On an unseasonably warm late October afternoon, Elisabeth Betts is just getting started on coursework at what’s becoming one of her favorite spots on Northwestern’s campus in Evanston, IL. It is the first week that she’s able to study at the Black House, a facility on campus designed to support Black students in a space where they can be themselves. The Black House, which was reopened for the first time in two years during a rededication ceremony on Homecoming weekend, is one of the most historic and symbolic physical spaces of Black culture at the university. Originally built in the Fall of 1968, the Black House was erected after a group of student activists occupied the Bursar’s Office in May of that year to protest against the treatment and marginalization of Black students on campus. After a 38-hour sit-in, leaders from the student-activists (known collectively as the B100) and the university’s administration came to a resolution around a list of demands that included developing...
