Volume 65 | Spring 2021 | Issue 1

VOLUME 65 | Spring 2021| Issue 1

AWARD WINNING STUDENT NEWS SOURCE AT COLUMBUS STATE UNIVERSITY

Jessica DeMarco-Jacobson Editor-in-Chief

Vivian Duncan Office Manager

Joe Miller

EDITOR'S LETTER

Luka Steele

Pictured Riverside Theatre

Faculty Adviser Visual Editor

Aaron George Layout Editor

Macy Frazier

Senior Copy Editor

Ashley Peterson Social Media Editor

EDITORS Destinee Williams REPORTERS Megan Glass Jonathan Stringfellow Spencer White VISUAL REPORTERS Tanasha Coleman Vinh Quang Huynh Robert Purchase Eddie Sampson

Contact For comments or inquiries: uproarcsu@gmail.com

4225 University Ave. Columbus, GA 31907

Special Thanks To Collegiate 100, CSU Libraries, Scott Berson, Christian Harvey, Jordan Johnson, Dr. Ianthe Marini, Abriahna Fambro

Disclaimer Opinions expressed in The Uproar are those of the editor or writer of the article and do not necessarily reflect the views of Columbus State University or its affiliates.

Dear Readers, As you may have already noticed by the logo on the cover, we have officially changed our name to The Uproar. Last semester, we started to seriously consider a name change after revealing how “The Saber” has Confederate origins. Our school mascot used to be the rebel, as in the Confederate rebel. The paper was named “The Saber,” most likely referencing the saber that a Confederate cavalry officer would be issued.

Changing our publication name is something we have considered for a long time. In fact, two years ago, our former Editor-in-Chief, Stone Ray, decided to repurpose the name to mean “sharp, cutting edge news.” But as I mentioned earlier, we eventually came to the conclusion last semester that we need to change our name entirely. Having a publication name with Confederate origins is simply problematic. Our university is one of the most diverse in Georgia, and we wanted a name that serves the student and faculty population of today, not yesterday’s.

After throwing around a number of names, I came up with “The Uproar,” which alludes to our current mascot.

Secondly, it has another meaning, “a public expression of protest or outrage;” this definition from the Oxford English Dictionary is fitting. Like former Editor-in-Chief Ashley Peterson said in a recent article, sometimes change requires a loud and uncomfortable dialogue.

Aside from that, there is another major announcement: I am now the Editor-in-Chief, as you may have figured out from my language about Ashley. I’ve worked for the university paper since my first semester at CSU, and I am very excited to now be at the head of the publication.

As someone very passionate about social issues, I hope to continue to illuminate concerning problems at our university, as justice is a moral imperative for me.

Additionally, I hope that our publication can continue to inform and entertain during these trying times.

On this note, we have decided to make our February issue another Black History Month issue, after last year’s proved very popular with students and faculty alike. The issue includes a review of the Black Lives Matter protests from summer, the history of redlining in Columbus, the Schwob Black Student Union, and more.

Thank you for reading—stay safe and healthy!

@UproarCSU @UproarCSU @UproarCSU

C O N T E N T S •• VOL. 65 • SPRING 2021 • ISSUE 1 AWARD-WINNING STUDENT NEWS SOURCE AT COLUMBUS STATE UNIVERSIT Y

4 | SUMMER 2020: A REVIEW OF THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT Among the isolation of the pandemic, there was a unity among people of color demanding justice and equality. This is a look into the protests in Columbus.

By Destinee Williams

10 | BLACK HISTORY IN COLUMBUS This is a record of a handful of famous African Americans within Columbus and how they impacted the city.

By Vivian Duncan

14 | REDLINING

8 | BLACK LIVES MATTER PROTEST COLLAGE

Redlining has affected the Black communty in a multitude of ways. In this article the definition of relining is explainedand how it exactly affect the community as a whole

A visual collage of moments that occured at the Black Lives Matter Protest in Columbus.

By Ashley Peterson

8 | COLLEGIATE 100 MEN OF COLUMBUS STATE The Collegiate 100 Men is an organization meant to help young men help improve campus life.

By Robert Purchase II

9 | CSU THEATRE DEPARTMENT SEARCHES FOR NEW ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR Due to previous controversy, CSU is now searching for a new professor that specializes in African American history and performance.

