100 Years of Black Scholarship at America’s Most Prestigious Women’s College

In 1925, Zora Neale Hurston arrived in New York City to collect two second place literary prizes in Harlem. She dazzled the crowd including Barnard College founder Annie Nathan Meyer. Meyer was a progressive woman who, 40 years after Barnard’s first class, was searching for the perfect candidate to be Barnard’s first Black student. Together the two made history.

Through archival footage and over 40 interviews with alumni, faculty, and staff, BLACK AT BARNARD tells the story of Barnard College, the scrappy, brainy, underdog of the Seven Sisters colleges, and the Black women who pushed Barnard to fulfill its promise: a college in New York City for the education and advancement of all women.

Directed by Nia Ashley with generous support from the Barnard College Library Archive.