Anita Florence Hemmings (June 8, 1872 – 1960) was known as the first African American woman to graduate from Vassar College.

[6][7] Like some other black Americans of mixed ancestry, both Hemmings and her husband passed as white as adults for socioeconomic benefit.

[12] In 1997, Vassar African-American studies students petitioned college president Frances D. Fergusson to recognize Hemmings at that year's centennial celebration.

Writing about it in Vassar Quarterly, Olivia Mancini, a local journalist, said this recognition "brought [Hemmings’] graduation and presence to a level of honor that it should have had a hundred years ago."

In November 2017, it was announced that Zendaya will produce and star in a biopic of Hemmings' life titled A White Lie, based on the 2016 novel The Gilded Years by Karin Tanabe.