Alumni

Alumni Panel of the ‘60s & ‘70s: Black student history, student activism, and the formation of the Black Studies Program (now Africana Studies) at Stony Brook University.

Panelists:  

Deborah Britton-Riley '78, '81 
Stony Brook University class of 1973-1981; Co-founder, Black Womyn's Association at Stony Brook University; Director, Liberty Partnerships Program, Stony Brook University, 1992-2010; Coordinator, New Student and Transition Programs, Stony Brook University, 2022- present

Mitchel Cohen '74 
Stony Brook University class of 1965-1974; Cofounder of the Red Balloon Collective; Radical troublemaker and organizer, poet, and author of several books, the latest being The Fight Against Monsanto's Roundup: The Politics of Pesticides (SkyHorse: new edition 2022); Banned from Stony Brook campus three times.

Dr. Linda Humes '77
Africana Studies Major; Stony Brook University class of 1974-1977; Vice President of Black Student Union at Stony Brook University; Co-Founder of the first Black Theater Club 1974-1976; Department Student speaker graduation 5/1977

Dr. Les Owens
Professor, Africana Studies Department, 1978-2015, Stony Brook University

The Zuccaire Gallery is proud to present an Alumni Panel featuring Stony Brook University alumni from the ‘60s and ‘70s. Join us Tuesday, February 7 as we explore the legacy of Black student history, student activism, and the formation of the Black Studies Program (now Africana Studies) at Stony Brook University. This program is organized in collaboration with the Department of Africana Studies, the Black History Month Planning Committee, and the Alumni Association.

Presented in connection with the Paul W. Zuccaire Gallery exhibition Revisiting 5+1 which showcases the story of 5+1, a historical exhibition of Black artists working in abstraction that took place at Stony Brook University in 1969 during the first semester of courses in the Black Studies Program.  

Guided tours of the exhibit begin at 4:30 pm in the Zuccaire Gallery.