Christine Griffith-Legette ’92

Christine Griffith-Legette, Class of 1992, was motivated to be the first in her family to go to college. For most of her childhood, Christine lived in a working class, single parent household. Her mother had not gone to college, but worked hard for a living. She wanted the world for her daughter. While Christine was in middle school, her mother married the man that Christine now thinks of as her father. He also came from a working class background. Both of her parents encouraged Christine to pursue college. They wanted a better life for her. A life where she did not have to live paycheck to paycheck.

As a native New Yorker from Queens, Christine enjoyed the change of scenery that Dartmouth offered. Hanover intrigued her. When Christine visited Dartmouth for the first time during Prospective Students’ Weekend, she thoroughly enjoyed herself, connecting well with the students who hosted her. Early on in her freshman year, Christine realized that the enjoyable experiences she had that first weekend were not the rule. Though they were not the exception either, she quickly learned that there was more to Dartmouth than she had thought. She found solace in people that she could relate to, the individuals who made her feel as if she was not the only one feeling the way she was. These connections eased her transition into Dartmouth.

Christine (second row, left) with her sorority sisters.

On campus, Christine became involved with organizations she was passionate about. Her sophomore year, she pledged Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. This sisterhood sustained her throughout her time at Dartmouth. The Afro-American Society (AAm) also offered Christine a reliable community and support network. After interacting with and becoming inspired by her freshman Undergraduate Advisor (UGA), Christine became a UGA her sophomore year. These communities were crucial to her overall Dartmouth experience.

When asked to recount a memory that represents her time at Dartmouth, Christine reflects on an experience that at once frustrated and validated her. She thinks of how this experience her first year gave her the motivation to keep going when she doubted herself.

My freshman year, I had to take…I forget what it’s called… they have the English classes you have to take if they want you to strengthen your writing a little bit. I want to say it was English 5. I can’t think of the name of it, but I just needed that one term of English. As long as I passed that and did well, then I could start branching off to other classes. In that class, we had a writing assignment and the instructor pulled a paper and said, “This one was very well-written. This person got the concept. They did a really good job. Their writing was strong.” On and on about it. She went and handed the paper to a young lady in the class whose name was also Christine, but she was white. But it was my paper. I always remember that because that instructor made the assumption that a well-written paper must have been written by a white student. It couldn’t have possibly been written by an African American student. The young lady got the paper and was like, “This is not mine.” She said, “Oh, but it’s Christine’s.” When she read the full name, I said, “Well, that’s my paper.” You could see how embarrassed the instructor was. For me, I was offended in part, but it also helped validate to me that I did belong. Out of all that class of students, she had pulled my paper and said how it was one of the strongest written…it was another example of why I belonged there. Yes, I may have needed help. Obviously, all of us did. We couldn’t just go out into the world without some guidance and instruction, but it just made me… when some of the other racially charged things on campus would happen, that was kind of a touchstone for me to say, “No Christine. You can do this. You got this.”

Certain courses transformed Christine’s perspective of the world around her. She realized the shortcomings of the American education system. While some histories were consistently told, others were forgotten. When Christine took her first African American Studies course, she became motivated to learn more about silenced or forgotten histories. She constructed a unique major, focusing on both Education and African American Studies.

There were different courses that I took and I can’t remember their names specifically now…that began to shape how I saw the world. In particular, African American Studies classes. I can’t remember which was the first one that I took, but that was very eye opening for me because I had grown up in a predominantly Black community, attended predominantly Black schools until I went to high school. My high school experience was my first diverse, racially diverse, experience. But I didn’t realize, until I took that African American Studies course at Dartmouth, how little I knew about African American history as a whole. There just was a lot that I had not been taught in my schooling up until that point. I remember talking to my mom about something and my grandparents even, and said, “Why didn’t you ever share certain stories with me?” Things like that.

Their response was, between the busyness of working, they didn’t… some of the things that were history to me, they had lived through. Some of it was painful to retell. The things that predated them, they assumed I was getting in school. But I wasn’t. There was a lot about history, African American history in particular, that wasn’t ever referenced. That first class really made me ashamed. I was like, “Goodness, I should know this.” From there, it really made me want to know more. I had a thirst to know more. That’s how I ended up… You couldn’t major in African American Studies, but I was able to shape the major with Education and African American Studies. To this day, I have always found a way…if it’s not a primary part of my job either through volunteer work or something else…there’s something that I’m doing to make sure that young people are learning other aspects of their history because it’s not necessarily taught in the classroom.

There were moments when Christine swore she would never return to Dartmouth after graduating. Now, she feels as if she has grown out of that mindset after realizing that the behaviors and attitudes she encountered in Hanover were not specific to Dartmouth. These beliefs and actions traverse the nation. She believes that Dartmouth prepared her to encounter these types of views and people once she entered the workforce.

Christine currently lives in North Carolina and works as a Youth Services Librarian for a public library. She dedicates herself to promoting early literacy and bringing cultural awareness to her community through her programing. Christine has a passion for writing children’s books. As her two daughters grow older and she is able to devote more time to herself and her craft, Christine hopes to one day be a published author of children’s books. She wants to share her writing with others.