STUNT (Stunt Night)

Item

Legacies Classification
Memorial Event
Memorial Type
Commemorative Events
Memorial Context
Lost Cause
Jim Crow
Memorialized Subject
Meredith College Student Body
Title
STUNT (Stunt Night)
Background and Context
STUNT, formerly known as Stunt Night, began in March 1915 and is one of Meredith’s oldest annual traditions. STUNT is typically accredited to Bertie Brown, who graduated in 1916. Sponsored by the Athletic Association, Stunt Night began as a competition between the classes featuring humorous skits. Each class had to create and perform skits following a theme of the class' choosing. Winners of the STUNT received a silver loving cup. Early STUNT skits were rooted in the ideals of the Lost Cause and racial stereotypes of the early 20th Century. For instance, in 1920, the freshman class appeared in Blackface and named their performance “The Colored Ladies Jubilee”. That same year the sophomore class is pictured wearing stereotypical native American attire.

Over the years STUNT has gone through many changes with skit performances being eliminated by the late 1980s. Today the event is sponsored by the Meredith Recreational Association (MRA) and features silly games and athletic competitions. The 2023 STUNT events included: pass the candy, bat spin, three-legged race, relay race, tug of war and Lip Sync competition, with a theme-specific activity being a blindfolded egg scavenger hunt.
Creator/Participating Person(s)
Brown, Bertie
Date created, installed or dedicated
March 1915
Date Modified
1988
Historical Period
1890-1945: Era of the Lost Cause, Jim Crow legal segregation and discrimination, and organized anti-Black racism
Funded by
Athletics Association
Meredith Recreational Association (MRA)
Location: Institution, City, State
Meredith College; Raleigh, North Carolina
Learn More About this Subject
Meredith College Library Archives on STUNT

Position: 2358 (34 views)