Blessed Stephen ’25, president of Fairfield College’s Black Scholar Union (BSU), partnered with the DiMenna-Nyselius Library to plan and current an exhibit on the historical past and impression of Black voices on campus.
In February, the DiMenna-Nyselius Library unveiled Mosaic of Empowerment: A Tribute to Fairfield University’s Black Student Union, an exhibit that includes pictures, artifacts, and commentary on the historical past of the scholar group. The exhibit was curated by BSU President Blessed Stephen ’25, who collaborated with library workers to create the occasion.
A double main in art history and an individually designed program in artwork, advocacy, and group schooling, Stephen knew the library can be a superb companion for the exhibit, not just for its accessible area and archives assortment but in addition for the curatorial experience of its librarians.
“I approached the library as a result of it had archival supplies on scholar golf equipment and since it hosted exhibitions just like what I envisioned,” she mentioned. “I additionally knew the librarians can be a superb useful resource.”
To provoke planning, Stephen reached out to Jennifer Mottolese, analysis and outreach librarian, and Lisa Thornell, head of library outreach and group, in the course of the fall semester. Because the three started to conceptualize the undertaking, it grew in scope.
Though Stephen initially supposed to current a historical past of Fairfield’s BSU, she additionally knew there have been vital Black experiences and milestones to share past the quick historical past of her membership, based in 2016.
One vital occasion was the takeover of Xavier Corridor in 1969 by Black college students looking for racial equality, an occasion Stephen discovered about via a category task wherein she explored historic problems with the scholar newspaper, then titled The Stag. One other was the hiring of Professor Walter Petry, Fairfield’s first Black college member, in 1957.
