Joanna Winston Foley, BA’65: Representation Matters

When nearly 100 Confederate monuments were removed in 2020 after the death of George Floyd, Joanna Winston Foley jumped into a national conversation about the lack of racial representation in public art. She wrote an op-ed that August that was headlined, "Should the Statue of My Ancestor in Greensboro Come Down?" for the Greensboro News and Record.

The monument honored Joseph Winston, her great-great-great-grandfather, at the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park. Winston was a Revolutionary War hero and distinguished North Carolinian for whom the city of Winston-Salem is named. He also was an enslaver.

"Vanderbilt encouraged me to have an open mind, grow my intellectual curiosity and question the way things were," says Foley, who now lives in Berkeley, California. "That is an important Vanderbilt legacy for me."

She cites her undergraduate experiences for her commitment to social change. Foley participated in Nashville civil rights protests at the segregated Campus Grill and Morrison's Cafeteria. She also wrote for The Vanderbilt Hustler. "I was assigned some of the typical social coverage but also could pursue my own stories," Foley says. "I conducted a survey about the campus dating scene. And I wrote about the Vanderbilt women's social honor code, which all female students were supposed to sign. I refused. My question was, "Why are the girls required to sign this statement about proper social behavior but not the boys?"

"Vanderbilt encouraged me to have an open mind, grow my intellectual curiosity and question the way things were. That is an important Vanderbilt legacy for me."

Foley credits Professor Dayton Phillips for her interest in modern American history, including civil rights. After writing the initial op-ed about her great-great-great-grandfather's monument, she was interviewed on two podcasts and a four-part webinar hosted by the Greensboro History Museum. She also launched the website Representation Matters: Black Patriots.

The National Park Service continues to research the names of Black soldiers who would be honored in a monument or mural in Greensboro. Meanwhile, an annual commemorative lecture series takes place at the battle site. Until 2024, all of the speakers were older white men.

"Historian Shirley Green, who is African American, lectured at the 2024 celebration about her ancestors' participation in the Revolutionary War," Foley says. "She received a terrific response. With gentle nudging, Greensboro is on the right track for recognizing all of our heroes and telling the full story."

-Ann Marie Deer Owens, BA'76