Black Presence Timeline

Born in Athens, Alabama, on October 5, 1873, Bridgeforth was 23 when he entered as a freshman and, in some ways, set a pattern for the pioneering cohort of African American students at UMass—then known as Massachusetts Agricultural College. 

The first African American to receive a doctorate at UMass Amherst and the first nationally to receive a doctorate in agronomy, Major Franklin Spaulding earned a PhD in 1935 for his study "Factors influencing the rate of decomposition of Different Types of Plant Tissues in Soils and the Effects of Products on Plant Growth".

During that time, the program was committed to recruiting and assisting Black, Spanish-speaking, Asian-American, and low-income students.

The Black Mass Communications Project was founded as an educational and informational outlet for Black students at UMass Amherst in 1968, and authorized in the following year as a Registered Student Organization. Pictured: BMCP members at the Du Bois Homesite's 20th anniversary celebration

The vision for a memorial to honor Du Bois was conceived in 1967 when Professor Edmund W. Gordon and Walter Wilson, a local realtor, purchased the Du Bois Homesite property. This five-acre parcel in Great Barrington includes the original homestead of Du Bois’s maternal family, and was later designated a National Historic landmark in 1979.

Students occupied Mills House in a call for the need of a Black cultural space on campus, leading to events that transformed it into the New Africa House. To this day, New Africa House serves as a hub for Black students and faculty and houses the Department of Afro-American Studies.

Randolph W. Bromery becomes the first Black chancellor at UMass, igniting an era of diversification of students and faculty and securing the W.E.B. Du Bois papers, among other major accomplishments.

This unique vocal ensemble was organized by famed percussionist and UMass professor, Max Roach, as a performance course in the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies. The choir, later led by Dr. Clarence Boyer, performed with such acclaimed artists as Max Roach, Ossie Davis, Reggie Workman, Archie Shepp, Paul Carter Harrison, Dorothy Love Coates, Sallie Martin, DeeDee Bridgewater, Cissy Houston, Carmon Moore, the Famous Boyer Brothers, and the Collective Black Arts Ensemble.

The Du Bois papers were stored and archived in what was later named the W.E.B. Du Bois Library. The papers were acquired by Chancellor Randolph Bromery for $150,000 after a series of meetings with activist and Du Bois' wife, Shirley Graham; historian Herbert Aptheker; and Graham’s lawyer, Bernard Jaffe, in Cairo, Egypt.

The Seventh Annual Black Musicians Conference was held March 31 and April 1, and featured concerts by the Sonny Fortune Quintet, Dexter Gordon Quartet, lecture-demonstrations, and a Black music update workshop. 

On February 8, 1979, a press conference was held to formally announce the Campaign to Combat Racism—a call to action conceived by a committed multi-racial coalition of students from diverse backgrounds to address racial tensions at UMass. Both students and university staff workers posed a challenge to all to join in the campaign against racism. 

The fight put 10 people in the University of Massachusetts infirmary with cuts and bruises and left student Yancey Robinson in a neck brace. About 500 students met at the university three nights after the beating, some to allege that police stood by and watched as Robinson was beaten, others to complain that the university was slow to investigate. A subsequent investigation and a report by a member of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination found that race was a primary factor in the incident.

In response to the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination's report that found the October 27, 1986, Southwest campus residence riot to be racially motivated, UMass sponsored a week of events designed to increase awareness of racism and help create an environment of tolerance for cultural diversity.

On April 1, 1992, Chuck D, head rapper of Public Enemy, sold out the Fine Arts Center for his lecture on a plethora of subjects as part of the Distinguished Visitors Program. Chuck, a self-proclaimed "media pirate," regularly made time to speak to young America, especially those who were culturally in tune with him.

Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Archibishop Desmond Tutu, spoke to a sold out crowd at the Fine Arts Center as part of the Distinguished Visitors Program.

This is the second department in the nation to offer the PhD in Afro-American Studies. The objective of the program is to produce scholars and teachers in the tradition of W. E. B. Du Bois, who insisted throughout his long life that a commitment to social justice must be rooted in scholarship of the highest order and scholarly excellence requires us to be socially responsible and engaged in improving our world. 

Marcellette Gaillard-Gay Williams served as chancellor of the Amherst campus from July 2001 to June 2002. The first woman to serve as chancellor, Williams advocated for the importance of community, collaboration, interdisciplinary understanding, and human enablement. She also spearheaded a massive infrastructure update and led the University through a difficult financial period as well as the attacks on 9/11.

The report presents 15 major recommendations for diversity. For more details about the Commission on Campus Diversity and subsequent action plans presented by the University, visit this archived website.

The W.E.B. Du Bois Center is established "to engage the nation and the world in discussion and scholarship about the global issues involving race, labor and social justice."

Approximately 700 people filled the Student Union Ballroom at UMass to listen to Lavern Cox speak. Cox was the chosen speaker for the University's homecoming weekend. The title of the event "Ain't I a Woman?" referenced Sojourner Truth's 1851 speech of the same name at the Women's Convention.

Enobong (Anna) Branch Becomes First Associate Chancellor for Equity and Inclusion and establishes the Office of Equity and Inclusion, having spearheaded a major campus-wide climate improvement survey the prior semester.

The Randolph W. Bromery Center for the Arts is a fitting tribute for Bromery, who recruited jazz legends Max Roach, Archie Shepp, and Fred Tillis to the music department faculty and oversaw construction of the Fine Arts Center.