" (Alessio 115).
In the fall of 1933, Shirley's father received a promotion in which he became the President of his company's new western division in Rochester, New York (Hall 19). Shirley transferred into Brighton High School where she had struggled "between her individual expression and social acceptance". "Her grades were unremarkable, but she wrote regularly and even completed some stories." After graduating in 1934, Shirley enrolled in The University of Rochester. "She spent two unhappy years there, feeling uninspired academically and socially bored-the classes were gender segregated." Shortly after Shirley left school she suffered a nervous breakdown (Alessio 116).
While living with her parents, Shirley set a goal that she would write a thousand words a day. At the end of the year, Shirley announced to her parents that she would be attending Syracuse University in the fall. Shirley majored in Journalism, but later decided to change her major to English. While enrolled in the University, Shirley published fifteen writing pieces in campus magazines (Hall 20). Shirley's first story, Janice, appeared in the February, 1938, issue of Threshold magazine. The story led her to meet her future husband, Stanley Edgar Hyman (Hall 21). In 1939 Jackson, Hyman and a friend, June Mirken, founded and edited a literary magazine called The Spectre, which became very controversial for its provocative artwork and editorials on the race issue at the University (Alessio 117). The first edition had trouble taking off because it contained pictures of two nude men. The pictures were removed and the first issue was published in the fall of 1939 (Hall 21). That same year Shirley won second prize in the university poetry contest (Hall 22). .
After graduation in 1940, both Hyman and Jackson were married. ( Hall 26) The two moved to New York City where Hyman got a job as an editorial assistant on the staff of The New Republic.