By Jessica DeMarco-Jacobson

16 | THE BLACK SCHWOB SOCIETY A group of students, due to recent racial tensions, create a union for Black students.

By Spencer White

On The Cover members of the Collegiate 100

by Robert Purchase II These Stories found within these 18 pages

Summer 2020: A Review of The Black Lives Matter Movement

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C U LT U R E

T

he summer of 2020 was a time of unity and advocacy as activists protested police brutality against racial minority groups. Black Lives Matter protestors organized several demonstrations beginning at the end of May 2020 and continuing into the new year.

What is the Black Lives Matter Movement?

The Black Lives Matter movement is a social movement that challenges racism against minorities and anti-black violence in regards to police brutality.

Police brutality is defined as the unnecessary or excessive use of force by law enforcement. One of the goals of the BLM movement is to advocate against the over-policing of minority neighborhoods, and also to reform the current police training methods.

BLM activists have organized influential large-scale protests in several states as well as internationally since 2013.

The Beginning of the 2020 Protests The BLM protest of summer 2020 began after numerous cases of police brutality involving the deaths of several minorities including, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd.

After video footage of Floyd’s death at the hands of police officers was shared across social media on May 25, 2020, protests began in Minneapolis during which protestors advocated for defunding the police.

The initial protest led to several demonstrations standing in support of the movement across all 50 states.

The Spread of the Movement As the protests began picking up momentum in the United States, supporters from all over the world started offering their support to the social movement.

Soon after the news broke of Floyd’s death, many other countries joined the movement including Madrid, Nigeria, and many more.

Thousands of protestors in the United Kingdom took to the streets and took a knee in support of the BLM movement and anti-racism.

JESSICA DEMARCO-JACOBSON

BLM protests in Columbus Columbus residents also held peaceful protests of their own. Beginning May 31, 2020, and continuing into mid-June, protestors met holding signs that read “I can’t breathe,” referencing the death of Floyd.

The first march began at the River Center and continued onto 13th street, during which protestors chanted “No justice, no peace,” as they expressed their anger at racialbased violence at the hands of law enforcement. The event lasted around two hours.

The protest did not remain entirely nonconfrontational, as police began arresting demonstrators for failure to disperse after the march had officially ended at 2 p.m. However, the protest remained nonviolent and no injuries were reported.

Two more demonstrations were organized, with one taking place in Midtown and another one beginning at the government building. The second demonstration took place on June 6, consisting of about 300 participants in total. Mayor Henderson and Chief of Police Robert Boren spoke during the protest in a show of solidarity. No arrests were made.

The third and final protest took place on June 13.

This demonstration was peaceful and remained nonconfrontational.

A Step Towards Change Protests have initiated changes across the country.

Several city councils have announced their intention to defund and reform police institutions in favor of investing in the community.

Several universities and institutions have called for the removal of Confederate statues and symbols from school grounds. Confederate monuments that have been removed in Georgia include a statue of General Joseph E. Johnston in Dalton and an obelisk in Decatur.

Columbus State University has also seen changes as a result of the BLM protests. In the fall semester, the theatre department opened up a discussion about racial discrimination.

These discussions, and the coverage of the issue by the Uproar in several articles, led to the launch of an investigation. The investigation team reached out to current and former students, staff, and faculty members about the allegations. The results of the investigation has revealed that the theatre department has a shortage of diverse staff members that are of the minority.

The university will continue to address issues of race, discrimination, and prejudice in the department as the investigation continues.

DESTINEE WILLIAMS

AARON GEORGE

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ACADEMICS

T

he Collegiate 100 is an organization of men from many different backgrounds. The Collegiate 100 chapter of Columbus State is under the 100 Black Men of America. Although most of the members are minority men, Collegiate 100 does not discriminate and is open to men of all ethnicities or walks of life. The Men of Collegiate 100 are dedicated to improving student life on and off campus; the organization is responsible for taking part in notable events and charity events such as CSU Cougarthon, Feeding the Valley,

Midnight Basketball, Women’s Worth and many more. Collegiate 100 members are spread around campus and hold leadership positions on campus such as SGA President and; Vice President of Scholastic Affairs.

This organization also has members of Alpha Phi Alpha, Kappa Alpha Psi, Omega Psi Phi, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternities and many more.

