CBAA’s Historic 30th Anniversary Reunion

            On June 8-11, 2006, a record 350 alumni, children and guests celebrated CBAA’s 30^th Anniversary and the 100^th Anniversary of the nation’s oldest Black Greek organization, Alpha Phi Alpha, Inc., also founded at Cornell.  The theme for the reunion was “Celebrating the Legacy … Embracing the Future.”  Throughout the weekend participants were rejuvenated and inspired by the seminars, activities, Ujamaa “sweatbox” parties, and relaxing times with friends old and new.  The 55 alumni who attended their first ever Cornell or CBAA Reunion soon learned what they had been missing.

Time stood still as we reveled in reuniting in scenes reminiscent of school days gone by and the best part of being “brothers” and “sisters” in the Cornell family.

            The celebration began on Thursday evening at Wari House with a captivating talk by Dr. Andrée Nicola McLaughlin ‘70, on a womanist’s perspective on the Willard Straight Takeover.  The beautifully remodeled and expanded Africana Studies and Research Center (AS&RC), was the site of many programs.  Panelists Sofiyyah Elijah (Jill Turner)’76, Kendall Minter, ’74, JD ’76, Jackie Davis ’76, Lois Freeman Bennett ’74, Sonja Hutchins ’79 discussed how Cornell prepared them for traditional and non-traditional career paths.   Dr. Robert Harris, Vice Provost for Diversity and Alpha Phi Alpha National Historian, shared Alpha’s history .

            On Friday, the joy, laughter and photo opportunities continued as Alpha Phi Alpha sponsored a wine and cheese reception with a Black Art display at the Johnson Museum.  Later we dined on soul and Caribbean cuisine at our tent, and danced the night away at the Ujamaa Sweatbox.

            On Saturday, Doris Davis, Associate Provost of Admissions, shared recruitment, admissions and retention data on Black students at Cornell as well as financial aid information.  Renée Alexander ’74, Director of Minority Alumni Affairs, gave an overview of Alumni House services. Over 50 people attended the CBAA General Body Meeting, electing new officers and approving Bylaws revisions that extended the term for elected officers to coincide with our triennial reunions and formalized CBAA’s status as a nation wide alumni affinity organization.  That afternoon, we braved 50-degree temperatures at a barbecue where President Hunter Rawlings and then President-elect David Skorton joined us and delighted the crowd with their remarks.   Aromatherapy treatments, health screenings, and panel discussions on health issues affecting our community as well as on political and governmental careers completed our afternoon.  Panelists included Dr. Kamau Kokayi ’77, Cynthia L. Boyce ’75, Duane Dyson MD ’81, Michigan State Senator Hansen Clarke ’84, Basil Smikle ’93, and Stacey Jenkins ’85.

            The highlight of the weekend was a phenomenal banquet in Barton Hall where Dr. James Turner, the first AS&RC Director, touched our hearts and inspired us to remain committed.  We saw the premiere of a video retrospective, produced for CBAA by Frank Dawson ’72 with the assistance of a grant from the Cornell Alumni Federation.  The video featured recollections about CBAA’s 30‑year history and the conditions that gave rise to our organization by CBAA founders Renee Alexander ’74, Sandi Black ’73, Conway Boyce ’75, Carlton Holmes ’72, and Irene Smalls ’71, as well as accounts about CBAA by others, including John Coles ’73, Angela Clark ’88, Bill Walker ’74 and Albert “Abby” Lucas ’76, and Regina-Little Durham ’78.  Dr. Turner, Assist. Dean Janice Turner, and Dr. Robert Harris, former AS&RC Director, also shared their insights on the important contributions of African American students and CBAA at Cornell.

            A CBAA Time Capsule containing essays from current Black Cornell students, CBAA alumni statements and CBAA 2005-2006 events, was presented and will remain sealed in the Rare Manuscripts Collection at Cornell University until 2036.

            CBAA bestowed awards on its founders and the administrators (many who were in attendance) that nurtured and supported Black students, including:  Drs. Turner and Harris; Janice Turner; former Assist. Dean Larry Watson ’77; Carson Carr (Cornell’s first African American student recruiter); former COSEP Directors, Dr. Gloria Joseph, Mary Moseley, and Dr. Delridge Hunter; Ray Dalton, Director of the Office of Minority Affairs; Ken Glover, Ujamaa Director; and Dennis Williams ’73 (former Director of the Language Skills Center).  CBAA also recognized Prof. Salah Hassan (current AS&RC Director), Dr. Bernice Collins ’76 (Black cheerleader organizer), Frank Dawson ’72 (longtime CBAA videographer), Angel Harper ’74, and Petrina Jackson, Cornell University Archivist.

            We partied at Willard Straight and Ujamaa before waking for last minute photos and embraces at the Farewell Brunch on Sunday. 

            Many thanks to Reunion Co-chairs Jamela Franklin’76 and Tonya Hallet’96, committee members Rashida Sawyer ’76, Morris “Mercury” Melvin ’75, E. Eric Elmore ’96, Sandi Black ’73, Shonette Harrison MHA ’01, Jessica Ingram Bellamy ’92, Sonja Hutchins ’79, Deborah Arrindell ’79, Donnie Scrutchins ’74, Janis McManus ’76, Karen Hilliard Johnson ’73, Donna Dozier Gordon ’81, Akiza Boddie-Willis ’96, Ruby Saake ’84, Shani Waugh Allen ’96, Donell Hicks ’97, and all the alumni and administrators who supported and attended this memorable weekend!

