This is the first part of a series that will unpack the famous saying by Black UVA, “This is Our University.” I remember arriving at the university and being told that this was my university. What does this mean? Where did it originate from? What caused this statement to need to be declared? In order to best understand this statement and the time period and people it originated from, you must go back in time to get the backstory. This piece has been restructured to flow poetically, however the contents of this poem come from an interview transcript of a 1979 Black alumna.
What was the Golden Era of Black students here at UVA? Is there a timeframe that marks the height of Black student admissions and attendance at this school?
I didn’t live it, but I am told the 90s
I came to this university
At the beginning of Black presence in 1975
The first class of women graduated in 1974
I attended this university at a time
Not friendly to women and then add to it Black
It was not a place made for me
I would go days and not see a Black person because we were so few and far in between
Every Black student at UVA in all the schools across the years could fit into a dorm suite
That is how I knew Clarence Cain who was in law school,
Before there was a movie about him
Russell Wilson’s dad was in law school
Before he was the father of an NFL player
Everyone knew everyone because there were so few
Everyone was somebody because we made it to this university
We were closer then than y’all are now
I didn’t live the Golden Era, I forged it
Forging a path and never looking back
Pledged into a sisterhood, bonds cemented, roots lengthened, legacy continued
The history of Black people in my day was pride–
all proud of each other, nurturing each other,
because every day we felt that they did not want us there
I did not go here at that time
Way different approach;
Theirs was one of perseverance,
Mine was “I am equal to you and watch”
Our big word was perseverance–
proving we could be there and get through it
No one made us feel like we belonged
Yet still this was our university
We wore the honors of honor.
In Between the World and Me, Coates captures the objective and spirit of Howard University, which is commonly referred to as “the Mecca”. He states: “The Mecca is a machine, crafted to capture and concentrate the dark energy of all African peoples and inject it directly into the student body. The Mecca derives its power from the heritage of Howard University, which in Jim Crow days enjoyed a near-monopoly on Black talent… The legacy of influential intellectuals and activists, as well as the location of Howard University, created the Mecca, the crossroads of the black diaspora.” (6-7). How would you describe Black UVA? What is Black UVA’s mecca on grounds?
Tough one for me,
won’t be for the later generations of Hoos
The mecca in a sense was Newcomb Hall on a Friday night
We had these dances or whatever,
it was all of Black greatness,
all disciplines coming together
In regard to our influence in the world as a whole, this did not exist yet
Black greatness existed in Newcomb Hall on a Friday night
All of this Black greatness concentrated
No comparison to Howard in a time like the Jim Crow era
Mainly because we were benefitting from the end of the Jim Crow era
but we were at a school that brought us back to that
We would leave and go to Black homecomings
We didn’t know homecomings
We would have to venture out to see Blackness, real Blackness
What is Black Alumni Weekend?
Family reunion with common thread
The thread that connects me to you
Not like a typical family reunion with all walks of life
Where you share blood
The common denominator is we survived
We share the same blood, sweat, and tears
that went into our degrees
It is an atypical family reunion
The common thread is getting through UVA
What does the statement “This is our university” mean to you?
It means in spite of
You can open that up to many things
Racism, sexism, failure, success,
in spite of the fact that you do not want me here
When you hear “This is Our University”, what do you think of?
It’s the gift that keeps on giving
When you graduate, your degree is the same as everyone else’s
The degree is the gift that keeps on giving
When you wear the honor of honors, they cannot take that away from you
Whether rich, racist, or in between
Daughters of politicians
Sons of oil
We all have the same degrees
What influenced your decision to come to UVA?
Mother was a school teacher, 10th grade English
Me and my sister did not know what it meant to go to UVA
Went to a college night because my mother made us go
She understood the power that a piece of paper had to take me to the next degree
An admissions officer asked us if we had considered going to UVA
To which we responded, no, with a laugh mixed in
He said you ought to apply
We had no intent to apply let alone go
It was uncommon at the time for a Black woman to go to Jefferson’s university
From Deep Creek Chesapeake high school to UVA
Into the Academical Village I went
A place where someone with what seems like less is a major part of the community.
“It takes a village” took a new landscape during my time here
When you graduated from UVA how did you feel?
Invincible
I had made it
My sister has no recollection from graduation day,
that is how bad the trauma was
But me, I recall it all
I remember coming from Brandon Ave to the steps
I took off my shoes
Because I had made it
Made it out of there on time—
academically invincible
It's a feeling you’ve never felt before
One you’ll never forget
Never forget your history or past
Feel secure
They can never take your degree away
And you must never forget who you are
even if after this you will never be the same
When you return to UVA as an alumni, how does it feel? What emotions do you experience? What thoughts do you have? What memories are evoked? Are there any places that you visit or people that you visit with? What people had an impact on your life at this institution?
Reminds me of how myopic I was—
I just wanted to get out
All the people who could have mentored, I let pass me by
I wish I would have taken advantage of the fullness that is a part of the University
I was always focused on an exam or running to one place or another
I remember the times
Wayside chicken- 2 wings because that is all I could afford
Anna’s pizza which no longer exists
When I go back,
Professors are all dead or retired
New faces that feel like home greet me,
like Claudrena Harold
How does it feel to come back to UVA now? How does Black UVA differ now from when you went here?
In some of the students there has been a lot of assimilation to UVA culture
To dominant culture
People think they are like everybody else
which you are in the sense of what you can do
but not how you are seen
I find problems with what little current scholars know–
that goes for young people across the country
Part of me is proud,
and the other part longs
for when we knew our greatness and didn’t assimilate
As you reflect on your time here at the university during what was considered the Golden Era and think about the current climate in our country, are there any words you would like to leave current, incoming, or potential Black students with?
I don’t know about this Golden Era
but know your worth.
Don’t go blue trying to get people to understand.
Stay true to you.
They can change the policies,
but they cannot take away your worth nor your degree.
We are the same as, if not more.
