Black Harvard students holding a graduation of their own
BOSTON — Black students at Harvard University are organizing a graduation ceremony of their own this year to recognize the achievements of black students and faculty members some say have been overlooked.
More than 700 students and guests are registered to attend Harvard’s first Black Commencement, which will take place two days before the school’s traditional graduation events. It isn’t meant to replace the existing ceremony, student organizers say, but rather to add something that was missing.
“We really wanted an opportunity to give voice to the voiceless at Harvard,” said Michael Huggins, president of the Harvard Black Graduate Student Alliance, a campus group that is planning the ceremony. “So many students identify with the African diaspora but don’t necessarily feel welcome as part of the larger community, and they don’t feel like their stories are being shared.”
Harvard joins a growing number of universities that have added graduation events for students of different ethnicities. Some have offered black commencement ceremonies for years, including Stanford University, Marshall University and the University of Washington. Some have added them more recently, and are also adding events for a variety of cultural groups.