Black BC: A History of the Black Experience at Boston College

Black BC Walking Tour is an interactive tour that allows online and mobile users to discover and explore black BC’s complex history on campus, in Boston, and in the nation. It mines anecdotal and informal resources as well as BC archives to commemorate the presence and contributions of black BC, and to document how this community participates in Boston’s black communities. The site is also a resource for BC students, faculty, staff, alums, and scholars who conduct research on race.

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September 1933 – Casper Augustus Ferguson became Boston College’s first African-American graduate on a hot, overcast afternoon on Alumni Field in June 1937. […] Ferguson commuted to Chestnut Hill by streetcar in the morning, and after the…

September 20 1971 - A white security guard, who previously “permitted cars onto the upper campus to unload students’ possessions, refused entry to a car driven by [black students attempting to deliver food for a Black Talent Program picnic].”…

11 December 2014 - Over 60 faculty and students staged a “die-in” in St. Mary’s Hall to protest police brutality, the inadequate response by the administration, and University policy on free speech. Barbara Jones, vice president for Student…

April 9, 1968 – One day after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., BC holds a memorial service on Bapst Lawn and cancels classes to encourage students to attend a demonstration from Boston Common to Post Office Square. This event gathers…

19 March 1970: Students Occupy Gasson At 6:30am on 19 March 1970, black students occupy Gasson Hall in an effort to dramatize the problems of black students at Boston College. Their main concern was the possible dropping of financial aid of [some…

2005 - FACES is founded for the purpose of providing students with a better environment to discuss race and racism on campus. (Meaghan Callahan, "FACES discuss race on campus," The Heights/ Logo by FACESCouncil)