Center for Black Culture

 

In this section, students and employees at the University of Delaware discuss their experiences with the Center for Black Culture, which was originally established as the Minority House. Interviewees discuss how the Center quickly became a gathering spot for Black students and a cultural nexus of the Black community at the University of Delaware.


Jay Reed interviewing Gai Allen

In this clip, Gai Allen discusses the social life of African American students at the University of Delaware while she was a student in the late 1970’s. Allen describes the social scene as highly segregated, something which she attributes in part to the small number of African American students on campus at that time. She also discusses Minority Center on South College Avenue, which was established in 1976.

Taylor Curley interviewing Ella Burton

In this clip, Ella Burton talks about the previous Black Student Union that was at the University of Delaware in the early 1980s.She recalls how the BSU was a “place of refuge” for African American students.

Ayinde Budd and Gene Coleman interviewing Vincent Oliver

In this clip, Vincent Oliver talks about how he got his job at UD running the newly formed Minority Center, now the Center of Black Culture. Oliver discusses how the University was not doing a good job at including African American students in the social life of the University.