Shining Light on Truth: Black Lives at Yale & in New Haven

New Exhibition at Yale Schwarzman Center Celebrates the Vital Role of Black Communities in Yale and New Haven's History

Yale Schwarzman Center opens a groundbreaking exhibition, Shining Light on Truth: Black Lives at Yale & in New Haven, today, illuminating ongoing research into Black history at Yale University and in New Haven. This exhibition is FREE and open to the public during regular Schwarzman Center hours.

Centering the stories of those long-overlooked, the exhibition celebrates Black community-building, resistance, and resilience in both the academic and local spheres. The exhibition features nearly 100 archival images of Yale’s earliest Black students from the 1800s and early 1900s—many of whom had deep ties to New Haven—and showcases the essential role these individuals played in shaping Yale and the city. The exhibition also features compelling reproductions of 19th century photographs of New Haveners who were custodians of Yale and highlights key New Haven families—such as the Luke, Grimes, Creed, Park, and Bassett families—who were instrumental to the success of the university and the city.

“This exhibition not only brings to light the remarkable contributions of Black people at Yale and in New Haven but also serves as a reminder of the work that remains in honoring and acknowledging those whose legacies have been neglected for too long,” said Michael Morand ’87 ’93 MDiv, lead curator of the exhibition, New Haven City Historian, and director of community engagement at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale. “By recovering these stories, we hope to foster deeper understanding of and engagement with the history that has shaped both our institution and our community.”

“Our work seeks to put back at the center of our collective storytelling and visual understanding those who have always been central to the stories of Yale and New Haven, though they historically have been denied due recognition,” said David Jon Walker ’23 MFA, lead designer of the exhibition. “We are proud to present this exhibition to the public at the Schwarzman Center, which sits at the heart of campus and at a key crossroads of New Haven. We are grateful to our colleagues at the center for opening the space for such important community conversations and connections.”

The exhibition extends and expands on Shining Light on Truth: New Haven, Yale, and Slavery, a Beinecke Library exhibition that was on view at the New Haven Museum from February 16, 2024-March 1, 2025. Both shows build on the work of the Yale and Slavery Research Project (YSRP), a university-wide initiative dedicated to exploring Yale’s historical ties to slavery, and the resulting book, Yale and Slavery: A History by David W. Blight with the YSRP, published in 2024. Along with an audio walking tour, videos, and website, the book and exhibitions are part of a broader, ongoing effort to study and understand Black people’s historical contributions at Yale and in New Haven. Beinecke will also launch a new website, Shining Light on Truth: Early Black Students at Yale (accessible from March 24 at this link), which allows users to search and browse profiles of over 240 Black students who attended Yale before 1940.

One focus of the exhibition is the 1831 proposal to build a Black college in New Haven—a proposal that was thwarted but remains a pivotal moment in the history of Black education in the United States. Another focus is the story of William Grimes, a New Havener who wrote and published the first fugitive slave narrative in the United States, 200 years ago in 1825. The exhibition also highlights the successful efforts by Black students in the 1960s to establish both the Afro-American Cultural Center and the Afro-American Studies program at Yale, milestones in the history of Black student activism and scholarship at the university and nationally.

“This is an opportunity to look back, but also to imagine a future where Black voices and histories are central to the stories we tell about our community,” said Carlynne Robinson, exhibitions and booking manager, Yale Schwarzman Center. “By illuminating the experiences of Black students and families, we hope to contribute to a broader, more inclusive understanding of the past, present, and future of Yale and New Haven.”

Morand and Walker organized the exhibition at Robinson’s invitation, with a team of scholars, curators, librarians, and designers, including Timeica Bethel ’11, Robert Laird Brown, Jennifer Coggins, Mohamed Diallo ’26, Regina Mason, Hope McGrath, and Charles Warner, Jr. Their work draws on generations of scholarship and community memory. This collective effort ensures that the rich history of Black communities at Yale and in New Haven is preserved and shared with the public and is more broadly available for students and scholars now and in the future. Key support for the exhibition has been provided by Yale Schwarzman Center, the Beinecke Library, the Yale Library, and the Office of the President, Yale University.

Exhibition Details:

Opening Date: March 24, 2025
Location: Yale Schwarzman Center, 165 Grove Street, New Haven, Conn.
Duration: March 2026

Plan your visit!