UniversityJournal
News, People, Culture, and Research from Campus and Beyond
Using one of the three kiosk screens of TheTaylor Family/ UTrailblazers Experience, Roxane Pickens, librarian assistant professor, engages with the archival material on the University’s first Black graduates.
Exhibit Pays Homage to First Black Graduates Interactive experience chronicles contributions of the Black community at the U Located in the Johnny C. Taylor, Jr. Breezeway at the Dooly Memorial Classroom Building, The Taylor Family/UTrailblazers Experience features an interactive three-screen kiosk with touchscreen technology that allows users to scroll through hundreds of photographs, documents, newspaper articles, film footage, bios, and other historical artifacts related to the years just after the University’s Board of Trustees voted in 1961 to admit qualified students without regard to race or color. “The first Black graduates of this institution probably didn’t consider themselves pioneers, but they were. This exhibit is a way of looking back in history to honor them, to show appreciation for the path they ultimately paved for not only people like me but also current and future generations of students,” says Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., B.S.C. ’89, vice chair of the University’s Board of Trustees, whose generous gift made the exhibit possible. The idea for the exhibit was conceived by the Black Alumni
2 MIAMI Spring 2022 miami.edu/magazine
Society in 2012, following the University’s 50-year anniversary marking desegregation. Sparked by their own curiosity, a group of alumni volunteers, including Denise Mincey-Mills, B.B.A. ’79; Phillis E. Tyler, B.B.A. ’79; and Antonio Junior, B.A. ’79; began to unearth the stories and struggles of the first Black students. Their efforts evolved into the First Black Graduates Project, which later became known as UTrailblazers. Taylor, who is president and CEO of the Washington, D.C.based Society for Human Resource Management, stepped forward with a donation to turn the dream of a permanent memorial into a reality. His gift is part of Ever Brighter: The Campaign for Our Next Century. The University will commemorate the exhibit’s opening and honor the enduring contributions of the Black community at a special event on the Coral Gables Campus on Aug. 26-27, 2022.
