Wednesday, March 14, 2018 // The Statement
4B
Wednesday, March 14, 2018 // The Statement 
5B

BBUM: Our History

by Lorna Brown, Senior MiC Editor

I

t is hard adjusting here because 
there are so many people who 
do not look like me, and the first 
thing people do is judge me by 

my appearance, my skin color.”

When asked what was the hardest part 

of their first year at the University of 
Michigan, every Black student responded 
with this answer in one way or another.

Your melanin-enriched skin is a target 

you carry with you each day of your life. 
What separates you from the crowd of 
people you pass on the Diag, what makes 
you the only person in your chemistry 
class and what narrows you down to 5 
percent on a campus of about 46,000. 
Your Blackness is something the world 
will never let you forget, especially on a 
campus where there are few spaces for 
your Blackness to be unapologetically 
itself.

However, life was not always like this…
The year is 1979 and the Black popula-

tion is 8 percent at the University, near 
double today’s.

It was a group effort across campus: 

the Black Student Union, the Black Law 
Student Association, the Association of 
Black Social Work Students and Black 
students from the University medical and 
psychology schools. Each organization 
came together to create the Black Action 
Movement (BAM) to manifest change 
for students who faced marginalization 
for their skin color on a daily basis. They 
demanded the University increase the 

Black population to 10 percent, in order 
to reflect the state of Michigan’s Black 
resident population at the time, and to 
overall increase the representation and 
awareness of Black students on campus.

Through strikes that often lasted up to 

a week and protests with students pas-
sionately holding signs and chanting, 
seven years of enraged passion at the 
University’s failure to create a campus for 
students of color were finally recognized. 
Professors canceled classes until stu-
dents’ demands were met and the faculty 
and staff worked to create changes that 
were insisted after years of failure to rec-
ognize their Black students. Lasting from 
1970 to 1987, BAM I, BAM II and BAM 
III progressively worked to increase the 
Black population and bring attention to 
the concerns of harassment, racial ten-
sion and discrimination on campus.

Though the University never did reach 

10 percent enrollment, programs like the 
multicultural lounges in each dorm and 
living/learning communities exclusively 
for Black students arose as a result of the 
BAM movements that took place in the 
early ’80s — places like the Ambatana 
Lounge in South Quad Residence Hall. 
Black students finally had spaces to 
escape from the everyday racism of cam-
pus — spaces just for us.
S

pades, UNO and of course … the 
kid that flipped the Monopoly 
board over because he did not 

want to pay rent to the rest of his oppo-

nents. This was how my parents met.

Long nights in the Ambatana Lounge 

in South Quad. Spontaneous step-shows 
between rival Greek organizations in the 
middle of Angell Hall as students walked 
to class. Soul Train Lines that formed on 
Friday nights in the cafeteria of Mary 
Markley 
Residence 
Hall. 
Basketball 

courts full of late night pick-up games. 
These were unforgettable memories for 
students like my parents. They found 
camaraderie in the living communi-
ties that brought Black students togeth-
er from different parts of the country. 
Through funded trips to attend movie 
premieres and snacks for their lounges 
provided by the council, the Black com-
munity grew closer.

Black history at the University of 

Michigan is complicated, affirmative 
action ended in 2006 and the Supreme 
Court upheld the ban after a momentous 
6-2 vote. The Black population at the Uni-
versity dropped dramatically, and with 
that came the end of an era.

The Black living/learning communi-

ties that created friendships among Black 
students who lived just across the hall 
from each other disappeared. The loung-
es that were once centralized places for 
Black students to easily socialize with 
others of their own community until the 
early hours of the morning slowly grew 
empty. This is a result of the scattering 
of Black students across campus. With 
the loss of the living communities, con-
nections that were formed by living next 
door to one another were broken. It was 
much harder to meet Black people who 
lived in different parts of campus, espe-
cially since the already miniscule num-
ber of students continues to falter. A 
diminishing population could no longer 
sustain the elements that made it home 
for so many.
I 

interviewed a few alumni about 
their experiences at the Univer-
sity. This is what they said:

The Athlete (1999-2003):
“My experience at the University of 

Michigan was different because I was a 
public figure and so people were more 
willing to come up and talk to me than 
what was the case for most of the Black 
community. I was approached and asked 
questions because I was the face for the 
University, for the basketball team. How-
ever, I knew at the end of the day that I 
would always have a community to come 
back to after long days of practice when 
I walked into South Quad. There was 

always someone flipping over a chair 
because they were losing at Spades, and 
I remember those days as being the best 
moments of my college career. ” 

The Sigma (1979-1984):
“Being here from 1979 to 1984 was the 

peak for the Black community, we had 
the largest Phi Beta Sigma pledge line 
the University had ever seen and it was 
exhilarating being a part of something so 
special. Learning the steps and staying 
up late practicing with my Line Brothers, 
the parties, and competitions we used to 
perform in; those are the moments I will 
never forget. I made friends for life dur-
ing my time here, and I wish everyone 
could have a piece of what I had during 
undergrad.” 

