By Lorelei Talley

The University of Maryland’s racist history is lengthy and continues today. Student organizations at UMD say the university can do more to rebuild trust with Black students and other students of color.

In October, UMD’s club tennis team met an indefinite suspension for distributing imagery of the Ku Klux Klan on the Maryland flag to other universities, including Howard University, ahead of a tournament.

The Black Student Union hosted the “Student Protest for Change” on Oct. 15 in collaboration with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to protest the university’s failure to support and protect Black students, according to the Nyumburu ambassador’s Instagram page.

Former club tennis team co-presidents Anika Prasanna and Alison Razafimandimby spoke at the protest and said they faced multiple microaggressions while on the team.

“We hoped to build a more inclusive and respectful community,” Prasanna said during the protest. “Instead, we experienced repeated microaggressions, hostility and a toxic culture that went unaddressed.”

UMD has a racist and pro-segregationist history. The founder of the Maryland Agricultural School, Charles Benedict Calvert, held 52 slaves on his Riversdale plantation, much of which became this university’s campus. Yearbooks found in university archives also depict students with nooses around their necks and celebrating annual minstrel shows.

It wasn’t until 1950 that the first Black student, Parren J. Mitchell, was accepted into UMD’s graduate school after successfully suing the institution. His admittance came almost a century after UMD’s founding in 1856. Mitchell’s enrollment paved the way for Elaine Johnson Coates, the first Black woman to graduate from this university in 1959.

After the first Black students were admitted, they faced verbal attacks, peer pressure and isolation, said Johnson Coates.

In 2017, a noose was found in the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity, and multiple white nationalist posters were found across campus. Months later, Richard W. Collins III, a Bowie State University student and Black Army lieutenant, was visiting a group of friends when he was killed by white University of Maryland student Sean Urbanski, after Collins refused to step to the left while waiting for his ride-share.

Micah Monegain, a senior psychology and criminal justice double major and president of UMD’s National Council of Negro Women, said incidents like these prove the university does not protect its Black students.

“I think a lot of rebuilding has to happen. If you’re going to put out a statement or [say] ‘We stand with you, we support you,’ then how are you going to make that true,” Monegain said.

Briana McGregor, senior government and politics major and political action chair for UMD’s NAACP, said the Black community works twice as hard to be recognized.

“Black people have always been put down, seen as a minority [and] have constantly dealt with struggles,” McGregor said. “It’s always going to be a tug-of-war type of situation, where we’re constantly trying to push and get our representation on campus.”

UMD founded the 1856 Project in 2020 to promote community restoration and accountability. Multiple programs on campus prioritize inclusion, including TerrapinSTRONG Education and the Office of Multi-ethnic Student Education.

Still, as of spring this year, Black students make up 13.8% of the student body, with white students as the largest demographic at 36.8%.

Jodi Aryee, a senior information science major and first vice president of UMD’s NAACP, said Black students at UMD are unappreciated.

“Being a student at a predominantly white institution, it’s like being on a podium that’s at the bottom ranks,” Aryee said. “The minority students on paper are seen as a priority on the campus, but when it comes time for the resources, the recognition and the work, we’re often put at the bottom of that list.”

Residence Halls like Pyon-Chen and Johnson-Whittle were also named after university trailblazers, including Johnson Coates and Hiram Whittle, the first Black student to attend this university’s engineering school in 1951.

Monegain said naming these buildings after university trailblazers feels ingenuine, and that it doesn’t feel like the university is providing any substantial reparations for the Black community.

The Nyumburu Cultural Center and other organizations host events such as town halls and movie nights to provide safe communities for marginalized groups.

“We are focused on helping the Black community, but it’s for all minorities,” McGregor said. “It’s for anyone that feels like they are an outcast and they’re not comfortable within their own skin.”

Black organizations fight in front and behind the scenes to ensure safety for their community, Aryee said. She added that unity and persistence create change.

“Some of us may not be as loud about the fight, but the fight’s happening behind closed doors,” Aryee said. “We’re trying to advocate for students with everything we have possible [because] on this campus it’s a family, and I think we all can do our best by just fighting.”

Featured Image: Student sign for the “Student Protest for Change” event hosted by the Black Student Union. Photo by Lorelei Talley.