Dear reader,
Archives are not neutral and neither is this exhibition. I am a queer Black woman working toward a PhD. The idea for this project was born out of my desire to refuse erasure from UCSC’s historical narrative. I wanted to see myself and I wanted to see other ways of being Black at UCSC. I wanted to poke at the institutional memory of UCSC and see what stories would fall out. It was especially important to me to center student voices and decenter the university’s messaging about students. While I was always confident that I could find evidence of Black student life within UCSC’s Special Collections and Archives, I was surprised at the amount of material. I looked through photographs, ephemera, course descriptions, news articles, zines, and more. I created this digital exhibition in Fall 2021 as part of my work as a CART fellow. This fellowship allowed me the time to explore the archives and develop an understanding of what has been left for me to find.

Of course, there were holes. Inconsistent record-keeping was a barrier, as were the unprocessed materials within the collection. For every instance of Black life that I found, countless others exist only in the personal memories/collections of students who have come and gone. These holes can be seen as opportunities. My time as a CART fellow is complete but I am hopeful that other interested members of the UCSC community will find something here that piques their interests and takes them on an archival journey of their own.

Thank you to the CART staff for giving me this opportunity. I would also like to extend thanks to the rest of the Special Collections and Archives staff, including the student workers, for supporting my research. As always, I am grateful to my friends and family for indulging in my curiosity and giving me reasons to continue.


Thank you for reading,
Jazmin Benton

PS. To all the Black students at UCSC who I’ve been lucky enough to exist alongside—I’ll see you when I see you.