Tucked away on the first floor of Sanford Hall lies one of Dear Langston’s hidden gems: the Melvin B. Tolson Black Heritage Center. The center, which is currently only open by appointment, combines aspects of a museum and a library to showcase black art, literature and culture. The building is dedicated to former Langston University professor, acclaimed poet, and member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., Melvin B. Tolson.
Tolson dedicated his life to literature as a poet and wrote works such as “Harlem Gallery: Book One” and “The Curator.” His passion brought him to education, and in 1947, he began his career here at Langston University, teaching drama and English until his retirement in 1965. Tolson would sadly pass away on August 29th, 1966.
Four years later, in January of 1970, Langston would honor him by establishing the Black Heritage Center, a building that, according to the university website, “houses more than 7,000 volumes of work” and is the home of many notable authentic African artifacts.
60 years later, the brothers of the Phi Psi chapter of Omega Psi Phi shown light on Tolson and the Black Heritage Center on February 11th, in collaboration with the Student Government Association, for one night only as the center put on a public showcase in honor of Black History Month.
What started as a chapter meeting idea for the brothers of Phi Psi turned into a plan of action to bring awareness. Member and graduating senior finance and economics double major Logan Brown said, “We felt like this would be a very important thing. … We realized that we had a whole heritage center based off of one of our fraternity brothers, and also, we wanted to bring this to light. I kind of had the first idea of it just because I toured this place, actually…while I was in high school, and some of my LBs [line brothers] like Garrett [Green] and Terrence [Keys] really did a good part in just talking to librarians and being able to get this reopened for us.”
Graduating senior business administration major, and member of the Phi Psi chapter, Garrett Green said, “Melvin B. Tolson was our chapter advisor here at one point in time… So…putting him on a pedestal…as he deserves in black history month that was also started by another Omega Man. We just felt like it was right.”
In regard to the Student Government Association’s involvement, graduating senior broadcast journalism major and current SGA vice president Jasilyn Spivey said, “Logan Brown…reached out to Terrence Keys and me…talking about… how important it is to get students to know about the Black Heritage Museum library, and that’s really how it came about. And I told them, Senate is 1000%…willing to support that.”
Attendee and junior broadcast journalism major, Christavia Solomon, like many lions, had not seen the center up until this point, and agreed it was something students should be more aware of.
“I did hear that this building used to be open and that it had a lot of black history in it, but I didn’t know, like, what kind of black history, and I would have loved to see more of this, like earlier.”
Pressing the matter of highlighting dear Langston’s culture and vocalizing its vitality is something Spivey believes students have the power to do, and by doing so, more gems like this one are able to be brought back into the spotlight
“The more people talk about it, the more it’s almost demanding, in a way, of, like, Hey, like, this is a, like, a key feature of Langston. Like, we want it open. … Coming to talk to the Senate about it, writing legislation about it, talking to our advisors, … or faculty and staff…when students are passionate about something, …things happen, things move.”
Layla Nickerson
Features Editor and Staff Reporter
Layla Nickerson is a sophomore broadcast journalism major with a minor in marketing. Her “why” as a student reporter is to be a storyteller of culture and community, in hopes of featuring all the aspects that LU has to offer, whether they are niche or grand. She believes that the work of The Gazette grants power to the students of Dear Langston by giving them a voice, and because of this, she knew it had to be something she was a part of. Outside of her journalistic tendencies, Layla loves immersing herself in other forms of media like music, film, TV, and occasionally reading. For any inquiries, she can be reached at layla.c.nickerson@langston.edu in Outlook as well as @layla_nickerson on Instagram.
