"The Community rallied around us": Dartmouth's Black Community 

In Upending the Ivory Tower: Civil Rights, Black Power and the Ivy League, Stefan Bradley touches on Dartmouth's Black community in the decades before Eileen Cave's arrival. The difference between Dartmouth and many of its peer institutions, Bradley explains, is a lack of Black people in the surrounding area. With this in mind, it was imperative for Black students to solidifiy a community on campus. This began with the creation of the Afro-American Society in 1966, which was modeled after Columbia University's Student's Afro-American Society and followed the same goal: "to think about their identity with other Negroes." Soon, Woody Lee '68, the Society's president, would add to this goal by incoporating the idea that Black students at Dartmouth should "be assimilated into those things of our choice, without loss of the things important in the heritage of the American Negro." The organization and nurturing of Dartmouth's Black community has  a rich history, and it became an important part of my interview with Ms. Cave.

Ms. Cave addressed the report she co-wrote, "Institutional Racism and Student Life at Dartmouth," noting that only three names appeared on the report as authors, but it was nonetheless a group effort that included several people in Dartmouth's Black community. Ms. Cave and her co-authors, Judi Redding, and Monica Hargrove, received help from their fellow Black students, as well as Black alumni and faculty members. Even members of the community who didn't write specific sections were credited by Cave as being supportive throughout the process. Ms. Cave stated, "When we stood on the steps of Baker Library before we went to meet with the trustees ... we were supported by the community. And I think that the community rallied around us, I think they visibly showed they supported what we were doing..." This section of the exhibit is dedicated to pictures that display that strong sense of community that has been historically felt among Black students on campus. 

Afro-American Society

The Afro-American Society formed in the 1960s was (and continues to be) a major part of the lives of many Black students at the College. During her time as a student, Ms. Cave served as the president of the Afro-American Society, the first woman to assume the position. When speaking about this time in her Dartmouth career, she touched on how the Afro-American Society enriched the Black community on campus by creating unity. She told me "...the whole focus was the Black community coming together to address the concerns of Blacks and Black students on campus." In this picture, a Black student stands at a podium as he leads a meeting of the organization. 

"Open Letter to the Black Community"

Ms. Cave collaborated with Monica Hargrove and Judi Redding once more after writing "Institutional Racism and Student Life at Dartmouth" for a piece titled "Open Letter to the Black Community." The piece, which includes the lyrics to Sly and the Family Stone's "Stand!" and a short message afterward, was published in Black Praxis, a student magazine focused on discussing issues involving Black students. The three students used this as a way to both encourage other Black students and thank them for the support they'd showed. 

Alpha Phi Alpha

During Ms. Cave's time on campus, Dartmouth's chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, a Black fraternity, was just getting started. Cave had her own personal connection with the fraternity, as her boyfriend was one of the chapter's founders, but the fraternity also had a large impact on the Black community as a whole. She touched on its impact on Black students at Dartmouth in our interview, emphasizing "their effort to organize, to be of service." Here, they are shown outside of a building on campus with many other Black students who themselves were not members of the organization. 

Students in Shabazz

A group of students are pictured here in front of one of the murals inside of Shabazz [Shabazz Center for Intellectual Inquiry], a building that has been vital to Dartmouth's Black community in recent decades. It has housed the College's Afro-American Society and many Black students, while also serving as a general safe haven. 

An Interview with Eileen Cave "Our consciousness has been raised. What are we going to do?": Activism at Dartmouth and Beyond