Narratives

Student Interviews 1978-1979

Between 1978 and 1979, dozens of UCSC students were interviewed as research for J. Herman Blake’s unpublished manuscript Through the Hourglass (Darkly). This text was meant to be an exploration into how students of color navigated predominately white institutions. The manuscript depersonalized the interviews and made the data useful to a non-UCSC audience. However, the interviews themselves give a unique look into the personal lives of these students including their dreams, family backgrounds, social lives, and academic experiences. What follows are snippets from conversations held with some of the Black participants.


These narratives, Through the Hourglass (Darkly), and more can be found in the J. Herman Blake papers. MS 415. Special Collections and Archives, University Library, University of California, Santa Cruz

More Student Narratives

More narratives from Black UCSC students can be found in the Student Publications section of this exhibition. In addition, the Regional History project Student Interviews Fifty Years Later: 2017 offers an updated look at student life at UCSC.  Compared to the original Student Interviews in 1967-1969, which did not feature any Black students, this project is much more diverse. Several Black students were interviewed.