Black History and Experience at Mount Holyoke

This research guide compiles resources in the Archives and Special Collections (ASC) centering Black history and experience at Mount Holyoke College. This guide is not a complete history of the topic, but an introduction to archival tools and materials to start your research. Please contact ASC to suggest additions to this guide. 

Notable Moments

• May 17, 1954: Mount Holyoke College began to racially integrate following the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling.
• 1960: Students form MHC Committee on Civil Rights to raise money for African-American students arrested for staging peaceful protests against segregation in southern states.
• 1965: MHC is the first women’s college to participate in A Better Chance (ABC) summer program to improve educational opportunities for talented girls from disadvantaged environments.
• 1967: Afro-American Society formed and advocated for increased numbers of African American students at Mount Holyoke.
• December 12, 1968: First sit-in at Mount Holyoke was organized by the Afro-American Society on the steps of Mary Lyon Hall, demanding a separate space for black students to retreat and socialize.
• January 1969: the space the Afro-American Society acquired burned down (arson was suspected but not proven). As a result, students were given 2 Dunlap Place, which was renovated and expanded in 1972.
• 1969: Afro-American Center (now Betty Shabazz House) provides African American students with a place for meetings, parties, and other functions.
• 1970: African, African American Studies Program (Black Studies Major) established at MHC
   

Guide developed by Summer Pratt, '26