Julia Allen Papers

Julia Allen (1896-1974) was recruited to Berea College in 1932 as Assistant Dean of Women to succeed Katherine Bowersox, who had been Dean of Women since 1907. A Kentucky native, Allen studied at both Mt. Holyoke and the University of Chicago. Allen also had worked in a factory, tutored Italian children in Chicago, and directed YWCA summer camps. For five years she had taught Chinese girls at a mission school in Nanking. Her genuine interest in the students, her humor, intellect, and strong commitment to social justice made her influential in Berea for over forty years. Allen, in addition to being Dean of Women, was a housemother to the students in Hunting Hall (a male residence hall). She loved the outdoors, and frequently took groups of students, both men and women, on nature walks, hikes, and camping expeditions. During her tenure she encouraged women students to govern themselves within the dormitory system.  She worked with the YWCA on campus and beyond, and was active in the Fellowship of Reconciliation.  After retiring from the Dean’s office (1959), she continued to teach part-time in the history department, introducing the first non-western courses taught at the college. After her second retirement, she taught for another semester at Tougaloo Southern Christian College in Mississippi and accepted a post on the National Board of the YWCA. A Christian social activist, Allen endeavored to fight prejudice, war, and poverty throughout her career. At one point she ran for office on the Socialist ticket. One of her most daring exploits occurred in 1938, when she led an integrated team of six students from different colleges (including one from Berea) to Arkansas to survey the living conditions of members of the Southern Farmers Tenant Union. The team stayed in the homes of union members and joined in union rallies and church services. Allen integrated a professional society of Deans of Women in Kentucky while she was President in 1940-41, and made sure that when the regional YWCA met on the Berea College campus it was an integrated gathering. After her retirement she recruited alumni to protest Berea’s failure to host civil rights volunteers in 1964. In 1970 Centre College honored her as a distinguished alumna.  Her health deteriorated over the next few years and she died on January 23, 1974.  At news of her death, many people whose lives she touched wrote letters of condolence to Dorothy Tredennick (Berea 1946) the Berea professor with whom Julia resided.