The Socialite (1979-1983):
“Although I was not a part of any 

clubs, I had the time of my life here. The 
lounge is where I met my best friends, 
beat people in Spades, and tried to learn 
Calc. Being at the University of Michi-
gan gave me the confidence I needed to 
succeed in the real world. The programs 
in the dorms that created activities for 
the Black kids helped me to find people 
who experienced the world like I did. 
Although, I wish that it was something 
that all minorities had because creating a 
space for people who are marginalized is 
so important in this world.”
T

he lounges remain, but the his-
torical context and the memo-
ries of those who once occupied 

these spaces do not. The multicultural 
lounges now serve as spaces where mem-
bers of non-marginalized communities 
can enter.

With the recent removal of a short 

orientation 
requirement 
for 
use 
of 

multicultural lounges like CAMEO in 
Couzens and the Ambatana Lounge in 
South Quad, the history and camarade-
rie that once centralized Black students 
and other minorities alike is now forgot-
ten. Ambatana, the lounge named for the 
Swahili term “stick together,” has unfor-
tunately lost its meaning when students 
began referring to it as the “Afro-Amer-
ican Lounge.” With the decreased use of 
these lounges by minority students and 
the fear of creating spaces that were “too 
exclusive,” the lounges had to accommo-
date students from the entire campus, 
including those who made us feel unwel-
comed. A door closed on history is now 
silenced by the effort to create inclusive-
ness, but takes away from the meaning of 
what created these safe places, to begin 

with.

Ironically, the most notable differ-

ence is what remains invisible to us all: 
the immense number of kids who were 
denied the opportunity to attend this 
University because affirmative action 
was voted out. Considering that the state 
of Michigan currently has a population 
of 14.2 percent Black/African American 
residents according to the 2017 census 
report, it does not make much sense as to 
why our University’s Black population is 
so small. Black students especially have 
lost the opportunity that they once had 
to attend one of the highest-ranked uni-
versities in the country. For Black stu-
dents like my parents, education paved a 
pathway to a lifestyle outside of the one 
that society fabricated for them. We will 
never know the accomplishments of stu-
dents who were denied the opportunity 
to attend this University: a chilling real-
ity we all need to face.

Efforts to create a community for the 

Black population by the Black Student 
Union, the National Pan-Hellenic Coun-
cil and many other Black organizations 
on campus should not be overlooked. For 
example, the screening of “Black Pan-
ther” put on by BSU united Black students 

from around the campus. NPHC events 
highlight the tradition and the impor-
tance of Black Greek life, and academic 
groups like the National Society of Black 
Engineers bring Black engineers together 
in a field that lacks Black representation. 
Without the tireless ventures from these 
programs that help bond the Black stu-
dents at the University of Michigan, we 
certainly would not feel as united.

Black History Month might be over, and 

soon the school year will conclude with 
melting snow and longer days. Before 
we know it, our time as students will 
come to an end. The moments we share 
and relationships we build are a testa-
ment to our community. Simply because 
we know what it means to overcome the 
targets placed on our backs by society 
and the outside world as a whole. Sim-
ply because our journey to defy what has 
been fabricated to deter us will never be 
easy. Simply because having a supportive 
community that unifies us through every 
moment of our journey is imperative to 
our success in a world of homogeneity.

Simply because … We matter.
A special thank you those who were 

interviewed for this piece; without you, 
this would not be possible.

Courtesy of Lorna Brown 

A step show by the Phi Beta Sigmas in the Markley cafeteria in 1981.

Listings of Multicultural Lounges in every dorm

Swahili meaning in parentheses

· Ambatana (Stick Together) or Afro-American 
Lounge and Yuri Kochiyama Lounge: South Quad

· CAMEO: Couzens Active Minority Ethnic 

Organization: Couzens

· Asubuhi (Morning): West Quad

· Umoja (Unity) and Vicky Barner Lounge: Alice Lloyd

· MLK Jr. Lounge: Bursley

· Abeng (Conch Shell): East Quad

· Angela Davis Lounge and Aarti Sharangpani Lounge: 

Markley

· Grace Lee Boggs Lounge: Baits

· Nikki Giovanni Lounge and César Chávez Lounge: 

Mosher Jordan

· Audre Lorde Lounge: Newberry Residence

· Mahatma Ghandi Lounge: Oxford

· Rosa Parks Lounge: Stockwell

· Edward Said Lounge: North Quad

Courtesy of Lorna Brown

Ambatana picnic at Fuller Park in 1982.

