Learn more about Black history at Elon through the University Archives & Special Collections online resources and physical artifacts, papers, and records.
Fifty years ago, in February 1975, Elon College’s Black Cultural Society—an organization founded in 1974 “to promote understanding and a sense of unity among Black students”—celebrated National Black Heritage Week, the precursor to Black History Month, for the first time on Elon’s campus. The BCS sponsored a program of hymns and poetry; a talk by Raymond McLaughlin, a professor of history at NC A&T University, titled “What It Means to be Black in the Twentieth Century”; and a talk by alumnus Rev. Marvin Morgan ’71, a Burlington minister, titled “The Standpoint of Theology in the Black Society.”
These days, February brings a wealth of opportunities for learning, reflection and advocacy around Black history and the legacies of anti-Black racism on Elon’s campus and around the country. While you’re likely to see pop-up exhibits around campus this month that utilize materials from the Elon University Archives & Special Collection, this seems a particularly appropriate time of year to remind the campus of the records, papers and artifacts related to Elon’s Black history that the Archives makes available to students, faculty, staff and the public year-round.
Online Resources
Not all of the materials in the Elon University Archives & Special Collections are available online. Still, there are several small collections and exhibits that represent a good start to exploring Elon’s Black history.
Elon History and Memory Collection—Since its inception in 2018, the Committee on Elon History & Memory has worked closely with the Archives to uncover hidden, unsung, and sometimes difficult histories on campus, including the underdeveloped stories of Black contributions and Black excellence at Elon. After the release of the committee’s 2020 report (see the Recommended Reading section below), the Archives created a special online collection that brings together some of the resources used to write the report, many of which document Elon’s Black history.
Elon History and Memory Tour and Freedom Footprints—The Archives also created an interactive map exhibit that connects the campus’s physical spaces with the stories told in the 2020 Committee on Elon History and Memory report, allowing users to walk through Black history on campus. In the summer 2024, the original tour was adapted to create a thought-provoking Juneteenth walking tour titled “Freedom Footprints.”
“Black Studies Protests” Online Exhibit—This student project, researched and created by Emily Lange ’21, a 2019 recipient of the Lumen Prize, documents the origins of the African and African American Studies at Elon minor. Starting with the first request for a Black studies course in 1969 and working through Wilhelmina Boyd’s successful launch of the minor in 1994, the exhibit highlights the importance of student advocacy in the long fight for academic recognition on campus.
Elon University Oral History Collection—This collection currently houses only a few interviews germane to Black history on Elon’s campus, but watch this space for new resources (see Expanding the Collections, below).
Photograph and Video Collections—A sampling of our total photographic and video holdings is available in our online collections and are searchable there, but we have many more AV resources in our collections. Contact an archivist at belkarchives@elon.edu for more information.
Physical Collections
Within our physical collections, we are always working to identify entry points to Black history and the Black experience on our campus and beyond. What follows is a list of materials we know to be relevant to understanding Black history at Elon. These can be accessed in the Archives Reading Room at Belk Library. Email belkarchives@elon.edu for more information.
Books and Publications—Moments in Elon’s Black history have been captured in a range of campus publications, including campus newspapers like the Maroon and Gold (1920-1970), the Veritas Liberated Press (1968-1970), Broadside Today (1972-1973), and the Pendulum (1974-ongoing); in the Phi Psi Cli yearbook (1913-ongoing); administrative publications like the Elon College/University fact books; newsletters like Black Underground; in original research like L’Tanya Richmond’s master’s thesis, “Elon’s Black History: A Story to Be Told” (2005); and in recent campus reports like the Black Lumen report (2023). Many of these publications have been digitized and are now fully searchable online.
EUA012 Elon Athletics Collection, 1891-ongoing (13 archival boxes, 18 bound volumes, plus unprocessed material)—Athletics represented a pathway to join the Elon community for Black student-athletes, and Black athletes were at the forefront of the fight for equity on campus from the late 1960s onward. This collection includes a variety of materials and documents that relate to the history of athletics at Elon University.
