The penn state Student black caucus
black caucus timeline
October 1967
The Frederick E. Douglass Association is established to petition for the
creation of an Afro American history course at Penn State. The Douglass
Association would later press for increased Black enrollment and awareness.
Frederick B. Phillips (left), a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity,
was the group’s founder and served as its first President. A course called
“The Negro and the American Experience” was established in the spring
of 1968 as a direct result of the Douglass Association petition.
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1968
January 9 – The Douglass Association elects new officers. The officers were: President John F. Warner, Vice-President Wilbert Manley, Planning Chairman Raymond Edgerton, and Secretary-Treasurer Meryl Nimmons.
April 4 – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
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April 5 – The Douglass Association, along with a racially mixed group of students, forcefully lowers the United
States and Pennsylvania flags in front of Old Main building to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. King had been assassinated the previous day. The students used a crowbar to break the lock mechanism. As the flags were being lowered, an argument and skirmish developed between the students, bystanders and campus police, until the administration announced that President Johnson proclaimed that all flags should be flown at half-mast that day.
May 13 - (about 5 weeks after Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated), 100 members of the Douglass Association, led by newly elected President Wilbert Manley and Vice-President Vincent Benson, confronted the University Vice President for Student Affairs, Charles L. Lewis, at his Old Main office with a list of 12 demands for changes in the University’s policies regarding Black students. The meeting lasted almost 3 hours, and it was reported that Lewis was “visibly shaken” when he left.
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November 21 – The Douglass Association presents a petition to the College of Liberal Arts requesting the creation of an Afro-American history course. Included among the 130 signatures on the petition were Charlie Pittman (All-American football player) and Ted Thompson (future USG president). A course called “The Negro and the American Experience” was established in the spring of 1968 as a forerunner of the Black Studies Program. Daniel Walden, a white associate professor of American Studies, would teach the course.
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1969
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January 13 - Five representatives from the Douglass Association gave University President Walker a list of thirteen demands aimed at making a stronger black presence felt on the campus. On the list were demands that a thousand Blacks be admitted within a year, a special recruiter for Black students be appointed, courses in Black history and culture be added to the curriculum, and more black faculty members be hired. The Douglass Association also wanted a special collection in Black literature to be established in the library and a new building to be named after Martin Luther King, Jr.
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February - The Douglass Association, now led by William “Rick”
Collins, lobbied the then Pennsylvania State House Majority
Leader, K. Leroy Irvis for support. As a result, Irvis convinced
University President Eric Walker to include an extra $1 million
in his budget strictly for the purpose of Black recruiting.
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February 21 – About 20 students – mostly from the Douglass
Association – lower the Old Main lawn US and Pennsylvania flags
to half-mast by breaking the lock with a crowbar, in order to
commemorate the 4th anniversary of the assassination of
Malcolm X. The Douglass Association had asked permission
from the administration to lower the flags, but the request was
refused. A group of opposing white students would later raise the flags back up, only to have the Black students – supported by a number of sympathetic whites – lower them again. The two groups, with little physical contact, confronted each other for over 3 tense hours.
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April - The Douglass Association transitioned into the Black Student Union, but the mission remained basically the same. Two years later, the then inactive Black Student Union was replaced by the Black Caucus.
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April 21 – Theodore Q. “Ted” Thompson is elected USG president, becoming the 2nd Black student to serve as president of the Penn State Student Government. Thompson had served as USG vice president, and was a member of the Douglass Association/Black Student Union.
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May 12 – First annual Black Arts Festival kicks off. Coordinated by the Black Student Union, the week-long event features appearances from James Brown, Rep. Adam Clayton Powell, Ruby Dee and the Muddy Waters Blues Band. The purpose of the festival was to educate whites about Black culture, and to strengthen the pride and unity of campus Blacks.
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May - 310 Black students are estimated to be enrolled at Penn State, along with 3 Black faculty members​
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November 1 - the Black Student Union articulate their demands and grievances at halftime of a Penn State football game. “Since we cannot reach you at any other place, we find it necessary to come to a football game to ask you to think as members of an academic community. We wish to express an analysis of our situation, and we ask you to join us in these thoughts,” stated the group spokesperson. At the end of the 8-minute speech, the students marched off the field single file with fists held high.
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1970
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January 22 – Black Panther Party representatives hold a “closed door” meeting on campus with the Black Student Union to speak about “Education and Revolution.” The following evening the representatives would discuss “Where Does Our Struggle Begin?” at an open meeting.
April 14 – In support of the Black Student League (BSL) of the Ogontz Campus, about 70 students from the Black Student Union seal off Shields Building for several hours. USG President, Ted Thompson, was among the demonstrators.
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September 21 – First “Black Student Orientation” kicks off. Sponsored by the Black Student Union, the week-long series of programs was designed to provide incoming Black freshmen and transfer students with the information and assistance they needed to prosper at Penn State.
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November 6 – The Daily Collegian printed information about a “closed” Black Student Union meeting from a reporter who had overheard it. The Black Student Union reacted to this typically unethical practice by burning 9400 copies of the November 10th issue of the paper.
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1971
June - Black Caucus is formed to replace the now mostly inactive Black Student Union, as well as to represent a broader constituency (including Puerto Ricans, and Black graduate students). The Black Caucus emerged from the
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October 12 – Black Student Union officially agrees to merge into the Black Caucus, making the latter the primary representative group for all Black students at Penn State. James Lomax, a Vietnam War veteran, would become the first chairman of the Black Caucus.
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1972
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February 24 – The Black Caucus is officially chartered by the USG Supreme Court.
