Sadly and tellingly, pictures of black student life at Rice are few and far between. Someone usually took photos at the annual Martin Luther King Day vigils and there are posed shots of African American students for brochures but only handful of genuinely relaxed and natural images. So it was a satisfying surprise to run across a batch of negatives of this happy scene. It appears to be a dance competition pitting the Rice Black Student Association against the University of Houston chapter of the prominent black fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha:
The audience seems to be having a good time too:
If by chance you’ve got any pictures of black student life at Rice we’d love to have copies.
Bonus: There’s a whole city out there.
Wiess College and the Black Student Union jointly sponsored a dance in the Wiess Commons. There are a couple of photos in the 1976 Campanile on page 324. I can’t remember the Wiessman in the photo who handled DJ duties. He was a football player and a senior that year. It was a well attended event, loud and good fun. I also remember for the first time realizing what it meant to be in a minority in a social setting.