To celebrate the 35th Anniversary of the African American Heritage Festival, which starts tomorrow, we decided to dig into our collection to display some photos from festivals past.
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For more information on this year’s Heritage Festival, go to: http://heritagefestival.osu.edu/
Clotilde Bowen, 1947
Though three African-American men graduated shortly after OSU’s College of Medicine was established in 1914 (Clarence Alphonso Lindsay, Rudolph Finley and Charles Robert Lewis, all in 1916) it was roughly 30 years later that the College graduated its first African-American woman. She then took that degree and built an amazing military career with it.
The first African-American woman to receive her MD was Clotilde Dent Bowen, who completed her program in 1947. A graduate of Columbus’s East High School, Bowen completed her undergraduate degree at Ohio State in three years, and was accepted into medical school in January 1944. After her graduation, she completed her residency in New York City, and set up a private practice in Harlem.
Col. Bowen (left)
Later, Dr. Bowen became U.S. Army Col. Bowen, the first African-American physician in the U.S. Army, as well as the first African-American woman Colonel. In 1967, during the height of the Vietnam war, she decided to return to active duty. She became the first African-American woman to direct a military hospital clinic.
Col. Bowen, 1975
Dr. Bowen later completed a second residency at a Veterans Administration hospital in Pennsylvania in psychiatry. Her other achievements include being the first African-American woman to be named chief of psychiatry in two Veterans Administration hospitals and two Army medical centers.
Dr. Bowen was honored with the Bronze Star and the Legion of Merit in 1971 for her work to set up drug treatment centers and her efforts to lessen racial conflicts during the Vietnam War. She was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal in 1974.
The College of Medicine annually holds the Clotilde D. Bowen, MD, Diversity Lecture Series in Bowen’s honor, and last year a need-based scholarship fund was set up in her honor.
Students hold memorial for Martin Luther King Jr., 1968
Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination on April 4, 1968, sparked immediate reaction from the OSU community. After he was killed, some advocated violence – In The Lantern, one student called for people to pick up their guns – while others carried on his strategy of peaceful protest.
On April 7, a group of about 150 students marched from the Ohio Union to the Ohio State Fairgrounds. According to The Lantern, another group of students removed the American flag flying outside of Bricker Hall and took it to then-Provost John Corbally, saying a flag that represented violence should not hang even at half-mast for a man who stood for nonviolence. On April 9, Novice Fawcett ordered classes cancelled to honor King’s memory.
That year, the May Week Committee and Traditions Board decided that all proceeds made from festivities that week would be used to start a Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Fund scholarship for incoming students, based on scholastic ability and need. Until then, the profits had gone to the United Appeal fund. The Office of Diversity and Inclusion now administers the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Scholarship program.
In 1972, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion (then called the Office of Minority Affairs) began its annual Martin Luther King Celebration, which has included the announcement of the scholarship winners. This year, Danny Glover is the featured speaker. (See more details at http://odi.osu.edu/.)
Students work on a project during the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, 2004
In 1990, the College of the Arts teamed up with the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for the Performing and Cultural Arts to provide arts education for minority students. The result was the Martin Luther King Jr. Institute for the Arts. The institute’s mission was to first train minority teachers in the arts. Ohio State provided scholarships to graduate students for training. Classes for students in grades 4-12 in dance, theater, music, and visual arts were also established.
In 1999, Project Community at the Ohio Union started the annual MLK Day of Service at Ohio State. Students, faculty and staff volunteer that day on various community service projects that target children, literacy, senior citizens and the homeless. This year, OSU’s Pay It Forward and the Frank W. Hale Jr. Black Cultural Center will sponsor the event, which is expected to attract 1,000 volunteers. (For details, see http://ohiounion.osu.edu/get_involved/csls/mlkday.)
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