Sometimes, preparing for the future may begin with a walk down memory lane.
Reminiscing about years past, the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies celebrated its 40th anniversary Thursday. The event, which involved panel discussions with key individuals in the center’s history, brought alumni, faculty and students together to reflect on the evolution and future of the center.
Among the 10 panel speakers were figures such as Chancellor Emeritus Charles E. Young, former director Molefi Asante and associate professor Richard Yarborough.
“It bridged the generations for people here from the 1960s to students today to understand how student leadership played a role in something like the Bunche Center,” said director Darnell Hunt. “We reached out to current students, former students, alumni, faculty, community members and more broadly throughout L.A. toward people who’ve had contact with the center in some kind or another.”
The Bunche Center was established in 1969 by students concerned with the recognition and study of African American culture. Created on the eve of the black studies movement, the center was one of the first in the nation, developing an extensive research program and creating publications dedicated to African American culture.
“It was something that needed to be done and there was clearly a need to put together something that would be responsive to the concerns of the students at the time and of all the things we might have done. A studies center of the kind that we created was what I felt would be the best,” Young said.
Over time, the center began reaching out to other ethnic groups, expanding to include the American Indian Studies Center, the Asian American Studies Center and the Chicano Studies Research Center by the end of 1969.
“The center has evolved, but it’s done pretty much what I would have expected, and it and all of the centers have matured extremely well,” Young said. “We developed the face of strong academic faculty and student body; we moved out of a confrontational period to a period where there is a great movement.”
By outlining and reflecting upon the history of the center, both speakers and audience members developed a sense of unity and desire to foster the center’s well-being and community involvement, said Alva Stevenson, program coordinator at the UCLA Center for Oral History Research.
“I think some of the best points came out of interaction with the audience,” Stevenson said.
“Some of the most significant things were funding for the center and the issue of engagement between the center and the African American community. In the future, I think there will definitely be more local engagement, more coming together between student and staff and faculty, rethinking and hoping for innovation,” he added.