On Friday Feb. 2, 2024, Serenity Sosa’s Art Gallery “150 Years Forward, 60 Years Back” opened up for viewing at Drury University’s Pool Art Center building. The art gallery is open from Feb. 2 through Feb. 23 and is a hallway adorned with information about the race issues that are in Drury University’s history. 

This eight-piece exhibit was a sight to see an in-depth dive into the race issues that had been going on, even when Black students were allowed to be accepted to attend Drury University in 1964.

Sosa is the president of the organization BUIC (Black United Independent Collegiate) and as a member of the organization, it was amazing to see all the issues that were hidden away in Drury’s history. Being able to see this side of the university’s history opened my eyes even more to how times are now and how they were back then for students of color. 

There were numerous clippings and pages hung on the walls of the Pool Art Center, each providing more of an insight into the opinions and actions of the university students from that time. An example of clippings was The Black Corner exhibit, which was a homage to a past writing column that was composed of Black student authors, along with historical documents and photographs that were related to African American student admissions and the sentiments on integration. 

Next to this exhibit was the hand-crafted piece named “African & American” which was inspired by James Baldwin’s quote “To be African American is to be African with no memory and American with no privilege”. This piece was composed of the American flag, but instead of the traditional white stars symbolizing the 50 states, they were replaced with symbols representing Black liberation. These flags included the Pan-African Flag created by Marcus Garvey in 1920, the Juneteenth Flag created by Ben Haith in 1977 and lastly the African American Flag created by David Hammons in 1990. The piece was used to explore the complex identity of being African, but also American, within the context of historical struggles and resilience. 

The third exhibit was another handmade art piece. This exhibit was Wings of The Movement. All that hung on the wall was a white t-shirt that had scraps of flag fabric along it that were organized in the shape of wings to be seen as a symbol of the Phoenix in Egyptian Mythology. The shirt itself was used to show how the inclusion of the Black race usually is rooted as an “add-on” to the already made policy/curriculum. The wings though were used to reflect on what it means to build on top of a racialized system. 

Down the line, there were exhibits, like the “Faces of Faith” and “A Page from Our Book” that were collage pieces. The “Faces of Faith” exhibit was a piece that included photos of the forgotten Black Student life and the spirit of Drury with a mixture of different Black students that attended the university.

 “A Page from Our Book” was also a collage piece, but it was from a yearbook page. This exhibit included two frames, one that included an image of the original yearbook page that had only one Black student on the page and another frame that had the same yearbook page. Instead of all white students and one Black student though, all but one image of a white person was covered with images of Black students. This was used to show a reimagining of an average day for Sosa, since “As a Black student at Drury in many if not all of my classes I am the only Black and/or minority student”. Another collage piece exhibit talks about the first African American student to be accepted to attend Drury University, Jim Williams.

When Jim Williams attended Drury University in 1964, some were accepting of him, but most weren’t. The collage pieces showcase an image of Jim Williams, with members of organizations, like Kappa Alpha, holding up confederate flags.

The next piece had images of, once again, the fraternity Kappa Alpha holding up confederate flags in their fraternity member’s photo. Another photo included a student wearing the outfit that members of the Ku Klux Klan wore, but as a “costume”. Next to these collage pieces are letters and telegrams about accepting Black people to become students at the university. One included a plan that The United Church of Christ came up with to help more than 300 “qualified” Black students to attend the 32 colleges and universities that were related to the United Church of Christ. 

Clippings from The Mirror were also placed along the walls. One clipping was titled “Priorities, values mixed” that was published on April 6, 1984. This was an article about how a sorority viewed one of its sisters inviting a Black guest to their spring formal. 

The other sorority sisters had the idea that if a Black guest was at the formal that it would bring a “bad name” to the sorority. The article goes furthermore into the point, “It is sad to think people are more concerned about their reputation than someone’s feelings.” It also showed that even behind artificial smiles that there were people who still viewed being associated with a Black person wrong and could provide them with a “bad name”.

Additionally, there was a letter that was addressed to President Brandenburg and written by a friend of Jim Williams. Williams had confided in a friend about the incident that occurred between him a Sigma Nu pledge that consisted of derogatory phrasing. The incident included the pledge asking Williams to sign a piece of paper that the pledge needed to be initiated. 

Along the paper was a derogatory phrase against Black people, and these pages had been happening even before Williams was a student. Since Williams was the first Black student to attend Drury though, this meant that the pledges would have to go out and have other Black people sign the slip, even going as far as offering a trade between them and a Black alcoholic which included a signature for a fifth of liquor. 

There are numerous other exhibits within the gallery, showcasing two pieces that are from current times at Drury University and an image of the first members of BUIC at Drury University. The experience of attending the gallery was eye-opening for anyone who has attended since the opening. Seeing those actions and comparing them to current times, it really makes you wonder how much has actually changed between then to now.

Featured image of Serenity Sosa, the president of BUIC