This week on Expanding the Ivory Tower we explore the celebration of Black History Week at the University back in 1974. In this episode we consider the historical context of the event and the struggle to make it happen.
Podcast
The Unfinished Work
This week our Post-Baccalaureate fellow, Victoria Charles, takes to the studio to reflect on the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King. More specifically, she dives into how Dr. King is remembered here at the University of Richmond. To do so, Victoria spoke with Lisa Miles, associate director of Common Ground and member of UR’s MLK Day planning committee, about how the University commemorates King today.
Remembering the Forgotten
Another group of students from Dr. Maurantonio’s “Digital Memory and the Archive” course chose to use the podcast form to engage with the University’s history of race and racism. Bal Artis, Tenaya Bien, and Megan Wirtz explored challenges in archival research when inquiring into the lives of black staff members at the University of Richmond between 1946 and 1971 in their podcast Remembering the Forgotten.
Freeman Digitally Remastered
As part of inquiries into the University of Richmond’s history of race and racism, students from Dr. Maurantonio’s “Digital Memory and the Archive” class have grappled with varying ways of narrating history. Natalia Chaney, Maddy Dunbar, and Canyon Teague explored contemporary understandings of Douglas Southall Freeman and considered the relationship between building names and University values in their podcast Freeman Digitally Remastered.
Reexamining the Narrative
This week on Expanding the Ivory Tower Victoria critiques her own work and the practice of examining black students’ experiences through the lens of racism. Using the post about Walter Carpenter as a jumping off point, she unpacks the tension between acknowledging racism in the archive and centering racism in archival narratives.
Trump’s America’s America
This week’s episode takes a step back from the archive and offers a perspective on the recent election.
Revisiting “Dixie”
In light of new evidence found in the archive, this week’s episode revisits the 1971 controversy surrounding the now-defunct University Band’s use of the song “Dixie”.
On Racial Awareness
People say that talking about race is hard, but is it really? This week on Expanding the Ivory Tower Victoria explores a “Racial Awareness Session” that took place on campus in 1971 involving students from the University of Richmond and Virginia Union University, a nearby historically black university. During the session the students were prompted to ask questions of themselves and each other through the lens of race and racism.
Let’s Push Back
This week on Expanding the Ivory Tower we consider two articles, one written in 1973 and the other in 2016, that chronicle black students’ critiques of the university.
Behind the Pine Curtain
This week on Expanding the Ivory Tower Victoria examines the context surrounding Black Student Day, a 1971 student-led event aimed toward achieving a more diverse student body. In this episode she raises questions about intent and challenges the assertion that the impetus for the event stemmed solely from goodwill.