The Four Pillars of the organization as listed on their CSU webpage are “‘education, mentorship, economic empowerment and health and wellness.’” Each of these pillars are broken down into committees, and each member in C100 is

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON COLLEGIATE 100, SCAN THIS QR CODE

8 | The Uproar | SPRING 2021

THE COLLEGIATE 100 MEN OF COLUMBUS STATE responsible for picking a committee and completing a related task. For example, members of the mentorship committee go to middle schools, Boys and Girls Clubs, and “Big Brother” programs, establishing connections and mentoring young men who may not have father figures in their lives or are not in the best positions.

Collegiate 100 partners with smaller organizations such as the Men About Change Initiative which is an organization that helps increase retention and graduation rates of African American males at CSU; there is also a sister organization called The Collegiate Women of CSU.

EDUCATION MENTORSHIP ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT health and wellness ROBERT PURCHASE II

ACADEMICS

CSU Theatre Department searches for new associate professor

O

n Dec. 18, 2020, CSU posted a job opening for an Assistant Professor of Theatre, just a week after an Atlanta law firm disclosed evidence of racial discrimination within the CSU Theatre Department. Theatre students, faculty, and staff members were notified via email that the investigation would begin three days after The Uproar published an article concerning allegations of racial discrimination within the CSU Theatre Department.

The job summary on the CSU Employment Portal states that this is a tenure-track position meant to begin in the Fall 2021 semester.

Additionally, CSU prefers a candidate with “expertise in African American History & Performance.”

“Demonstrated success of innovative, inclusive, and interdisciplinary teaching and/ or artistry is strongly desired, as is evidence of creative work with ROBERT PURCHASE II

culturally diverse and LGBTQ+ populations,” the qualifications section reads.

The job posting may be a result of the investigation, or it may be replacing Assistant Professor Jamila Turner’s former position, which she left a few years ago. The Uproar reached out to Theatre Department head Dr. Lawrence Dooley and Administrative Assistant Katie Cannon for further details.

The Uproar received a response from Dr. Deborah Bordelon, Provost and Executive Vice President, forwarded by Director of University Relations, Gregory Hudgison: “Based on the recent departure of a professor who taught in the field of lighting, the university decided to post a position for a tenure-track professor in a high-need area of theatre teaching."

Bordelon was likely referring to former Assistant Professor of Theatre Design Christopher Head, who recently left CSU in July 2020.

“Based on the recent departure of a professor who taught in the field of lighting, the university decided to post a position for a tenure-track professor in a high-need area of theatre teaching."

JESSICA DEMARCO-JACOBSON

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Black History in

Columbuss Columbu A timeline of prominent people and events in Columbus Black history

Horace King

T

oday, you can choose from a few different bridges to cross over into Phenix City from Columbus, but that was not always that case. In 1832, a contract for the construction of the first public bridge over the river, Dillingham Bridge, was given to John Godwin.

When Godwin began building the bridge, he had Horace King at his side. King was born into slavery in South Carolina in 1807, but became known as a master builder in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi. By the late 1870s, King had built his famous bridges over the Chattahoochee river, as well as the Flint River and the Oconee River. King was also known as a political figure later in life, having served in the Alabama legislature as a state representative from Russell County. After Godwin’s death in 1859, King erected a monument over his grave in Phenix City that reads: “This stone was placed here by Horace King, in lasting remembrance of the love and gratitude he felt for his lost friend and former master.”

King’s name is still celebrated in southeastern architectural history.

Thomas Wiggins

Born in Columbus in 1849, Thomas Wiggins spent his childhood as a slave on the Columbus plantation of General James N. Bethune.

Blind at birth, “Blind Tom” became capable of hearing an intricate musical composition and reproducing what he heard on the piano, seldom making a mistake. He was even more impressive as a musical prodigy, considering he had no musical instruction of any kind.

“Blind Tom” was only eight years old when he started performing in the Columbus area. During the Civil War, he toured Europe as a young adult and is rumored to have performed for royalty. After the war, he performed across America and eventually came back to thrill audiences at the Columbus Springer Opera House. A state historic marker stands nearby on Warm Springs Road as a memorial to his talent.

