A new online exhibition from the University Archives showcases Pearl Bailey, a famous singer and actress from the mid-20th century who came to Georgetown in the late 1970s to earn her Bachelor’s degree. Beloved throughout the United States for her starring roles on stage and screen, her time at Georgetown had a significant impact on campus and the Georgetown community.
Pearl Mae Bailey was born in Newport News, Virginia, and moved to Washington, D.C., with her family when she was three. As a teenager, she sang in night clubs on U Street and later toured with USO troupes during World War II. Named best newcomer on Broadway for her 1946 New York theater debut in St. Louis Woman, she won a Tony Award for an acclaimed performance as Dolly Levi in Hello Dolly in 1968. Among her best known film roles were Maria in Porgy and Bess and Frankie in Carmen Jones.
Bailey accumulated more than a dozen honorary degrees during her career, including one from Georgetown in 1977. In her speech accepting that degree, she famously said “Who knows, folks. I may be coming to this school!” The following year she did just that, enrolling as a freshman and graduating with a B.A. in 1985.
Through scans of photographs and documents from the University Archives, the new exhibition reflects both her time at Georgetown and the impact she had on the Georgetown community.
Pearl Bailey with Georgetown cheerleaders
Pearl always made a great effort to involve herself in campus life, befriending classmates, faculty and administrators. She even recounted in a Washington Post interview at the time of her graduation how, after a member of an ethics class she was taking invited the class to his house, she found herself compelled to clean his kitchen – an activity that took two hours, such was its condition. She regularly attended Hoya basketball games, a practice she continued even after graduation. She would later reminisce in newspaper interviews: When I was in school [at Georgetown], I was out there with the cheerleaders. Of course, I was the one in the longer pants. But I’ve been out there on the court and danced with them. I love to dance.