Academic papers and committee reports help illustrate the university’s march to inclusion over the past 50 years. If you are a Duke student and have a relevant document about Duke’s black history that you would like to have featured here, please submit it for consideration at blackhistory@duke.edu.
Rise of a Bellwether
A 2008 senior thesis by Kamaria Campbell, a computer science major, includes a study of the historical movements and student activism efforts that expanded university-level education to African-American students. It examines Duke’s diversifying efforts, particularly the development of black studies, within a larger context of desegregation in colleges and universities across the nation. Download PDF
History of the Office of Minority Affairs 1969-1985
Report to the President’s Council on Black Affairs
A November 1985 report submitted to former Duke University President Keith H. Brodie by Dean Caroline Lattimore documents the trustees’ decision to desegregate Duke and subsequent efforts by African-American students to improve the environment for black students on campus. The report includes several articles from The Chronicle and a list of the original thirteen points submitted by the 60 black students who occupied the first floor of Allen building in protest. Download PDF
Solitary Act in the Bell Building: Striking a Blow for Racial Desegregation at a Southern Medical School
Former vice dean of Duke’s School of Medicine, Dr. Edward C. Halperin, M.A. ‘06, wrote this January 1988 article describing the desegregation of hospitals and medical societies in North Carolina. The document provides compelling details about desegregation at Duke and photos of the historic Bell building, a once segregated research center torn down in 2009 to build Duke’s Cancer Center and Medical Pavilion. Download PDF