Creation of the Black Studies Program

During the spring of 1968, students protested dormitory conditions and regulations. The unrest reached its height in May when students occupied Grossley Hall, prompting the governor to dispatch the National Guard.

Black Majestic Society editorial, The Hornet, October 10, 1969

Among the most organized of the activists was the Black Majestic Society, who demanded the creation of a Black Studies Program. Their October 10, 1969, editorial in The Hornet, pictured here, represents their displeasure with the college, to put it mildly. 

By the 1970-1971 academic year, the Black Studies Program was approved as a multidisciplinary concentration that called upon a variety of fields in the humanities. You can read the Black Studies Planning Committee proposal here, as part of our digitized collection.