In recent years, Special Collections and University Archives has been fortunate to partner with Dr. Erin Devlin’s History 441: Oral History class and Alumni Relations to create and grow a digital collection of alumni oral histories. Collected stories from the LGBTQ+ Alumni Affinity Group became the first exciting product of this relationship, and we highlighted this process back in 2021 when the Alumni Oral History Collection first publicly debuted.
For the next collection of oral histories, students in Dr. Devlin’s class interviewed alumni from the Black Alumni Affinity Group in the spring of 2021. As we were still in the heaviest throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, interviews took place over Zoom. This presented a new challenge for us in the processing phase, since all of our content must be accessible and we had to ensure accurate captions for the video component.
The interviews tell insightful, compelling stories that hit on a variety of topics. Many alumni from the 1980s and 1990s spoke about the impact of having Civil Rights leader James Farmer as an instructor. Others spoke on their experiences being Black at Mary Washington, especially at a time where the school struggled to build a diverse student body. Participants spoke openly about the challenges of being on a predominantly white campus and facing instances of microagressions, prejudice, and overt racism. They also told about the deep and continuing connections they built here at Mary Washington with their peers and with faculty and staff members.
Encouraged by the people around them on campus, many of these narrators found their passion and began their career dreams here. One alumna took her Mary Washington chemistry degree into a fascinating career in the film industry. Others took lessons that started here and built incredible professional lives focused on education, law, and publishing, to name a few. But it wasn’t only the educational experiences that the participants reflected on; many of these alumni were active in various campus organizations, attending regular social events, or participating in athletics, developing close friendships that hold strong through today.
Several alumni fondly remembered Forrest Parker and the early days of the Multicultural Center, which began thirty-five years ago when Parker became founding director. They talked about finding a support system there before they even officially enrolled, and about the closeness they formed with other students while working to put together the renowned Multicultural Fair. Happily, the legacy promoted by Forrest Parker and supported by many of these alumni continues on as the Multicultural Fair prepares for its thirty-fifth celebration on Saturday, April, 5.
UMW Special Collections and University Archives is honored to hear and to preserve these stories from our alumni. Forrest Parker was once quoted in the student newspaper challenging students of all races and ethnicities to strive for diversity because we all need that broad range of perspectives and to experience different cultures. We hope that by sharing these valuable oral histories, listeners can perhaps gain a fuller and richer understanding of our whole, diverse, remarkable Mary Washington community.
