The Black Alumni Reunion is a celebration of our shared connections with each other and NC State, and provides an avenue for participants to be active agents in the progression of our NC State community. Since it's inception, the event has provided an opportunity for alumni to particpate in the affairs of N.C. State and to connect with friends, alumni, faculty, staff, and students.
The first Black Alumni Reunion was held in 1976 (prior to the creation of the formal Black Alumni Society). It was coordinated and put together by C. Frederick “Fred” Johnson (1971), Genevieve Sims (1969), and Richard “Shack” Shackleford (1968). At that time they were all living in the Washington, DC area and had to coordinate everything with very little direct assistance from the Alumni Association due the distance. It was Fred Johnson who contacted the Alumni Association Director, Bryce Younts to get as much information as possible to get started. He asked for a listing of Black Alumni from the University. A listing of Black Alumni was difficult to produce at that time. So, Bryce Younts very generously supplied some 20,000+ names of alumni from the 60’s and 70’s because the University had not, before that time, kept statistics on race. Fred then took the entire list of alumni, separated it by alphabet and asked volunteers (Black Alums) to manually go thru the list and help identify the Black alumni. In addition, the alumni volunteers used their personal long distance home services to call individuals from the list and sort out the Black alumni. Bryce Younts was appreciative for the efforts put into identifying about 200+ Black alumni.
The first Black Alumni Reunion weekend was a huge success! It was a marvelous reunion and was enjoyed by all who attended. Festivities were held at the NC State Faculty Club (Hillsborough Street) after a great deal of discussion and negotiation and with the assistance of Professor Gary E. Wall (Physical Education Department). The organization of this first Black Alumni Reunion by C. Frederick Johnson, Genevieve Sims and Richard Shackleford established the “vision” to establish the Black Alumni Society and the many future reunions and conferences that have taken place since 1976. You might also note that Fred Johnson, along with Al Roberts (1971) were the first African American students to graduate from NC State University with degrees in computer science.