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VIVIAN DUNCAN

HISTORY

Alma Thomas

Born in Columbus on Sept. 22, 1891, Alma Thomas had a childhood rich with culture and arts, but the prevalent racism and poor educational system caused the Thomas family to leave Georgia and move to Washington, D.C. After teaching art for several years, she studied costume design at Howard University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts, becoming the first Howard University student and perhaps the first African American woman anywhere to hold that degree. She became a prominent abstract painter in the 1960s and 70s, and she went on to become the first black woman to have a solo art exhibit at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, in 1971. The Columbus Museum has a collection of her paintings, watercolors, sculptures, marionettes, and papers, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum also holds an archive of her paintings and daily papers.

"Ma" Rainey Gertrude Pridgett Rainey, better known as "Ma" Rainey, was one of the most important of the early blues singers.

Called the "Mother of the Blues," she toured and recorded with Paramount for thirty-five years, doing much to establish classic blues in American musical life. The Georgia native showed musical talent early on, beginning her career at age fourteen in a local talent show, "Bunch of Blackberries," at the Springer Opera House in Columbus in 1900. In December 1923, Rainey became one of the first women to record the blues professionally, eventually producing more than 100 recordings of her own compositions with some of the best musicians at the time. She was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Blues Hall of Fame in 1983, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1992, and Georgia Women of Achievement in 1993. In 1994 the U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp in her honor. Her house, located at 805 Fifth Avenue, was nominated for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. It was fully restored in 2006 and is now open to the public.

ASHLEY PETERSON, CSU LIBRARY

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HISTORY

Eugene Bullard

Eugene Bullard was born in a three bedroom house in Columbus, as the seventh child of his parents. His father, William Bullard, was born into slavery on the property of Wiley Bullard, a planter in Stewart County. William Bullard ended up moving to Columbus to work for W.C. Bradley, just a rising cotton merchant then. Shaken by the near lynching of his father in 1903 and wanting to know something of the world beyond Columbus, he ran away from home in 1906. In Atlanta, he joined a group of Romani people and traveled with them throughout rural Georgia, tending to and learning to race their horses. The Romani, originally from England, brought to his attention that the racial color line did not exist there.

Bullard was still affronted by racism, and he decided to leave the United States for Great Britain. He did so as a stowaway on a German merchant ship, the Marta Russ, which departed Virginia, on March 4, 1912, bound for Scotland. He made his way to France where he became the first Black American military pilot. In 1959, French president Charles de Gaulle made Bullard a knight of the French Legion of Honor, the nation's highest ranking order and decoration.

Martin Luther King Jr.

There are many famous bombings during the Civil Rights movement, but few know about the one that happened in Columbus. On July 1, 1958, Martin Luther King came to Columbus, despite death threats. He delivered a speech at the Prince Hall Masonic Temple with no issues, according to the FBI, but later that night, a blast of dynamite resounded in a Columbus neighborhood nearby. It was the home of Essie Mae Ellison, the first black woman to move into a predominantly white neighborhood in Columbus. She and five other occupants escaped unharmed. Dave Gillarm, Executive Director of the Columbus Black Museum, says “the civil rights movement in the area became stagnant after a Columbus Civil Rights Activist was murdered, and King was brought in to reignite the flame.”

According to Gillarm, city leaders said, "We told you this was going to happen," and, "they told Dr. King he was not welcome to come to Columbus anymore. So that is why he only came once."

12 | The Uproar | SPRING 2021

Columbus African American police protests In 1971 Columbus, only eight percent of the police force was made up of Black policemen, not relative to the thirty-five percent Black population.

This caused racial tension and hostility both inside and outside the police force, culminating on May 31st, when seven Black policemen, all members of the Afro-American Police League, ripped the American flags from their uniforms during a strike outside of their headquarters. All seven policemen were fired, but they stood fast in their stance that “there was no justice in the Columbus police department and that they would not wear the flag until they received the equality, justice, and respect for which it stood,”according to Freedom on Film: Civil Rights in Georgia. On June 19, 1971, there was a protest march in support of a lawsuit against the city. Even though the protest was peaceful, racial tensions soared following the demonstration. Rioting reached a height on June 21, 1971, when a white officer, L. A. Jacks, shot and killed a twenty-year old African American youth named Willie J. Osborne. Riots, arson attacks, police violence, and further protests impacted the city for several months, prompting the Columbus City Council to invoke an emergency ordinance and Columbus mayor J. R. Allen to declare a state of emergency.

