This is History. This is Legacy.

Diamond Jones ’25, an English language and literature and education and child study double major, prides herself on her connections. She’s a vocal advocate for her home city of Baltimore, Maryland and is an active member of Smith's Student Power Coalition.

During the 2024 Commencement, Jones unexpectedly joined another special group, this one consisting solely of rising Black seniors in Comstock. She was inducted as a surprise—it was as part of the Smith tradition of “senior wills,” where a departing Smithie will bequeath a special possession or item to a rising senior of their choice, often a friend, housemate, or teammate. Jones had been working at Commencement as a junior when she learned that housemate and friend Assiatou Diallo ’24 had willed her an old red metal fire hemet, featuring a dented eagle at its helm. 

Confused by the gift at first, Jones quickly realized that the helmet was a Comstock tradition. Passed down each year to a rising Black senior, the helmet featured the names and initials of some 40 or 50 Black Smithies, all scratched in or inked or pasted in bits of paper on the metal. Based on the class years noted with the names, this tradition dated all the way back to the 1970s. In this first-person piece, Jones talks about being part of this long, very special legacy and what it means. Find a profile of Jones here.

This hat has been in Comstock since about the 1970s. The more you look at it, the more you uncover. You think a scratch is just a scratch until you look at it and you realize it’s an initial. It gets so beautiful. 

The house council has different roles and one of them is to be the ”fire captain.” I guess someone had this hat and was like, “If I’m going to be the fire captain then I’m going to have the hat to do it.” It’s always passed down to a Black Smithie in Comstock. 

I didn’t hear about this hat until it was given to me. The person who passed it down to me, Assiatou [Diallo] ’24, left it for her friends to give to me. They had to track me down, I was doing laundry that day. They saw me in the hallway and they were like, “Diamond, we have something for you.” And they gave me this, and at first, I was just like, “What in the world? This is really nice, but what is it?” 

And then they were like, “Every Black Comstock Smithie signs it.” and I was just like, “Oh, this is HISTORY. This is a legacy.” It just created such a huge sense of belonging and a huge sense of pride. Black people will always find a way to make their mark, one way or another. 

That’s definitely the sentiment of it, being able to identify the Black presence on campus, that we were here and plentiful. I think that this hat in many ways is a physical manifestation of Black Smithies leading the charge. 

We might not have a whole house or a dedication on a step, but in our own way, we’re determined to make our existence and our history real and set in stone. It is about carving my name out on something so that you know it’s real, and that you can’t erase it. It felt really honorful to sign my name and stake my claim in this legacy.

I spent my last four years trying to figure out who I am on this campus. Like what is it that I really do? I got this hat and it all just kind of clicked. The work that we do here, big or small, matters. It’s important. I cried a little bit after they left. 

The hat lives on top of my dresser when I have the space for it. Sometimes I put it in my closet. I can open my closet door and see it and I’m reminded not only of the struggle, but of the fact that we made it. I’m hoping that every person whose name is on this hat graduated and has built the life that they deserve. 

Sometimes I just put it on and am like, “Yeah, I am that girl.” When I wear the hat, I think about how the work that I’ve done may not always be seen or recognized, but
I know that it impacts something. And that’s good enough for me. 

I’m exhausted, actually, after these last few years. I need all the motivation I can get. Knowing that this legacy exists gives me another push to keep doing the things that I do and keep fighting for change. I might be leaving Smith, but the Black story doesn’t stop with me. It keeps going. And it deserves people who are constantly fighting for it, whether they’re at Smith or not. 

And when you are a Smithie—a Black Smithie—everything you do and every interaction matters, you have so much capacity to make a positive impact. When I wear this hat, I’m like, “I’m gonna do it.” I hope whoever wears it next is inspired to pick up that work and go from there. This hat is a symbol of a lineage of Black students paving their way. 

You get the hat and you kind of feel like you’ve got a superpower on, you know? I fit this hat. It doesn’t fit on my head properly, but I fit it. It fits me.

Editor's note: Were you a part of the history of the Comstock fire captain hat? Do you know someone who signed it? Let us know more at socialmedia@smith.edu