Photo by Thandiwe-Wanjiru Delgado-Kinyatti ’27
Two students cut a birthday cake to celebrate the Betty Shabazz Cultural Center’s 55th birthday. The celebration explored the center’s background.
By Thandiwe-Wanjiru Delgado-Kinyatti ’27
Staff Writer
“It is a milestone that the Betty [Shabazz Cultural Center] has survived … the essence of the Betty has survived. Even though it has changed bodies, the essence still remains,” Dani Darku ’27 said as she walked across campus on Oct. 30, on her way to celebrate the 55th birthday of the Betty Shabazz Cultural Center. “We have to keep in mind that the school did not have the Betty in mind when it was being built. [The school] didn’t have the identities of Black students when it was being built, so we need to keep that in mind and come to the Betty because it is not about the distance, it's about the Betty being a home for us.”
The Betty Shabazz Cultural Center is often referred to by Mount Holyoke College students as “The Betty.” A full house equipped with a kitchen, living room and bedrooms along with a substantial meeting area, the Betty is a place for students of the African diaspora that can be utilized as a safe community space on the Mount Holyoke College campus.
The birthday event took place in the common meeting room of the Betty, where students gathered as Testimony Akinkuolie-Ibidapo ’27 and Anjolie Kwakye Minott ’27, the building managers, started the opening remarks of the event by going into the history of the Betty. The founding of Betty was a process that started in 1967, when the Afro-American Association, now known as the APAU, was formed. At the time, there were only 25 Black students attending Mount Holyoke College. In 1968, a sit-in was staged, resulting in African American students being given the Black Cultural Center. This center was originally located at Woodbridge Hall, although it burned down less than two months later.
The students were then granted an abandoned faculty house on 2 Dunlap Place which is where students of the African diaspora still gather today. Originally deemed the Martha Rolston Perkins Cultural Center in 1973, the center would eventually be renamed as the Betty Shabazz Cultural Center in 1980.
Dr. Betty Shabazz, whom the center is named after, had come to speak at Mount Holyoke in the 1980s with former Mount Holyoke student Dr. Kamilah Majied ’86, whose photo with Dr. Shabazz is displayed in the living room of Betty. Dr. Majied came in as the keynote speaker for Betty's birthday celebration, where she spoke about her conversations with Dr. Shabazz and the activistic, scholarly and religious insight she provided. Dr. Majied now works as a mental health therapist, clinical educator and researcher, and recently authored her first book, “Joyfully Just: Black Wisdom and Buddhist Insights for Liberated Living.” After students asked Dr. Majied questions, music was played, food was served and members of the Mount Holyoke community were all able to socialize. Students sat in groups scattered around the room, laughing with each other.
When interviewed by Mount Holyoke News during the event, Mariamu Conteh ’27 said, “It’s really great to see everyone together in a large group ... I feel like this is a big turn out compared to last year … we didn’t really show up for events but I am very happy there’s more people showing up for events now.” Similar statements were echoed by other students. When discussing if they felt more students were showing up to events associated with the Betty, Quétia Jean-Jacques ’27 said, “One hundred percent. I’ve noticed a significant change, a significant increase in people that are participating and actually showing up, ’cause we were talking about how there is not enough community, but I’m very pleased with the amount of people that have been showing up, because it is important to show up for one another.”
Additionally, Associate Dean of Students, Community and Belonging Latrina Denson agreed with Jean-Jacques, saying, “I see more with the Betty this year than before … As people now understand what the Betty is for, we are starting to see more engagement.”
Throughout the years there have been many groups and countless students who have engaged with the Betty. The APAU, the Mount Holyoke African and Caribbean Student Association, Xi Nu Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Pi Iota Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and Daughters of Zion have all been groups to collaborate with the Betty, and all had representatives at the 55th birthday celebration. The general sentiment amongst students who are part of these groups and interact with the Betty as part of their experience at the College is that they want to continue the livelihood and essence that Betty brings to students’ lives.
After the event was over and students were walking in the dark back to their dorms, Celine Lubin ’28 ended the night by saying, “It was very exciting for us to celebrate Betty Shabazz’s birthday and also to celebrate as a community, because with community comes collaboration and with collaboration comes unity.”
Lubin added, “It’s nice to go to the cultural centers and feel like you have a place with people that understand, whether it just be your culture, your way of life or how you grew up. That part is really important and it helps center you, especially during times like finals and midterms, times where you could lose yourself in the stress.”
Editor’s note: Testimony Akinkuolie-Ibidapo ’27 is a contributing writer for Mount Holyoke News.
Adeyla Hoenck ’28 contributed fact-checking.