About the Centennial

The Zora Neale Hurston Centennial and 100 Years of Black Students at Barnard is an interdisciplinary, multiyear project marking the 100th anniversary of the enrollment and graduation of Hurston (1925 –1928). The Centennial project will celebrate and examine Black students’ experiences on campus and exemplify the College’s commitment to national leadership and community partnership as an institution that is diverse, inclusive, and equitable.

The College marked the launch of the Centennial by hosting the Zora Neale Hurston Summit (January 31–February 1), led by the Zora Neale Hurston Trust, and officially on February 20 with the annual Lewis-Ezekoye Distinguished Lectureship Series in Africana Studies, formed and sponsored by two Barnard alumnae — Denise Lewis ’66 and Adaeze Otue Ezekoye ’66.

The Centennial hopes to draw upon the resources of the departments of Africana Studies; American Studies; English; Theatre; and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; the Digital Humanities Center (DHC); Archives and Special Collections; and the Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion to create new course curriculum, faculty seminars, undergraduate research, scholarly convenings, community programming, partnerships, exhibitions and more.

The impact of Zora Neale Hurston in academia, the arts, the African Diaspora, and American life in the 20th century can’t be overstated. This three-year experience will transform Barnard by excavating and centering the historical legacies of Hurston and 100 years of Black culture at Barnard, via histories and stories from people, archives, and texts, contextualizing them in extensive scholarship on racial, gender, and class politics, and sharing them with the extended community in immediate and sustained ways.