Black Student Union celebrates their 48th Homecoming since desegregation
Students and alumni gather to grab food at Nyumburu Cultural Center at the tailgate on Saturday, Oct. 19. (Nina Wilson/The Black Explosion)
While the University of Maryland celebrated its 101st Homecoming, the Black Student Union celebrated only its 48th year since the end of segregation, according to a 1976 Black Explosion article. According to the BSU president, this is the first year that the club has organized an event every day of the week.
Fifty years after BSU first started organizing some of the first Homecoming events for Black students, this year’s BSU executive board was excited to organize various daily events. Prior to this year, there has only been the Homecoming tailgate, Juke Joint and another dance or ball.
The university’s first African American undergraduate student enrolled only 73 years ago according to a university website.
Samuel Cacas, a former Black Explosion reporter during the 1970s, described that although Black students attended the university, desegregation was slow in progress on the campus, discouraging Black students from participating in Homecoming week.
“Both the College Park Campus and the state of Maryland have been slow in implementing the provisions of the state’s 1974 desegregation plan, according to two reports released recently,” Cacas wrote in the Oct. 13, 1976 edition of a Black Explosion newspaper.
A Black Explosion article about University of Maryland desegregation on Oct. 13, 1976 by Samuel Cacas.
The earliest record of BSU Homecoming comes from the same 1976 Black Explosion edition in an article written by Mary Williams.
“‘A lot of Blacks saw Homecoming as being geared towards White students. There is now more willingness on the part of many Blacks to participate.” Cedric Stroud, chairman of the BSU cultural and social affairs committee in the 1970s said.
BSU created a float in an annual Homecoming parade for the first time in years and organized a Homecoming ball, a traditional “organizational step” with the Black fraternities and sororities, and a film showing, according to Williams.
Homecoming Activities Set article written on Oct. 13, 1976 by Mary Williams.
Forty-eight years ago, Black students like Stroud were looking forward to getting more involved in Homecoming. Now, students can pick which events they want to go to. This year, the BSU executive board made Homecoming week memorable for Black students.
From Oct. 13 to Oct. 19, BSU provided spaces for its members to enjoy the week.
Jeanette Askew, the former vice president of public relations for BSU, described only holding a general body meeting, a party and the tailgate. Askew graduated in 2024 and has been a member of the BSU executive board since 2020. The different parties she recalls are the silent disco in 2023 and a fashion show in 2021. In 2020, Askew doesn’t remember anything going on because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Community members were most excited about the Homecoming pageant, the fashion show and the tailgate.
The homecoming pageant, themed the Black Gatsby, on Oct. 15, was a competition where BSU members ran to be elected onto a royal court. The positions were for Mr. and Ms. Freshman, Sophomore, and BSU.
The fashion show on Oct. 17 was in partnership with Enrage Models and featured DMV clothing brands.
The tailgate on Oct. 19 is a traditional event every year that the community looks forward to.
Susan Kamara, a junior math major, went to the tailgate every year.
“Being an all-black crowd at a PWI is always nice,” she said.
Habineza Herve, a junior economics major, said about the tailgate, “The music was good. The food was good. Everything was good.”
The tailgate, along with other BSU Homecoming Week events, are in partnership and hosted by the Nyumburu Cultural Center, which sponsors the Black Explosion. The other events were a cookout on Oct. 14 and Juke Joint on Oct. 16.
Juke Joint is a traditional event since 1997, happening once a month. For freshman, criminal justice and psychology double major, Sanaiha Marshall it was a fun experience. She performed with university dance group, “Star Strutters”.
“It was nice to see everybody coming together and having a good time.” Marshall said.
The “BSU CUP x All Nightish” was the Oct. 18 event. It compared to the 1976 Organizational Step show, where Greek organizations could showcase their talents.
Each class was assigned a color from white, yellow, red and black and competed through posters, banners and games like tug of war, basketball and dodgeball. Following the class war was a series of shows done by fraternities in the National Pan-Hellenic Council, Star Strutters and other organizations and DJ’s.
Ben Enwesi, a senior computer science major said, “Homecoming was like no other. It restored my school spirit.”
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated that Jeanette Askew graduated in 2023. This story has been updated.