Black Student Success through the Center for Race, Ethnicity, and Diversity Education (CREDE) invited members of the Black Student Union to investigate how they want to influence Elon’s history
In celebration of Black History Month, Elon’s Center for Race, Ethnicity & Diversity Education (CREDE) organized their monthly Black Table Talk: Legacy in Motion, on Feb. 12 to explore the legacies of the Black Elon community while also reflecting on the legacies still to be made.
Adbul-Malik Harrison, assistant director of the Center for Race, Ethnicity, & Diversity Education hosted the event to ask students “How do I want to be remembered? Do I want to see myself on a wall or in a memorial?”
The Black Table Talk is one of several programming efforts from Black Student Success (BSS), a CREDE initiative that aims to enhance the Black and African American collegiate student experience by supporting their academic achievement, personal development and overall well-being. The Black Student Success team aims to educate the Elon community on the culture of the African Diaspora population in the United States and abroad.
Students had a chance to discuss their experiences with the word, “legacy” in relation to their Elon journey. BSS student coordinator Mikayla Williams ’25 welcomed students to reflect on who left a strong legacy in their lives and what they admire about their impact.
“My grandmother, when she was alive, always instilled values like always to be a helping hand and treat others how you want to be treated and I still carry those values today so I would say I’m her legacy,” said Ny’jaire Dorns-Grose ’28, who attended the event.
Students weighed the importance of a tangible versus intangible legacy, asking whether a physical legacy, such as a book or non-profit, was more impactful than leaving behind good memories and kind thoughts in others.
Students also explored displays of influential Black students and faculty from the university’s archives including official publications, minutes, reports, old yearbooks and other memorabilia documenting the past Black experience at Elon. Shaunta Alvarez, the digital collections and systems librarian at Belk Library, collects Elon University memorabilia such as photos, t-shirts and yearbooks as documentation of the school’s history and makes this accessible to Elon students. Alvarez acknowledges that due to a shortage of Black archivists and librarians, there is a lack of Black and brown student memorabilia in many predominantly white institutions’ collections.
“I feel that Black people have felt no one wants my stuff because no one has asked for it,” Alvarez said.
According to Alvarez, Elon’s first full-time archivist who started in 2005 was “conscious of diversity” and wanted students to see themselves in the archives. Belk Library Archives and Special Collections started online publications, inviting students to visit the collection and hiring student assistants. Black trailblazers like Julia W Covington, Elon’s first full-time Black faculty member, and Bryant Colson ’80, the first Black student to be elected SGA president and to serve as editor-in-chief of The Pendulum, were celebrated with their yearbooks, photos, and memorabilia showcased.
A new addition to the university archives is The Maroon Book, created by student Taylor Scott ’28. The book was inspired by The Green Book, a travel guide for Black people during segregation and identifies Black-owned and friendly businesses in the surrounding area to “educate black and brown students about the resources available to them to thrive and be successful at Elon.”
“Just how these people are put in frames and walls like the Wall of Frame in the Black Community room, that could be you all, easily,” Harrison said
In reflecting on celebrated past legacies, students were reminded that even what they consider small actions can shape the history and future of Elon, leaving a legacy to be remembered.