Game Changer
Lou Montgomery ’41 was the first Black student-athlete in Boston College history.
Illustrations: Alex Green
Mapping Black History at Boston College
Professor Rhonda Frederick’s online walking tour showcases important contributions of Black students and faculty to the BC community.
Winter 2025
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In 2019, the fiftieth anniversary of what would become Boston College’s African and African diaspora studies program, Professor Rhonda Frederick set out to document the history of the Black experience at the University. Frederick, a BC English professor who also teaches in the program, spent years conducting historical research, which culminated in the Black BC Walking Tour—an interactive online map that features twenty-seven locations around the BC campus with a connection to Black history. Each stop on the map includes a historical description and photo, highlighting the meaningful ways that Black people have contributed to the academic, cultural, and social fabric of BC for nearly a hundred years. “I wanted the walking tour to represent the ways we celebrate Black life on this campus,” Frederick said, “the things students did that were joyous and loving and about enjoying being here.” But the tour doesn’t shy away from the sometimes-painful experiences of Black people at BC, either, with some landmarks marking the locations of student protests.
Since Frederick unveiled the tour at the 2022 Blacks in Boston Conference, BC professors have used it as a teaching tool in their classes, and students have expanded Frederick’s original historical timeline on the site with their own research. Frederick said she wants Black students to know that they can thrive at the University, “and that they’re working with an ancestry of people here who have made BC their own.”
Here’s a look at eight of the stops on the tour. (Another of the stops honors BC’s first Black football player, Lou Montgomery. To learn more about him, click here) You can find the entire Black BC Walking Tour at blackbc.bc.edu. ◽
Fenwick Hall
Freshmen admitted through BC’s Black Talent Program—a precursor to the University’s AHANA initiatives—were assigned to live in Fenwick during much of the 1970s. Black residents of Fenwick told The Heights in 1970 that the dorm had become a beloved haven for the Black community on campus.
Thea Bowman Center
In 1989, the AHANA House was renamed for Sister Thea Bowman, a Catholic nun who rose to prominence thanks to her advocacy for Black Catholics and her work to dismantle racial and cultural barriers through prayer, gospel preaching, and song.
Lyons Hall
Lyons is home to BC’s African and African diaspora studies program, which the University launched in 1969. Today, the program offers both a major and a minor focused on the history, culture, and politics of African and African-descended people living around the world.
Burns Library
The library is home to many books from the collection of Robert Morris, who was born in 1825 and went on to become the nation’s second African American lawyer. Morris built a practice that represented fugitive slaves and Irish immigrants, and became close friends with both former BC President Robert Fulton, SJ, and Frederick Douglass.
Devlin Hall
On his way to becoming BC’s first Black graduate, Casper Augustus Ferguson ’37 completed much of his coursework in Devlin. Ferguson commuted to Chestnut Hill every day by streetcar. Then, after completing his last afternoon lab in Devlin, he would travel to South Station, where he carried passenger bags at night to help cover his $250 annual tuition.
McGuinn Hall
McGuinn is where Jane Moosbruker, an assistant professor of psychology, showed two important films in 1969 about the challenges faced by Black people in our society. The screenings were part of the Internal Racism Project that Moosbruker created with the Black Student Forum to spark dialogue about racial inequity.
Campion Hall
Campion houses the Lynch School of Education and Human Development, where Professor Lillie Albert in 2004 became the first faculty advisor for the anti-racism FACES Council. BC football players Jim Unis ’05, LGSOE’08, and Jason Lilly ’06 came up with the idea for the student organization in 2003.
Trinity Chapel
In 2008, the chapel was the site of a farewell concert for Hubert Walters, who’d served for twenty-five years as conductor of BC’s gospel choir, Voices of Imani. The choir was founded by a small group of Black students in 1977 in an effort to build community through singing songs of their religious traditions.
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