Black BC: A History of the Black Experience at Boston College
A project by Black BC: A History of the Black Experience at Boston CollegeBlack 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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Random Stories
Gasson Hall –
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…
Bapst Library –
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…
Thea Bowman Center –
23 October 1989 - AHANA House is renamed to Thea Bowman Center. During the dedication ceremony, Bowman calls on AHANA students to teach the BC community to include AHANA in the first stage of plans, not just the final stage, and challenges the white…
Lyons Hall – "A History of the African and African Diaspora Studies Program"
6 May 1969 – After the Black Forum outlined its demands, andeightweeks of meetings of the University Committee of Black Students and Studies, the University announces that a Black Studies program at BC will commence the following semester [fall…
Roberts Center (1958-1988) –
7 April 1967 – BC students may yet become conditioned to having concerts cancelled after being assured that all the contracts had been duly signed. This familiar sequence was reenacted last week when the much publicized James Brown concert fell…
BC Football Field –
1937: Lou Montgomery (BC ’41) became BC’s first black athlete as a running back for the football team” (Allie Weiskopf, "Ahead of their time," The Heights)