UO Black Cultural Center

UO Black Cultural Center

  • <p>The Lyllye Reynolds-Parker Black Cultural Center opened in 2019.</p>

This 3,200-square-foot cultural center opened on Oct. 12, 2019. It is here today because Black student groups over the decades advocated for a welcoming place to study, gather and build community.

In 1968, in the days following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the UO Black Student Union presented to UO leadership a list of demands, including space and facilities for study and tutoring.

In 2015, during another period of racial protests in the country and on university campuses, a group of UO Black students organized as the Black Student Task Force. They presented a list of 13 demands to leaders, which echoed some of the earlier students’ demands. Among them was the addition of an on-campus Black Cultural Center.

Longtime UO donors Nancy and Dave Petrone provided the lead gift for the center, which prompted donations, both large and small, from around the world.

Today, this academic, cultural and social touchstone for Black students, offers academic resources and supports, such as counseling, speakers and other events.

  • <p>Lyllye Reynolds-Parker, Eugene native, civil rights activist and UO alumna</p>
  • <p>Mabel Byrd, the first Black student enrolled at UO</p>
  • <p>Maxine Maxwell, early advocate for integration of campus dorms</p>
  • <p>Nellie Louise Franklin, the first Black woman to graduate from UO</p>
  • <p>William Sherman Savage, the first Black student to earn a graduate degree from UO</p>

Directions to next location

Go west on E. 15th Ave. toward Hayward Field. The next stop, DeNorval Unthank Jr. Hall, is on your right before you reach Agate Street.

Unthank Hall