About
In 2018, Centre College, Furman University, Rollins College, and Washington and Lee University collaboratively began to collect documents, images, stories, and artifacts related to the desegregation of their campuses. This effort was funded by three generous grants from the Associated Colleges of the South and led by librarians, in collaboration with faculty, students, and staff at the respective institutions. The ultimate goal of the project is to capture the often overlooked voices of those most impacted by desegregation.
The Pathways to Diversity website is the culmination of nearly five years of investigation, development, and creation, containing over 200 scanned primary source materials related to the racial integration of these 4 institutions. The development of this site is ongoing, and the institutions continue to add important historical and contextual information to deepen our understanding of the people and events central to desegregation, with the understanding that it was not realized in a linear or an ideal manner on any of our campuses.
There is more work to be done in society and at educational institutions to dismantle systemic racial inequity and to create equitable outcomes. Learning about and from past events is but the first step on the pathway towards equity and inclusion for all.
View Pathways to Diversity Website
Statement on Potentially Harmful Content
All materials in the Pathways to Diversity collections have research value and reflect the society and time period in which they were produced. They may contain language and imagery that are offensive because of content relating to: ability, gender, race, religion, sexuality/sexual orientation, and other categories. The documents, images, publications, and other materials have been preserved in order to present the materials in their original state and context, and do not reflect the values of Centre College, Furman University, Rollins College, or Washington and Lee University. We are aware that finding aids, catalog records, and other descriptions created by staff at these institutions using standard vocabularies may contain offensive or harmful language. We are actively working to address this problem. In some instances, we will supplement but not replace the offensive terms that come from authorized sources still in use for searching. If you come across offensive language in a finding aid, catalog record, digital collection description, or other material description, please contact libraryarchives@centre.edu to bring this to our attention