The Founding of Medgar Evers College
CUNY Digital History Archives: Demonstration in Albany, 1976, when budget cuts threatened Medgar Evers College.
In 1968, the City University of New York announced plans for the creation of an “experimental” community college that would be located in Central Brooklyn. This announcement came after years of tireless organizing by the predominantly Black Central Brooklyn communities of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights and Brownsville. Angered by an overwhelmingly white CUNY student body that underrepresented New York City’s Black and Brown high school graduates, and the fact that their children were being seriously shortchanged by the public education system, parents wanted a local public college that could inspire younger students and help grow a professional class rooted in the community.
At the insistence of local organizers, the proposed two-year college became a four-year institution, and on September 28, 1970 it was named Medgar Evers College in honor of the martyred Mississippi civil rights leader. September 28 has ever since been observed as “Founder’s Day” at Medgar Evers College. ⠀
The school’s founding truly was experimental. Instead of basing admission on high school performance, it was an open admissions college that took in all NYC high school grads who applied. With its Crown Heights location, it was the first CUNY campus physically located in a Black neighborhood, designed to address the needs of the community. And — again, only through their relentless effort and struggle — Black community representatives were given an equal voice in defining the school, from its mission and goals to hiring and curriculum.
On this Founder’s Day Eve, we salute the radical history behind Medgar Evers College and the committed members of the Central Brooklyn community whose perseverance made it a reality.
