“Once you’ve made the journey, you can’t pretend it didn’t happen, that everything’s like it was before except now you play lacrosse.” – Lorene Cary, Black Ice
In 1972 Lorene Carey was one of the first black and first female students to enter St. Paul’s School, an elite prep school in New Hampshire – a far cry from her town in Philadelphia but a place that would become home.
In her critically acclaimed personal memoir, Black Ice (1991), Lorene Cary recounts her two years at St. Paul’s School. She explains she had no idea how much it would and did change her. And she asks the question of many who are caught between two worlds, can she embrace this other way of life while staying true to herself? With time she finds her balance.
Cary’s prep school experience was so significant to her she did it twice. The first time was as a student but with blinders on, doing everything she thought was expected of her without knowing why. The second time around she returned as a teacher but with eyes wide open. Witnessing her students’ experiences she came to understand her own.
Cary taught at St. Paul’s School for nine years and then served as a trustee for four years, returning often to visit with her students and provide guidance.
Cary has received numerous fellowships and awards including the Provost’s Award for Distinguished Teaching and the Philadelphia Award for her writing. Today Cary is a senior lecturer in creative writing at University of Pennsylvania, her alma mater. She is also the founder of Art Sanctuary, a unique non-profit lecture and performance series that brings black thinkers and artists to speak and perform at the Church of the Advocate, a National Historic Landmark Building in North Philadelphia