30^th CBAA ANNIVERSARY

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER 

THE CORNELL BLACK ALUMNI ASSOCIATION TO CELEBRATE ITS 30^TH ANNIVERSARY AND THE CENTENNIAL OF ALPHA PHI ALPHA FROM JUNE 8 THROUGH JUNE 11, 2006

(New York, New York) – The Cornell Black Alumni Association, Inc. (CBAA) will celebrate its 30^th anniversary, as well as the 100^th anniversary of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. (APA) founded at Cornell, during the University’s Reunion weekend from Thursday, June 8 through Sunday, June 11, 2006 in Ithaca, New York.  The theme of the weekend, “Celebrating the Legacy…Embracing the Future,” will also mark the end of the fundraising campaign for Cornell’s Africana Studies and Research Center (AS&RC) Rebuilding Project that began in June 2004.

Highlights of the weekend’s events with the goal of strengthening the ties that bind CBAA alumni together include:  Thursday - A Wari House Reception with Dr. Andree Nicola McLaughlin ’70 giving a female perspective on the 1969 Willard Straight Takeover; Friday - a panel discussion and networking session at the AS&RC entitled, “Transcending … Any Person, Any Study, Any Profession”; a panel discussion and visual history in Olin Library on “100 Years in Alpha Phi Alpha” with Dr. Robert L. Harris, Vice Provost of Cornell and National Historian of APA; a “Black Artists’ Display” in the Johnson Museum; a Buffet Dinner on Appel Field; Saturday - a CBAA General Body Meeting; a discussion entitled, “The Recruitment Landscape for African-Americans and Cornell:  Opportunities and Challenges with Admissions and Financial Aid” with speaker Assistant Provost of Admissions Doris Davis; the Presidential State of the University Address; a workshop entitled, “Political Potential:  The Black Cornellian and Public Office” with Cynthia L. Boyce, Esq. ’75,   Duane Dyson, MD, ’81, Michigan State Senator Hansen Clarke, ’84, Basil Smikle ’93 (political campaign consultant), and The Honorable Bill Perkins (former New York City Council deputy majority leader and 2006 candidate for New York State Senate), and a representative from The Women’s Campaign School at Yale; a workshop entitled, “Strengthening CBAA’s Presence Among Cornell Alumni Networks, Clubs and Organizations”; a workshop entitled, “Achieving Optimal Health – Eliminating the Disparities”; and a banquet with keynote speaker Professor James Turner, first director of the AS&RC, who will address the theme of the weekend.  (A time capsule containing document materials of events and organizations in 2006 and a 30-year CBAA retrospective videography of the organization which includes historical information about significant events on campus will be reviewed and sealed at the banquet, subsequently housed at the AS&RC, and opened in 2031.)   

Founded in 1976, CBAA was originally created to provide a community network for Black alumni.  Over the past three decades, its mission has expanded to four major programs:  Recruitment, Mentorship, Update/Reunion, and Scholarship.  Carson Carr, a former Cornell recruiter who was in large part responsible for the matriculation, retention and graduation of many Black alumni in the 1970’s, will be honored for his contributions vis-à-vis CBAA’s mission. 

Alpha Phi Alpha’s founders – the “Seven Jewels” – reflected the general student population at Cornell in 1906 and today.  They brought energy, intellectual curiosity, as well as creativity to their studies and, like most Cornell students, all of the Jewels led successful post-graduate lives.  Notable Cornellians include Dr. G. Alex Galvin, Ithaca’s first African-American physician; former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Samuel Pierce; and U.S. District Court Judge Aubrey Robinson

For Reunion registration information, CBAA alumni, friends and guests can log onto the organization’s Web site, www.cbaa1976.com.  To RSVP, contact Reunion Co-chairs Jamela Franklin ’76, 770-808-8051, oyinde@peoplepc.com, or Tonya (White) Hallett ’96, 410-297-9466, tonya.hallett@gm.com.  For further press information, contact Sandra Black ‘73, 917-842-2660, MsBlack51@aol.com, or Jessica Ingram-Bellamy ‘92, 917-586-8905, JIBellamy@aol.com. 

Listed below are the members and advisors who have worked long and hard to make this "the best reunion ever!"

Current CBAA Executive Board Members

who are advisors to the 2006 Reunion Committee

Regina Little-Durham, ’78, President

Shani Waugh, ’96, , VP for Programming

Mitzi Young, ’77,  VP for Membership

Donell Hicks, ’97, Secretary and WebMaster

*****************************************************************************************************

CBAA 2006 REUNION COMMITTEE AND ADVISORS:

Jamela Franklin, ’76, Reunion Co-Chair and Registration Chair                     

Tonya White Hallett ’96, Reunion Co-Chair and Budget Chair

Sandi Black, ‘73, Publicity and Media Co-Chair

Janis McManus, ‘76

 Eric Elmore, AB ’86, JD ‘89, Alpha Phi Alpha Liaison

Shonette Harrison, MMH  01

Jessica Ingram Bellamy, ‘92, Political Panel Chair, and Publicity and Media Co-Chair

Karen Hillard Johnson, ‘73, Holistic Health Coordinator

Rashida Barksdale Sawyer, ‘76, Catering Chair

Sonja Hutchins, ‘79, Wellness Panel Co-Chair

Deborah Arrindell, ‘79, Wellness Panel Co-Chair

Morris Melvin, ‘75, Entertainment Chair

Donnie Scrutchins, ‘74

Ruby Saake, ‘84

Donna Gordon, ‘81

Lois Freeman Bennett, ‘74

Sonya Maxwell, ‘78

Advisors:

David Abrahams, AB ’76, MA ’02, PhD ‘04

Dean Yarbrough, ‘78

Gladys Yarbrough, ‘78

Renee Alexander, ’74, Director of the Office of Minority Alumni Affairs

Nollie P. Wood, Jr., ‘76

Nicole Whittington, ‘96

Danny Brundage, ‘74

Madinah Ali, MS, ‘96

Brent Pogue, ‘76

Renee Mims Payne, ‘76