Remembering Lucile: A Virginia Family’s Rise from Slavery and a Legacy Forged a Mile High

In 1918 Lucile Berkeley Buchanan Jones received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado, becoming its first African American graduate (though she was not allowed to “walk” at graduation, nor is she pictured in the 1918 CU yearbook). The first-born daughter of emancipated slaves, Lucile refused to be defined by the racist and sexist climate of her times, settling on a career path in teaching that required great courage in the face of pernicious Jim Crow laws. This personal story has great relevance to our times and has lessons of consequence that can guide the CU community as we seek to assess the present and work for a better future. This was the first in what will be an annual lecture series on the black experience in the West entitled the Lucille Berkeley Buchanan Lecture.

Polly E. Bugros McLean is associate professor of media studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she has served as director of Women and Gender Studies and as the faculty associate to the Chancellor. She is the recipient of the Chancellor’s Committee on Women Award, the Chancellor’s Equity and Excellence Award, Robert L. Stearns Award, the Edward R. Murrow Award for teaching excellence, and the Best Should Teach Gold Award.

This event is part of a series of Lucile Berkeley Buchanan
commemoration events and is co-sponsored by:
The Department of German And Slavic Languages and Literature I Women and Gender Studies I Ethnic Studies I College of Media, Information, and Communication I College of Arts and Sciences I The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Community Engagement I Miramontes Arts and Sciences Program I Center of the American West