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Photographic Memories
Original Committee members meet
with E. Maxine Bruhns, director of Pitt’s Nationality Rooms Program. L to R: Prof. Al Moye, E. Maxine
Bruhns, ?, Chairman Walter Worthington, ?, Luddie Hayden, ?, ?, ?
Nancy Lee accepts contributions
from St. Benedict the Moor Church.
Kweku Andrews displays his
hand-carved stools. Left to right: Walter Worthington, Larry Glasco, Betty
Tilman, Kweku Andrews, Ralph Proctor, Murrell Wynne-Jones.
Lamidi Fakeye reveals Entry Door
panels.
Chancellor Wesley Posvar accepts
the final drawing from the architect. Left to right: Maxine Bruhns, William
Bates, Laurence Glasco, Chancellor Posvar. |
African Heritage Classroom History of the Classroom Although
interest in a "Negro Room" dates to the 1930s, it was only in 1972 that a committee was formed under the chairmanship
of Walter Worthington to create an African Heritage
Classroom. Meetings were convened to increase community awareness and involvement, discuss design, and formulate fundraising plans. The first donation
to the room was indicative of the
grass-roots appeal of the project. In November 1973, a member of the University's Black Action Society
came to the Nationality Rooms Director's office with a paper bag containing $208.95
collected at a BAS dance In 1974, Nancy H. Lee became Campaign
Planning Coordinator. She has devoted 15 years
of unflagging energy to collecting
sufficient money (more than $250,000)
to construct and dedicate the room and lay ground for an
endowment which provides summer scholarships for University of Pittsburgh students to study in Africa At the first fundraising event in November 1975,
Alex Haley, whose book Roots had not yet been published, held 1,000 guests spellbound as he
recounted his African voyage of
research into his ancestral history. Donations were made by many
organizations, among them the
Pittsburgh Chapter of Negro Business and Professional Women, the Black Action
Society, Girl Friends, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. The bulk of funds,
however, came in the form of small regular contributions from
individuals throughout the community. For example, in 1975 children from St. Benedict
the Moor School presented a check to Nancy Lee for $5.37 and
the tradition continues to this day. Policies governing the Nationality Rooms require that the period of the room pre-date 1787,
the founding date of the University
of Pittsburgh. Progress toward a room design was achieved
by concept chairmen Bernard Morris, Dr. Wendell Wray, Dr. John Wilds, and Dr. Ralph Proctor. The final concept evolved in 1985, under Dr. Laurence Glasco,
a professor of African American history at the University of Pittsburgh. The
Concept Committee's members included faculty
and African students. Dr. Rosalind Jeffries, Dr. Malcolm MacLeod, Dr. J. H. Kwabena Nketia, Louise Jefferson, Dr. Rowland Abiodun, and Dr. Roy Sieber served as consultants. In 1987, Dr. Glasco travelled to Ghana to verify
room prototypes. Architect
William J. Bates’ handsome renderings confirmed the compatibility of design
and content. The design was unveiled
during a public ceremony on May 8, 1986
by Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives K. Leroy
Irvis. Lamidi
O. Fakeye, world-renowned
Yoruba wood sculptor, executed the room’s doors and lectern. Kweku Andrews, professor of Fine Arts at
the University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana, created the plaster frieze elements, the bas reliefs, the wooden
stools, and the thatch segments. |
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