Episode 2: Song of Sonia Sanchez Black Women of Amherst College

Sonia Sanchez, the poet, author, activist and scholar, arrived at Amherst in 1972 to build the Black studies department. Joining the College when it was still all-male, she was the first Black woman faculty member – a pioneer and revered mentor. Though Professor Sanchez voted for coeducation, she left Amherst before the first class of female students matriculated in 1975; her brief time at Amherst was marred by a traumatic event that forever changed Black life on campus.
Host: Nichelle S. Carr ’98 
Discussion topics:

A brief history of Black studies on U.S. campuses

New York’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and its impact on Sanchez

The tragic story of Gerald Penny ’77, namesake of the Black cultural center on campus, and its lasting impact on Sanchez and the Amherst community

The decline and revival of Black Studies at Amherst College, including the road to becoming what is considered by some to be one of the strongest departments at the institution and in the U.S.


Featured interviews (in order of appearance):

Sonia Sanchez, who taught at Amherst from 1972 to 1975

Rhonda Cobham-Sander, now the Emily C. Jordan Folger Professor of Black Studies and English, who arrived at Amherst in 1986