Calvin Smyre In 1974, at the age of twenty-six, Calvin Smyre was elected to the Georgia State House of Representatives, as its youngest member at the time. He is known for his early efforts as an organizer and director of the "War on Poverty" program. In 1986, Governor Joe Frank Harris appointed Smyre the floor leader. This made him also the first Black representative to have held this position in Georgia.

Smyre sponsored successful legislation on the fight to remove the Confederate battle emblem from the state flag, the construction of the Georgia Dome, and the honoring of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday as a state holiday. In 1984, he was the first African American from Georgia to be elected to the Democratic National Committee. As campaign chairman and advisor, he helped Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton win their presidential campaigns. Smyre has also been a key figure in the world of finance. He is the executive vice president of corporate affairs for Synovus Financial Corporation, a multi-financial services company with more than $14.9 billion in assets.

He is also the chairman, CEO of the Synovus Foundation.

Black History in

Columbus SPRING 2021

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REDLINING

The stealthy segregation that continues to plague Columbus

C

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HISTORY

olumbus is a historic city, and like many American cities, it still bears the scars of discriminatory policies from long ago. One of these policies is redlining, a practice beginning in the 1930s which denied home loans to anyone who lived in predominantly Black neighborhoods. This effectively shut Black communities out of the middle class and perpetuated segregation.

This would end up affecting the wealth and health of these communities for generations.

Redlining was enforced and carried out using color-coded maps, distinguishing whether an area was “desirable” or “hazardous” along with a graded rating from A to D. On a preserved redlining map of Columbus from Mapping Inequality, one area with a C rating includes the caption, “There is some Negro property located along the northeast side of Cusseta Road and east side of Lumpkin Road which should carry a D grade rating.” These “lowrated” areas were colored red.

Areas with a “low” rating would not be guaranteed loans from banks. As the Home Owners' Loan Corporation stated at the time,

and CSU alumnus Scott Berson.

“For a long time, Black people could not do that by law. And those effects along with general prejudice have

Redlining has also led to a literal temperature rise in Black neighborhoods. kept Black neighborhoods poor for generations and generations while white neighborhoods have been allowed to compound their wealth growth over time based on their previous wealth.”

On “The Amber Ruffin Show,” the titular host asked how many viewers live in or know someone who lives in a home that has been passed down within the family.

“That’s called generational wealth,” Ruffin explained. “Home ownership is the number one driver of wealth in America. [...] You can use a home to pay for college or start a business or, you know, not be homeless. But if you look at almost any major American city, most of the formerly redlined areas are majority Black and low-income.”

Ruffin went on to explain that banks continue a form of redlining to this day. “Homes in majority Black neighborhoods are valued at 25% lower than homes in white areas, even when the crime rate and the neighborhood amenities are exactly the same. And because school funding is based on home values, the average non-white school district receives $2,226 less per student than a white school district.”

Because crime is directly linked to wealth and education, police tend to patrol these areas more frequently.

As a consequence, Black people are 3.5 times more likely to be arrested for drugs, despite there being no difference in the rate of drug use between white and Black people.

Redlining has also led to a literal temperature rise in Black neighborhoods.

“In general it's caused horrific problems for generations, in

"most of the formerly redlined areas are majority Black and low-income." “responsible” lenders would "refuse to make loans in these areas [or] only on a conservative basis."

This ensured that Black people could not become homeowners at nearly the rate of their white counterparts. And despite the fact that redlining is no longer an officially accepted practice, its effects continue to harm the same populations it initially targeted.

“Housing is how people generate money in America – you buy a house, and the money you make on the house selling it you invest, or you pass it down,” said city planner ASHLEY PETERSON

MAPPING INEQUALITY

HISTORY

terms of affordable housing and wealth-building but also general investment,” said Berson. “For example, redlined neighborhoods are literally hotter temperature-wise today than others because of landscaping disinvestment in trees.”

One study on this particular subject found that “94% of studied areas display consistent city-scale patterns

of elevated land surface temperatures in formerly redlined areas relative to their non-redlined neighbors by as much as 7°C.” Western and Southwest cities like Columbus showed the greatest difference.

Berson concluded, “So while redlining as an actual practice is long gone history, the effects of it have set Black neighborhoods back decades.”

