About

The BlackBC Virtual Walking Tour commemorates the presence and contributions of black Boston College, and documents how members of the university participate in Boston’s black communities. This interactive tour allows online and mobile users to discover and explore the complex history of black experience on campus, in Boston, and in the nation. 

BlackBC Virtual Walking tour was created to recognize and celebrate the 50th anniversary of Boston College’s African & African Diaspora Studies Program (AADS; formerly the Black Studies Program) in BC’s 2019/2020 academic year. 

Additionally, black students at BC actively engage contemporary matters of race that resonate in our nation’s consciousness (student activism around the Civil Rights Movement, Black Lives Matter), therefore this project serves as historical and conceptual records of their efforts. 

This project mines anecdotal and informal resources as well as BC archives (The Heights and BC Magazine archives, BC libraries’ archives, relevant timelines, images, and media). It  complements existing BC resources (such as the 2017 exhibition on the Boston busing crisis) as well as resources outside of the institution (such as Tufts University’s Black Freedom Trail website). 

The virtual tour will serve as an ongoing resource for BC faculty, staff, and alums who work with and teach students, and conduct research on race – at BC, in the nation.

Credits

Curated by Rhonda Frederick, Associate Professor of English and African & African Diaspora Studies

Website development and archival support provided by Matt Naglak and Melanie Hubbard from the Boston College Libraries Digital Scholarship group. 

Consulting and support provided by Tim Lindgren from the Boston College Center for Digital Innovation in Learning. 

Background Image: African-American student group engaged in meeting at Boston College, John J. Burns Library, Boston College, circa 1970-1979