About AAP
“The Association of Black Collegians shall foster an atmosphere which promotes the cultural, intellectual, and social growth of Black students at Lafayette College. We are committed to creating a community grounded in personal and communal wellness that actively combats all forms of oppression including but not limited to anti-Blackness, misogyny, xenophobia, queerphobia, classism, imperialism, and ableism.”
The Association of Black Collegians (ABC) is Lafayette College’s oldest and longest running cultural student organization created for and by Black students. The ABC Archives Project originally began in the spring of 2019 as a venture to “live in, interrogate, and time travel through the historical archives to create a magazine/portfolio that celebrates the 50th anniversary of the [ABC and] Portlock Black Cultural Center” (Anderson). Led by then-Historian of ABC Jovantè Anderson ‘19, the six-week research that was embarked on by the three-person team of Jovantè, Xavier Grayce Walker ‘22, and Louis Wingfield ’22 was truly the catalyst for shifting the idea of this project from a one-time research experience to a long-standing component of the ABC as an organization.
One of the ABC’s central values states:
“We are committed to the creation and purpose of this organization. We understand that what we do in our four years has a direct connection to and impact on those who have come before us and those who will come after.”
The ABC Archives Project (AAP) is committed to furthering the development of an institutional history of the Association of Black Collegians and contribute to the narrative of Black history at Lafayette and the Lehigh Valley at large. We hope that this project will be an initiative that will proliferate cross-generational relationships with Black students, staff, alumni, and community members and inform the larger Lafayette community of the contributions of its Black members. You can read the AAP's Values and more about the ABC using the links below.