Craig Foster – 50th Reunion Essay
Craig Foster
College:What to say? There are two plaques on the wall of my study. One is inscribed with the words:
“The President and Fellows of the Yale Corporation Salute Craig Foster in recognition of vision, dedication, and distinguished qualities of leadership in founding African-American studies as a field of study on the occasion of the department’s reunion celebration during Yale’s Tercentennial year. September 14, 2001, Richard C Levin, Linda Koch Lorimer, President, Vice President & Secretary.”
The other plaque has the image of an African mask alongside the following words: “In honor of the 45th anniversary of the Afro-American cultural center at Yale, October 17-19, 2014.”
Because of the shared experiences with classmates with whom I worked on these projects, these two tributes deeply resonate within me. Let me add a third endeavor—the staging of a symposium on African-American studies, later published as a book—Black Studies in the University, Yale University Press, 1969.
The chief architects of these endeavors, Armstead Robinson and Don Ogilvie, are no longer with us to savor all of the manifestations of their efforts. The moderator of BSAY at the time, Glenn DeChabert, also passed from this lifetime all too soon. Their contributions, however, have been recognized and memorialized as their portraits hang in places of honor inside “the House” (Afro-American Cultural Center).
As a member of that cadre, what I recall most of all were the countless nights we would stay up to the wee hours discussing what to do, how we should do it, and what the possible repercussions might be. We knew what we were doing was important. Just how important? There was no way for us to have any inkling of the rippling effect it would have. The process itself was exhilarating and we reveled in it.
So now it is nearly 50 years later. So much has happened that was hard to imagine then. We’ve had a black president, or equally incredible, I’m told black enrollment is in the hundreds (it barely made two digits in my era).
Yale blessed me with the circumstances to have these experiences, to meet these and other classmates as well as interact with faculty, and administration. If you were to take a guess as to my strongest sentiment, if you chose nostalgia, you’d be on the money. In 1965, I felt like a guest, arriving on campus. In 2018, like that old Prudential commercial, I feel like I own a piece of the rock. I’m ready to do a second four-year stint.
If the above is blank, no 50th reunion essay was submitted.