Abstract:
This study focused on how Purdue University’s Black Cultural Center (BCC) provides
programming to build a sense of belonging and social and cultural cohesion to participating
students. Qualitative interviews commenced to obtain, interpret, and compare the participants’
experiences to the historical rationale, intent, and purpose of BCCs in higher education.
Similarly, a content analysis commenced of the BCC’s April newsletters from 2015 through
2020, as the April newsletters include quotes from graduating seniors about their experiences at
the BCC while enrolled at Purdue University. Finally, local newspaper coverage of the BCC in
the Lafayette Journal & Courier from 1968 to 2020 underwent review for BCC history, student
experiences, and campus culture to develop a historical timeline.
The performance ensembles at the BCC are products of the Black Arts Movement
(BAM) of the late 1960s, which was the cultural arm of the Black Power Movement (1960-70s).
BCCs at predominantly white institutions (PWI), are a product of the Black Student Movement.
This study sought to understand how the BCC created a sense of belonging in Black
students at Purdue University. It examined how students who participated in the BCC’s
performing arts ensembles experienced cultural validation and intellectual affirmation as
students; how the BCC produced social cohesion among students, and how did the BCC produce
cultural support among students.
Eight themes emerged and provided a glimpse into the factors and lived experiences of
how Black students found an African sense of self, culture, and community at the PWI of Purdue
University through the BCC. The participants provided rich and valuable phenomenological data
about their lived experiences during their time on Purdue University’s campus. The study
showed that current students, alumni, and staff members perceived and experienced Purdue
University as a PWI. However, they overcame, excelled, and succeeded via the BCC and its
programming despite the dominant culture at the university. The BCC programming was
contextualized in this study as a community of practice and filled a personal and cultural void for
the members of a student population who identified on the spectrum Blackness. Programming
consisted of cocurricular scholarly activities complementary to students’ programs of study. This
study sought to address the current gap in scholarship that does not presently contextualize BCCs
as a type of learning community, which achieves many of the student success and student
retention outcomes often researched and discussed in student affairs literature.
