonymous alumnus (class '74).

Reference list:

Giovana De Oliveira

Virginia Audio Collective.(n.d.). Giovana De Oliveira - Gritty Women [Podcast series]. WTJU. https://virginiaaudio.org/#/gritty-women/

WTJU. (n.d.). Giovana De Oliveira - Gritty Women [Podcast series]. Soundcloud. https://soundcloud.com/wtju/sets/gritty-women

Apple Podcasts. (n.d.). Giovana De Oliveira - Gritty Women [Podcast series]. Apple. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gritty-women/id1566917902

Spotify Shows. (n.d.). Giovana De Oliveira - Gritty Women [Podcast series]. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/show/1i08wEQTvVYcapoCeyVCz2?si=892PbaeTQ06jvkp3BLCa4w&nd=1

Biographical / Historical

The documentary style podcast series was created, produced, and hosted by Giovana Benatto de Oliveira, a fourth year at the University of Virginia at the time of the production, for a thesis project. The creator's inspiration for the title comes from a statement made by the Dean of Admissions at the time, Ernie Ern: when admitting the first class of women into the College of Arts and Sciences, he said that he was looking for women with "grit."

Reference: Giovana De Oliveira

Arrangement

The first four files are arranged by the podcast episode numbers, and are followed by the audio recording of a full interview.

1. Episode 1 - The Beginning of Coeducation 2. Episode 2 - On the Basis of Sex 3. Episode 3 - The 60s 4. Episode 4 - The Weekend Question 5. Ernest Ern Interview

Conditions Governing Access

Original digital media (floppy disks, zip disks, thumb drives, born digital files, etc.) cannot be handled directly by patrons. Please contact Special Collections via our online Reference Request form, https://small.library.virginia.edu/services/reference-request, to request access to these materials. Please be aware that additional actions may be required to make these items available. Items will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis before access can be made. Depending on the size of the request, it may take some time to make them available for use.

Conditions Governing Use

Donor retains ownership of and all copyright for the materials, but grants the University a nonexclusive right to authorize all uses of these materials for non-commercial research, scholarly, or other educational purposes pursuant to a Creative Commons Attribution, Non-commercial license.

Podcast episodes are available to the public online.

Preferred Citation

MSS 16806, Gritty Women Podcast Series Files, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia

Existence and Location of Copies

Podcast episodes are available online at the following web addresses:

https://virginiaaudio.org/gritty-women/

https://soundcloud.com/wtju/sets/gritty-women

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gritty-women/id1566917902

https://open.spotify.com/show/1i08wEQTvVYcapoCeyVCz2?si=892PbaeTQ06jvkp3BLCa4w

University of Virginia -- Co-education women--education -- Virginia Women in higher education Women students podcast series