The National Council on Public History (NCPH) has selected “Black at Bryn Mawr” as an honorable mention for the 2016 NCPH Student Project Award.
Founded by Emma Kioko ’15 and Grace Pusey ’15, Black at Bryn Mawr brings to light the history and experiences of Black students, staff, and faculty at Bryn Mawr College from 1885 through the present day through a campus walking tour and digital historical record.
“Kioko and Pusey set out to document the history of African-American faculty, students, and staff at Bryn Mawr, grounded in the college's Special Collections. Their project has successfully reclaimed and rendered public an often neglected history on college campuses," NCPH officials said in announcing the award.
Monica L. Mercado, director of the Albert M. Greenfield Digital Center for the History of Women's Education, where the Black at Bryn Mawr project makes its home, accepted the award on behalf of Kioko and Pusey at the NCPH annual meeting on March 19.
“I was delighted that this project and the work Grace and Emma began is being recognized at a moment when many colleges and universities are beginning to pursue campus history projects and looking for successful models,” says Mercado. “These awards traditionally are reserved for graduate student work.”
Black at Bryn Mawr tours continue to be offered through the Greenfield Digital Center through May, and students in Mercado’s course "History in Public: Race, Gender, and Campus Memory" are continuing some of the research from the original project this semester. Mercado and Pusey will lead walking tours in March as part of the New England Dean's Conference meeting at Bryn Mawr College, and they will again offer tours to the public at Reunion 2016.