Inaugural Lucile Berkeley Buchanan Lecture to take place April 4
Never officially recognized during her lifetime,ÌýLucile Berkeley Buchanan, the first African American woman to graduate from the university, will be posthumously honored this spring.
Who: Open to the public
What: Inaugural Lucile Berkeley Buchanan Lecture
When: Wednesday, April 4, 6:30–8 p.m.
Where: Old Main Chapel
On April 4,ÌýCU °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï Associate Professor of Media StudiesÌýPolly McLean will give the first Lucile Berkeley Buchanan Lecture. McCleanÌýspent more than a decade exhuming Buchanan’s story andÌýfinallyÌýcorrectingÌýthe university’s official history, which erroneously stated the first black woman to graduate from CU earned her degree in 1924—when, in fact, Buchanan,Ìýgraduated from CU in 1918.
Later this spring,ÌýMcLean’s book Remembering Lucile: A Virginia Family’s Rise from Slavery and a Legacy Forged a Mile High will be published. And at the May commencement, McLean will accept Buchanan'sÌýdiploma and the recognition officially withheld for a century, a move Chancellor Philip DiStefano has calledÌý“long overdue.â€
Learn moreÌýabout Buchanan’s impressive storyÌýand how McClean helped bring it to light.
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