Never officially recognized during her lifetime,Lucile Berkeley Buchanan, the first African American woman to graduate from the university, will be posthumously honored this spring.
Who: Open to the public
What: Inaugural Lucile Berkeley Buchanan Lecture
When: Wednesday, April 4, 6:30–8 p.m.
Where: Old Main Chapel
On April 4,Ƶ Boulder Associate Professor of Media StudiesPolly McLean will give the first Lucile Berkeley Buchanan Lecture. McCleanspent more than a decade exhuming Buchanan’s story andfinallycorrectingthe university’s official history, which erroneously stated the first black woman to graduate from Ƶ earned her degree in 1924—when, in fact, Buchanan,graduated from Ƶ in 1918.
Later this spring,McLean’s book Remembering Lucile: A Virginia Family’s Rise from Slavery and a Legacy Forged a Mile High will be published. And at the May commencement, McLean will accept Buchanan'sdiploma and the recognition officially withheld for a century, a move Chancellor Philip DiStefano has called“long overdue.”
Learn moreabout Buchanan’s impressive storyand how McClean helped bring it to light.