EUA040 Elon University Biographical Files—This collection includes biographical information about individuals associated with Elon University and the Town of Elon, including some of the founders of the institution, faculty and staff, and alumni. Documents within each folder contain a variety of items, such as newspaper clippings, correspondences, essays and memoirs, and other types of printed materials.
EUA041 Elon Files (General and Administrative)— This collection includes general information files about departments on campus, events, courses, organizations and other miscellaneous subjects associated with Elon. The files are arranged alphabetically and span eight file cabinet drawers. For example, the “Black Cultural Society/Black Student Union” folder was cited in the 2020 report by the Committee on Elon History & Memory.
EUA095 Gospel Choir Collection, 1980-ongoing (three archival boxes)—The Gospel Choir at Elon was founded in 1977 by a group of African American students in search of fellowship on campus. The Gospel Choir Collection includes documents about the organization from 1980 to the present day. Documents include materials such as correspondence, receipts or financial records, advertising flyers, programs and membership listings.
EUA098 African and African American Studies Collection, 1969-ongoing (four archival boxes)— This collection consists of materials relating to the founding and continued work of the African and African-American Studies Program at Elon University.
EUA134 Center for Race, Ethnicity, and Diversity Education (CREDE) Collection, 1992-ongoing (one archival box)—This collection pertains to multicultural affairs across Elon’s campus, including the creation of the CREDE, as well as some information on the African and African-American Studies minor.
EUA155 Anti-Racism at Elon Collection, 2020-ongoing (one archival box)— This is a collection of correspondence, news articles, and reports related to anti-racism efforts at Elon University, as well as events that took place at Elon University and in Alamance County in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020. The collection includes the report of the Committee on Elon History & Memory released in October 2020.
EUA159 Black Excellence Awards Collection, 1993- ongoing (one archival box)—This collection encompasses the history of the Black Excellence Awards from their creation in 1993 to the present day. It includes both programs and invitations from past Black Excellence Awards ceremonies and news articles discussing the Black Excellence Awards. Particularly of note are the programs and newspaper coverage relating to the inaugural award ceremony in 1993.
MSS005 William H. Maness Collection, 1957-2000 (two archival boxes)—The William H. Maness collection contains a variety of materials relating to his tenure as a judge in Jacksonville, Florida, as well as issues of racism, social inequality, the Civil Rights Movement in the United States and the strides people took to promote the well-being and equality of the human race.
Expanding the Collections
Like all archives, the Elon University Archives & Special Collections represents the goals, values and priorities of its participants over the years of its existence. For much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the history and experiences of those who identified as Black or African American were ignored, elided, or just plain excluded from official archives and records—and Elon was no different. Within the EUA&SC, we’re committed to making the Archives a place that reflects the histories of the whole community. In the hopes of filling in some of those “archival silences,” we are always seeking materials that speak to the Black and African American experience on campus. In particular, we plan to begin an oral history program within the Archives that will focus on recovering Black voices, with input from the Committee on Elon History & Memory. We also must acknowledge that, in some cases, evidence and information has simply been lost to history. It’s a difficult truth that keeps us motivated in our efforts to build a more equitable and accurate archive for the future.
References and Recommended Reading
Alvarez, Shaunta. “Elon’s First Black History Celebration.” Under the Oaks (blog). February 1, 2012. https://belkarchives.wordpress.com/2012/02/01/elons-first-black-history-celebration-3/.
Black Lumen Project. The Black Experience at Elon: A Black Lumen Project Report. Elon, NC: Elon University, 2023. https://eloncdn.blob.core.windows.net/eu3/sites/74/2023/06/Black-Lumen-Project-Report-2023FINAL.pdf.
Committee on Elon History and Memory. Report and Recommendations. 2020. Elon, NC: Elon University, 2022. https://eloncdn.blob.core.windows.net/eu3/sites/1018/2022/05/Memory-Report_2022UPDATE.pdf.
Richmond, L’Tanya. “Elon’s Black History: A Story to Be Told.” Master’s thesis, Duke University, 2005. Elon University Archives and Special Collections, Elon, NC.