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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Random Stories

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…

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)

27 February 1995 - Flyers for a black professor’s lecture and a wall are defaced with racial slurs in Hardy and Vouté Hall. In a similar incident, an article written by a black graduate about her experiences at BC is covered with racial slurs and…

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…

19 October 2006 - Students and administrators attend rallies held in the Quad (space between Lyons, Gasson, Devlin, and CSOM) and community meetings to address a lack of protocol for hate crimes. Fliers that promoted white supremacy were found in…

September 1933– Casper Augustus Ferguson, BC ’37, becomes the University’s first black student. “The 1937Sub Turriyearbook suggests Ferguson had at least one friend among the 281 graduates. In a three-sentence biography beneath his portrait, David…

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