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ACADEMICS

I

n response to a summer characterized by high racial tensions, two Schwob School of Music students, Christian Harvey and Jordan Johnson, decided to take action by creating a Black student union at their school. According to CSU Involve, their new organization, The Black Schwob Society, aims to “highlight and educate on the experiences, concerns, and diverse cultures of Black students, specifically in the music department of Columbus State University.”

Harvey, now a junior pursuing a Bachelors of Music in Bass Performance, came to Columbus State University for his first semester in 2018. He recalls, “When I first got to school here, I noticed that the Black students took part in a lot of code-switching; groups of Black students would use slang amongst friends but might feel pressure to speak grammatically ‘correct’ among their professors.”

The pressure for minority students to change the way they spoke or acted around different members of the schools’ community revealed to Harvey that there was a need for a place where students, especially those of color, could go to feel “welcome and empowered.”

Johnson, now a junior pursuing a Bachelors of Music in Trombone Performance, felt similarly about the cultural issues at Schwob that Harvey began noticing at the start of his education.

He figured that if they related to each others’ experiences as Black students at Schwob so much, they must not be alone. So, he and Harvey paired up to co-found the Black Schwob Society.

The pair approached Schwob’s professor of choral activities, Dr. Ianthe Marini, to request that she lead 16 | The Uproar | SPRING 2021

them as the organization’s faculty advisor. Marini says that their request was “perhaps the greatest honor that I’ve ever felt.”

In the beginning of the fall semester of 2020, the Black Schwob Society formed into an official organization. Marini says that the response from the faculty of Schwob was 100% supportive in the creation of the organization.

Despite the various challenges that came from the pandemic, the organization reports that it was successful in its first semester. The organization’s faculty advisor even recalls that the pandemic may have opened a few doors for the group in their first year.

“Having our meetings on Zoom has allowed us to hear from nationally renowned speakers from all over the country.”

She says, “Having our meetings on Zoom has allowed us to hear from nationally renowned speakers from all over the country.” Among these speakers were Metropolitan Opera artist Kimberli Render, the renowned choral composer Dr. Rosephanye Powell, and South Carolina Maestro Kellen Gray.

Vice President Christian Harvey says that the organization’s “Bringing Schwob to the Streets” event, which took place on Oct. 2, 2020, was the most successful event of their first semester. The event aimed to bring the music of Schwob out into the streets of downtown Columbus. Various tents SPENCER WHITE

Black Schwob Society

The

were set up all along Broadway, each containing a small ensemble performing vastly different genres of music. The participating ensembles included everything from string quartets performing Beethoven to brass quintets performing Stevie Wonder. The free music invited many pedestrians to give tips to the organization. At the end of the night the tips from each small ensemble totalled over $300 to go directly to the Black Schwob Society.

Harvey says, “The event gave musicians the opportunity to make music with one another during times of social distancing and COVID-19 precautions.” He notably reports that the behind the scenes logistics of the event “was like clockwork.” Working in collaboration with Uptown Columbus, the event was held with seamless planning and organization.

Likely because of its popularity, the organization planned a second “Bringing Schwob to the Streets” event just four Fridays later, on Oct. 30, 2020. The event held similar results to the first.

The group hopes to continue engaging with the community as pandemic restrictions lighten up in the coming months. Among their more ambitious goals, the group plans to commission works from Black composers, increase diversity in the community of classical music through the empowerment of their peers, and even offer free music lessons to local high school students. Most importantly, however, the organization hopes to educate as many people as they can.

The Black Schwob Society’s community relations coordinator Abriahna Fambro says, “Issues that affect the Black community are not just our issues, they’re everyone’s issues.” She goes on to say, “So many people say that we need to have hard conversations about BLACK SCHWOB SOCIETY

race… BSS is the place to have those conversations.” This is why, she explains, the Black Schwob Society is “a place for everyone -–literally everyone.”

Co-founders Jordan Johnson and Christian Harvey were once the self-proclaimed “Black Schwob society” for being diner-time regulars at Country’s Barbeque on Broadway. What started as a small group of friends is now a prominent, organized group in the Schwob community. Fambro says that Johnson and Harvey really “took the reigns” in forming the organization, and Marini says that “the initiative between the two is so inspiring.”

Under the leadership of the two, there now exists a place for students of all creeds and colors to feel welcomed and empowered. The group hopes to eliminate feelings of isolation among African American students, and hopes to continue advocating for and educating on Black culture and artistry.

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Comic

ASHLEY PETERSON

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