On Exhibit: Highlighting Student Research in the Archives & Special Collections: Black @ PLU

In the fall of 2016, PLU senior and Black Student Union member Nayonni “Nai-Nai” Watts began researching the stories of Black students, staff, faculty, and organizations that have shaped the history of Pacific Lutheran University. With support from Campus Ministry and under the guidance of Director of Multicultural Outreach and Engagement Melannie Denise Cunningham, Nai-Nai created a timeline now on display on outside of the Archives and Special Collections on the 3rd floor of Mortvedt Library through the end of Feburary.

A student protests on campus, 1973 (Pacific Lutheran University Archives and Special Collections)

Over the course of spring semester 2019, the Black Student Union, led by Nai-Nai Watts and Peanina “Nina” Moore, in partnership with the Archives and Special Collections, Alumni Connections, Campus Ministry, and Marketing and Communications, will develop “Black @ PLU,” a digital exhibit exploring Nai-Nai and Nina’s research. This project will also invite Black students and alumni to share memories of their own PLU experience.

The items currently on exhibit in the Mortvedt Library lobby preview the “Black @ PLU” project by showcasing records of Black student life, past and present, from the Archives and Special Collections.

“Don’t Touch My Hair” photoshoot, 2018 (Courtesy of the PLU Black Student Union)

Nina said she hopes the project will help the PLU community gain “an overall understanding of Black peoples who came to the university.” “If we don’t know our history,” Nai-Nai said, “we will definitely be doomed to repeat it… I hope other students of color are able to create PLU displays on their own ethnicity and history.”

Are you interested in researching a topic in PLU history? Want to know more about the "Black @ PLU" project? Contact the Archives and Special Collections at archives@plu.edu or visit us on the 3rd floor of Mortvedt Library.

The Pacific Lutheran University Archives and Special Collections preserves physical and digital records of permanent historical value related to the operations of Pacific Lutheran University, the experience of Scandinavian immigrants in the Pacific Northwest, and the history of western Washington. The Archives and Special Collections also serves as the regional repository for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. For more information, contact archives@plu.edu.