Explore the Renfrow Family Story
108 year old Edith Renfrow Smith is the newest member of the Grinnell High School Hall of Fame and namesake of Renfrow Hall, the college building now under construction at the corner of 6th and Broad. Born in Grinnell in 1914, her family story links her to the earliest days of Grinnell history when her grandfather arrived, having escaped slavery and traveled via the Underground Railroad network with John Brown. The fifth of six children, she attended Grinnell schools, was active in Campfire Girls and the Uncle Sam Club. In 1933 she enrolled in Grinnell College, the only Black student on campus at the time. She lived at the family home on 1st Avenue and worked 2 jobs to pay her way through school. In 1937, she made history when she became the first Black woman graduate of Grinnell College. After graduation she moved to Chicago where she raised a family, taught school for 22 years, and then volunteered at local organizations for over 40 years, earning her a spot in the Chicago Senior Citizen Hall of Fame.
You can learn more about her life and family on our Renfrow Story page. It includes links to three articles that tell the stories of how members of her family escaped slavery. Learn about her remarkable family members, including the first recorded triplet birth in Iowa, the first Black man to purchase farmland in Poweshiek County, and her siblings who were civil rights leaders.
The CEC Bucket Class offered a program on the Renfrow Story in April. You can view the videos of the program by Monique Shore discussing the Renfrow family roots in Poweshiek County (1859-1900) at the link below. The second program by Prof. Tamara Beauboeuf will not be posted online, but it should be available through the library soon.