Student, past and present, have initiated or been engaged in a number of projects that involve, impact or are relevant to Black student experiences at the University of Cambridge. This page collate a few of these institutional projects. Please get in touch with any other suggestions for projects or opportunities for engagement that might be of interest to current students. This page was initially designed by Fabianna Dennis (student research assistant).
George Bridgetower Essay
This annual essay prize was inaugurated in 2022 by the Alexander Crummell Fund, which was initiated to support anti-racist work across the Univesity of Cambridge, and funded through philanthopic donors including Henry Louis Gates Jr. The prize itself was named after George Bridgetower, who studied at Trinity Hall and was awarded a music degree in 1811. The essay theme is set each year on a topic relating closely to race and Black student experiences at Cambridge, with a prize of £1000. The essays provide a forum for students to share their insights into historical and contemporary experiences of race at Cambridge.
The 2022 prize was awarded to Maya McFarlane. You can find the link to read this excellent essay and find out more about the 2023 essay topic on the EDI webpage. Check out our 'in conversation' interview with Maya and Fabianna.
End Everyday Racism
This initiative is an independent research project launched in 2020 by staff in the Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge. The project aimed to develop our understanding of everyday racism with numeric, descriptive and geographic evidence, in order to build a collective case to support antiracism advocacy and social justice activism at the University and further afield (read more in Varsity). One of the primary aims of the End Everyday Racism campaign was to produce reports that support antiracist advocacy and build a collective case for change in Cambridge. Their first report summarises 117 incidences of racism between Oct 2018 and Oct 2020. In the words of Dr Mónica Moreno Figueroa: "All of us can take this report and use it to move the agenda forwards".
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Student perspective: on participating in institutional research projects Niche Bernard spoke with Fabianna about their experience as a student research assistant at Cambridge in the context of Black Lives Matter protests. Read more from this interview here. |