CARISSA SZUCH DIVANT
Olivia Kitt ’20, at left, Maxine Fitzgerald ’69, center and Ken Belton ’81, at right — Roanoke’s past and present.
was still at Carver” and could “make an A on an exam even when she didn’t study.” Fitzgerald settles into the couch in preparation for questions from an interviewer, Olivia Kitt ’20, president of the Roanoke College Student Government Association, only the second black student elected to the position. As a video camera records, Fitzgerald responds to a series of questions, struggling at times for words. Gaither assists — correcting, reminding, filling in forgotten details. And then, the words tumble. “Roanoke College had everything to do with who I am today,” Fitzgerald tells Kitt. ay 2019. A milestone. A turning point. Fifty years prior, Virginia Maxine Fitzgerald graduated from Roanoke College. She recalls a pleasant arrival on campus in 1964. “People were so friendly,” she remembers. “That meant a lot to me.” Fitzgerald was a commuter student, choosing to live at home rather than on campus. (“She had the option to stay on campus, and had she wanted to, but Maxine was a homebody,” her sister says.) She was a member of the Women’s Athletic Association and the Roanoke College Choir, serving at one time as its vice
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She went on to earn a master’s degree in clinical psychology from Radford College (now Radford University). For 29 years, she worked as a psychology technician at the Veterans Administration Medical in Salem before retiring in 1995. Now 73, Fitzgerald doesn’t dwell on the history-making nature of her years at Roanoke but acknowledges its door-opening impact on the generations of students who followed in her path. Students like Olivia Kitt. “I was inspired by [Fitzgerald’s] story and the love that she was able to express as she spoke of her time being a part of the Roanoke College community,” says Kitt, a political science major with a concentration in legal studies. “This is a community that was welcoming and supportive 50 years ago, and that testament still holds true today.” Fitzgerald, Kitt says, “paved the way for African-American students like myself, so we could immerse ourselves in the oppor-
“This is a community that was welcoming and supportive 50 years ago, and that testament still holds true today.” — Olivia Kitt ’20 president. She worked in the bookstore. A psychology major, she was a participant in Upward Bound, a national, federally-funded program that aims to this day, to provide certain categories of high school students with better opportunities to attend college. At Roanoke, she appreciated the small class size and nurturing environment. There was no racially-tinged trouble, she says, but remembers one occasion when a professor told her “he wasn’t sure what kind of blood ran through black people’s veins.” She left Roanoke in the 1965-66 academic year, taking a gap year and moving to Philadelphia to work. The yearlong break was, in part, for financial reasons “in that our parents were not able to pay out of pocket and it was even harder to obtain loans,” her sister says. Fitzgerald returned in the 1966-67 academic year, determined to graduate. She completed her course work and in 1969, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
tunities and experiences that Roanoke College provides.” Ken Belton ’81 a member of the Roanoke College Board of Trustees who has been instrumental in developing diversity initiatives at the College, calls Fitzgerald “a true, outstanding pioneer of the times.” Fitzgerald “stood up and stood out in an era where there was segregation and desegregation,” Belton says. “Her courage and determination have created much opportunity for many African Americans and other minority student enrollment.” “As Roanoke College continues its mission to develop the whole person, we elevate the diversity and inclusion of all students. RC To view a video about Maxine Fitzgerald, visit roanoke.edu/maxinefitzgerald
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