Black Guide Planned for Spring

The editors of a planned Guide to Black Life at Harvard say they aren’t daunted by the recent proliferation of Harvard guides aimed at specific sectors of the student body.

At a widely-publicized meeting Monday, Kiratiana E. Freelon ’02, Marques J. Redd ’04 and Toussaint G. Losier ’04, the project’s leaders, said the project’s goal is to provide not only a guide to Harvard for black students but also a comprehensive history of black life in the Boston area.

And they vowed to publish the guide by Commencement.

“We are going to be finished this year,” said Freelon. “We won’t be working on this over the summer.”

By successfully publishing this year, the students would avoid the delays that plagued editors of the Women’s Guide to Harvard, door-dropped to students last month after delays of a year and a half and a production cost near $14,000.

The Guide to Black Life, whose cost is estimated around $5,000 or $6,000, will be funded by a mix of alumni donations, advertising sales, and grants from the Undergraduate Council and the Harvard Foundation, according to its organizers.

While work on the guide only kicked into high gear over intersession, the students said the idea is not a new one.

“The idea has been circulating in the black community for years,” Redd said. “It’s just been waiting for people to bring the necessary vision and dedication.”

The three editors, all of whom are on the board of the Black Students Association, have been recruiting writers since September. This semester, they began efforts in earnest and now have a detailed 30-page outline.

The students said they have spoken to editors of other guides, including the Harvard Asian American Association’s guide, HSA’s Unofficial Guide to Life at Harvard and the Women’s Guide, of which Freelon was also an editor.

“It’s foolish and backwards to assume that the Unofficial Guide will serve everyone’s needs,” Losier said. “You wouldn’t want it to. That’s assuming that students aren’t nuanced.”

“These guides tell the stories that don’t get told,” Redd said.

But he said that the Guide to Black Life will be unique.

“We’re imagining something with a different purpose,” he said.

Along with lists of resources, such as black faculty members, information on advising, local restaurants and beauty parlors, the guide will feature extensive historical research, its organizers say.

“The history aspect is the most important,” Losier said. “Because Harvard had such an interesting relationship to African-Americans, it’s imperative for black students on campus to get that information without searching through the Widener stacks.”

The students said the history section, which will begin in 1636, will include alumni perspectives on Harvard before and after desegregation, advice from departing seniors and a detailed photo essay culled from the Harvard archives.

The editors said they also plan to discuss how randomization has changed life for black students on campus—a change they said in part inspired the guide itself.

“Since randomization, it’s been difficult to pass on information from one class to the next,” Freelon said.

“A book is lasting. It will help us rebuild a sense of community,” Redd said.

The students said the BSA plans to use the guide’s interviews to build a database of black alumni. And they said researching the guide, as well as the publication itself, will help to link students and alumni.

And while the students said that there’s nothing wrong with aiming the guide specifically at black students, they said they hope the project will benefit all Harvard students.

“I want every single student here to know about the black experience at Harvard,” said Freelon.