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1974
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May 6 – “Black Unity Day” is sponsored by the Black Caucus to promote unity within the Black community, and to project a new image for the Black Caucus. “The University will not give us a damn thing unless we get together collectively and go to them with our demands and requests, “stated Black Caucus President, Leonard Howard. Held at the Paul Robeson Cultural Center, the event featured speakers, musicians, and poets. In between segments of the program, the sisters of Alpha Kappa Alpha led songs and danced.
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1978
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September 6 – The Black Caucus, led by past President William “Butch” Randolph, launches a campaign to gain student support to persuade the University to divest all investments in South African related companies. In 1987, after nine years of petitions, discussions, and protests, the University Board of Trustees would finally vote in favor of divestiture.
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1979
January 24 – Protesting six “racist” hoax help wanted ads that appeared in the Daily Collegian the day before, more than 20 “angry Black students” gathered at the Daily Collegian office. Led by Black Caucus President Charles Kennedy, the group demanded a front page apology from the paper for not screening out the ads. The ads were copied from a Cape Town South African newspaper, and listed Board of Trustee members’ phone numbers as the contacts.
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April 6 – Takesha Dockery is elected the first female president of the Black Caucus. Dockery, a
former USG Senator, strongly pressed the University to divest from companies with financial
interest in South Africa, asa protest to the apartheid government. A passionate and sometimes
controversial leader, Dockery would also winthe 1988 Miss Black Pennsylvania crown.
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1987
November 30 – Mahogany Magazine, a publication designed by the Black Caucus Communications
Committee, is formally unveiled by Essence magazine editor-in-chief, Susan L. Taylor, to 200 people
at the Paul Robeson Cultural Center. The magazine was initiated by editor-in-chief, Roceania
Williams, a senior marketing major and a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority.
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1988
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March 23 – R. Seth Williams, Black Caucus president,
is elected president of the Undergraduate Student Government
(USG) by a landslide. Williams became the third African
American to head the student government at Penn State.
April 8 – A group of about 175 mostly African American
students took over the Telecommunications Building for 15
hours, protesting what was called the university
Administration’s indifference to minority concerns.
88 students were arrested for trespassing, including former
Black Caucus President, Darryl King, and newly elected USG
President, Seth Williams. The charges were later dropped.
The students call for the creation of a vice provost for
Underrepresented Groups was realized two years later.
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1989
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February 13 – The “Ebony Escorts” Service is organized by
Black Caucus Vice-President Jennifer Demby. The service
featured mainly African American male escorts for people
who didn’t feel safe walking alone around the campus area at
night. This alternative service was motivated by reports of a local incident where five African American women were accosted by 10 white men in downtown State College. The initial program consisted of 35 screened volunteer escorts.
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2001
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The village
Part 1
Part 2
“The Village” formed at Penn State following a rally and counter rally for racial tolerance. A group of over 100 students marched from Old Main to the HUB and stayed for over a week. The Black Caucus and other student leaders negotiated with University officials on several diversity and security issues.Students at “The Village” (so dubbed by Black Caucus member Assata Richards) danced, sang, and laughed. Students of different races prayed, hugged, and studied the Bible, as well as their textbooks, while camping out in sleeping bags.Following the signing of the revised “Plan to Enhance Diversity at Penn State” the gathering ended on May 3rd.
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The Village began as a community response to death threats received by African American students at the University. In support of better diversity programs at Penn State, more than forty student groups participated along with many other students and community members.
part 3
April 20 – Black Caucus President, LaKeisha Wolf, received another anonymous letter filled with racial slurs, profanity, and an explicit threat on Wolf’s life. The university provided Wolf with police security, and offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the letter writer. This event triggered months of racial tension, protests, sit-ins (most notably “the Village”), and led to the university establishing a comprehensive plan to make Penn State a more “welcoming place” for minorities.
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April 24 – “The Village” forms following a “No Hate” rally and counter rally for racial tolerance held at the steps of Old Main. An estimated 4000 students attended the rallies. Following the rallies, a group of 100 plus of those students marched from Old Main to the HUB and stayed for over a week, as Black Caucus and other student leaders negotiated with university officials on several diversity and
security issues. Dubbed “the Village” by Black Caucus member Assata Richards, the students were dancing, singing, and laughing. Students of different races prayed, hugged, and studied the Bible as well as their textbooks, while camping out in sleeping bags. Following the signing of the revised "Plan to Enhance Diversity at Penn State" the gathering ended on May 3rd.​
2002
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January 17 – Africana Research Center celebrates its opening with a reception at the HUB-Robeson Center. Created primarily as a result of “The Village” 2001 student protests, the center’s mission is to promote research and scholarship that will advance the historical and contemporary understanding and enhancement of the lives of people across the African Diaspora. In addition, the center promotes an enabling environment where cultural production and discourse on diversity are nurtured to advance the research, teaching, and outreach mission of Penn State University.
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2009
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December 6 – The Black Caucus hosts the first annual Ashe’ Awards in which over 300 students packed into the Paul Robeson Cultural Center’s Heritage Hall for the event. Black Caucus vice president Travis Salters said the award show was named the Ashe’ Awards because of the word’s positive meaning, “in agreement with” in a West African dialect. Students were given the opportunity to vote for other students and organizations online. The categories ranged from fun nominations such as the Smooth Award, Classy Award and Fly Girl, to Service to the Community, Best Greek Program, Best Sorority and Best Fraternity. The idea for the awards originated from similar programs held at a few commonwealth campuses. Black Caucus President Christopher Nock said he also was surprised yet happy with the attendance.