Black Culture Emerging
When discussing Black Culture with Dr. Brackenridge he had an interesting thing to say, “When you are a minority you feel the only way to seek acceptance is to conform. Its hard for you to achieve an identity”(Brackenridge, 2017).With the rise of an African American student numbers the group Felix Thruston founded, Black Efforts At Trinity grew with more members, “the 32 member organization hopes to expose the various cultural aspects of black history, art, literature, music, fashion, and food”(Martinez. 1973). Additionally the BET sponsored “Trinity's first annual Black Heritage Day held in conjunction with national Black History Week in February. The event featured poetry reading, art exhibits, and a modern dance and karate demonstration” (Martinez, 1973). As blacks become more established on the campus, the need to conform lessens resulting in the need to find an exclusive identity. Not to disregard what Dr. Brackenridge claimed, but Trinity African Americans got over their need to conform.
Athletes made strides everywhere, championing the black culture movement. In a correspondence with Dr. William Walker, a retired religion professor who has always been committed to issues of social justice, I learned an interesting cultural clash. When “members of the football team were expected to wear suits and ties when they traveled to out-oftown games. An African American member of the team insisted on wearing a daishiki instead, and it created quite a controversy on campus. [Walker] wrote a letter to the Trinitonian arguing that he should be allowed to wear the daishiki because, for African Americans, it was really the equivalent of a suit and tie”(Walker, 2017). The daishiki is a traditional dress wear for African Americans and he should have been allowed to wear it on the football bus. Causing a rift between the white and black populations on campus. The black identity search was not just a struggle for athletes, but a campus wide crises.