November 19, 2024
Meghan O'Toole
Students to host panel discussion at Lake Forest-Lake Bluff History Center
On Wednesday, November 20, three Lake Forest College students who have spent months researching the history of Black Presence at the College will take part in a panel session that will focus on the latest discoveries the students have made.
Panelists include Payton Ross ’27, who conducted oral histories with Black alumni of Lake Forest College; Emilce Fabian ’27, who researched and organized newspapers that addressed Black life in Lake Forest and at the College; and Josh Marchbanks ’26, who researched within Lake Forest College’s archives and engaged with Black alumni.
Mamani’s newspaper research included diving into old issues of Lake Forest College’s newspaper, The Stentor.
“It is important to learn more about the place where you are living,” Fabian explained. “It is something powerful to learn more about the Black communities who have been so silenced and overlooked in mainly white towns like Lake Forest. When you do the research and look at primary sources, you realize these places aren’t as white as you first think, and you start to understand the importance of resistance.”
This research has been enabled by a grant awarded to the History Center and Lake Forest College from the National Archives. Students are working on this research under supervision of Associate Professor of History and African American Studies Courtney Joseph and Assistant Professor of English and African American Studies RL Watson.
The event will take place at 7 p.m. on November 20 at the Lake Forest-Lake Bluff History Center in Lake Forest, Illinois.