May 1, 1972

Sponsored by the Vassar Urban Center for Black Studies, Linda Kinsey ‘72 expanded her senior biology project into the first sickle-cell anemia program for black Poughkeepsie residents, recruiting area hematologists, the New York State Health Department, Poughkeepsie media, ministers, housing project managers and Vassar faculty and friends in an effort to inform, identify and test Poughkeepsie residents who were vulnerable to the disease, the first genetic disorder whose molecular basis was known.

Kinsey’s testing program was supported on campus by, among other events, a “Sickle Cell Benefit Weekend,” sponsored by the Student Activities Committee (SAC), May 5-7, featuring the new rythym and blues group Earth, Wind and Fire in the Chapel on May 5 and a dance on May 6 in Kenyon Hall, with music by Blacklite, a black jazz and rock group from Princeton University.