Spotlight
On the morning of this year's Commencement procession, LaToya Strickland '06 will walk through the Van Wickle Gates wearing an African kente cloth around her neck, a gift given to her and black seniors by the Inman Page Black Alumni Council. Strickland, who is chair of Onyx, a black student organization composed primarily of seniors, will march at the head of the procession with fellow black students in continuation of a tradition dating back to the 1970s.
The day before the class of '99 marched out the Van Wickle Gates, nearly every African-American senior gathered in Manning Chapel to sing and pray. The occasion was the annual Onyx Baccalaureate Ceremony, informally called the "blackalaureate," a service that each year includes a spoken charge issued by an "elder" in the community. The elder that year was Elmo Terry-Morgan '74.
