By Arden Berry | Staff Writer
Women have been involved in The Baylor Lariat since its inception 125 years ago. According to the Texas Collection Digital Archives, the first issue in 1900 included two female associate editors: Eunice Taylor and Sarah Rose Kendall.
According to a blog on the Texas Collection, a woman named Sara Rose Kendall Irvine, Class of 1902, wrote a letter with a firsthand account of how the green and gold colors were chosen.
“The time was spring, and as we sped along the train passed through a field abloom with wild dandelions,” Irvine wrote. “The vivid yellow and green were beautiful together, and somebody on that train said, ‘What a lovely combination!’ I was sitting with Charlie Ingram, the other member of the committee. I turned to him and said, ‘Charlie, there are our colors, except that we will say ‘green and gold’ instead of ‘green and yellow,’ if you like the idea.’”
Assuming both Sara Rose Kendalls are the same, it was a female Lariat editor who gave Baylor its colors.
According to Collegestats, Baylor’s original campus at Independence was coeducational from its opening in 1845, though men and women had separate classes. It split in 1851, then reunited in 1887. By the time The Lariat began in 1900, the school it represented had been coeducational for several years.
Based on the archives and an article published in 2000, the first female Lariat editor was Martha Youngblood from 1918-1919.
“Martha Youngblood became the first woman editor of The Lariat in 1918; she lobbied for suffrage and an official journalism class,” a column written by Dr. John Tisdale, Dr. Kyle Cole and Dr. Brad Owens read.
According to the archives, the next female Lariat editor was Sarah Pool in 1945, who led a staff of several female editors and reporters.
Winnie Dudley was editor in 1946, Dot Jacobsen in 1951, Catherine Osborne in 1952, Gwyna Lee Parker, whose obituary stated that she was both an editor for The Lariat and Roundup yearbook, in 1953; Dorothy Cook in 1954, Jane Walker in 1958, Madeleine McDermott in 1960 and Ella Wall in 1962, the first female editor-in-chief.
Wall wrote an editorial on the Baylor faculty unanimously endorsing the acceptance of “all students regardless of race” during the period of integration.
“Those who have taken part in the actions deserve respect and recognition for leading the way to the eventual desegregation of Baylor,” Wall wrote.
Female writers before Wall also spoke out through The Lariat. In 1901, according to a HESA Baylor History Project blog post, The Lariat published a poem by Maria S. Porter titled “A College Girl of the Period,” in which she describes the knowledge a woman in college has, despite a “Dr. Clarke.”
“In the future, who can say, that she will not get fair play, and have opened to her every college door?” Porter wrote.
One article from 1958, titled “Tribute to a Gracious Lady,” praised Dean of Women Gladys Hicks by describing the conditions Baylor women endured before her leadership and how Hicks remedied them.
“When Dean Hicks came to Baylor, girls had as many priviledges [sic] as they did in the dark ages,” the article read. “The American Association of University Women did not approve of Baylor; the scholarship standing of Baylor women was not recognized, and many were living in converted army barracks.”
Even in 2017, The Lariat published an editorial on fighting for global equity for women.
“Although women’s rights have come a long way in the last 100 years, we still have a long way to go,” the editorial read.
The progress made thus far, however, has allowed many women to serve as editor-in-chief. In 1988, Dawn McMullan became editor-in-chief. By that time, McMullan said she never considered that there could be limitations on who could take the role.
“It didn’t even occur to me in 1988,” McMullan said. “Were there Black editors before me? Were there women editors before me? Were there gay editors? I didn’t know. I didn’t think about any of this in 1988. I just thought we could do anything.”
Torie Johnson, who was editor-in-chief from 2000-01, said she did not feel limited either, as there were many women in leadership positions during the four years she worked for The Lariat.
“I don’t think that I would say there was any material difference,” Johnson said. “There were lots of women on staff that I saw as I was coming up over the course of my time on staff that I was able to see. So it was a very attainable position when you’re seeing other folks, other women in senior leadership positions for the newspaper.”
From Porter in 1901 to a majority-female staff now in 2025, The Baylor Lariat has received much writing and leadership from female writers and editors even since it began.
