When the first Black students, Floyd Gossett Jr. ’68, T.J. Vassar ’68, and Fred Mitchell ’68, stepped onto the Lakeside campus in 1965, there was a clear expectation in the air “to fit the model” and assimilate into a school that was overwhelmingly White and privileged, according to Selin Thomas’ 2021 article in Lakeside Alumni Magazine. Yet these students, and Black Lakesiders who followed in their footsteps, continuously sculpted deeper and more expansive spaces of belonging of their own.
The community that Dr. Paul Johnson ’84 helped to cultivate with three other Black Lakesiders (Aileen Wrothwell ’84, Laura Kohn ’84, and Randy Wilkens ’84) is proudly displayed on a bulletin board at the entrance of his office. Dr. Johnson, now Lakeside’s interim DEIB director, reflects on how the connections that he made with those students helped him establish a sense of belonging in an environment that was often challenging to navigate.
“I came in at a time when you as a Black student were trying to prove yourself academically, and you felt that feeling of being ‘on scholarship,’” he explains. “There was kind of a feeling of ‘Why are you here?’…Like you took somebody else’s space.”
“There wasn’t a summer that I didn’t think, ‘Do I go back?’” he adds. “You kind of kept that in the back of your mind. ‘Maybe I should transfer.’”
Yet he reflects that his connection with Rothwell, Kohn, and Wilkens “helped me to know that I wasn’t the only one to go through what I was going through. It gave me a chance to talk to others at times when I needed it…I think for me, knowing that someone else was going through it gave me the courage to also come back.”
Dr. Johnson also found community with Black alumni from previous classes. “That gave me a sense that someone had knocked down doors and paved the way,” he says. “And I always felt like these individuals were a phone call away.”
Five years after Dr. Johnson graduated, a cohort of students founded the Brotherhood-Sisterhood affinity group for Black Lakesiders. Its original members included Latasia Lanier ’90, who was a junior at the time. Today, Ms. Lanier and Tearon Joseph are faculty advisors for Black Student Union (BSU), the successor to Brotherhood-Sisterhood. Their mentorship and support help to guide the group and its leaders (DeeDee M. ’26, Iman A. ’27, Owen S. ’27).
“Often, in students’ neighborhoods and families, the makeup doesn’t look like Lakeside, doesn’t feel like Lakeside. The affinity group provides some of that sense of normalcy and familiarity,” says Mr. Joseph. The advisors hope that BSU serves as a space that cares for and honors Black students’ authentic experiences, perspectives, and voices.
Iman A. ’27 wants the group to empower Black students to “freely be themselves and know that nobody in the room is judging them for who they are.” In addition, Owen S. ’27 aims for the affinity group to be a community space that addresses current issues through the lens of Black identity. “In a lot of our classes, we’re not looking at some of the events that are going on right now through a racial lens,” he says. “Having those conversations with people who share that same aspect of your identity validates your experiences.”
Along with these efforts to create safe spaces of belonging, there has been a gradual increase in the number of Black faculty, which has helped to strengthen and expand the community. “I think that has been a growth of our program—having adults on campus who walk, talk, and live the same stories as you,” says Ms. Lanier.
The impact of this blooming community cannot be overstated. In comparing his own experiences as a student to what he sees on campus today, Dr. Johnson reflects on the tangible shift.
“When I was here, you felt like you had to basically assimilate and change who you were…[Now] people feel comfortable dressing how they want, wearing their hair how they want,” he says. “People feel comfortable speaking up.” He believes that through community, Black Lakeside students have found a new “comfort in being who you are.”
In supporting Black students in being who they are, it is important to address the diversity within the community. Dr. Johnson recalls that when he was a student, “90% of all the Black people who went to Lakeside came from a ten-block radius.” Today, however, Ms. Lanier notes that “Black students come from so many different areas in the city,” impacting their life experiences and perspectives.
Moreover, a rich cultural diversity exists within the community. Ms. Lanier highlights that the BSU leadership is a reflection of this diversity. “You have Owen, you have DeeDee, you have Iman, who all have a different ethnic background.” BSU leader DeeDee M. ’26 aims to celebrate this diversity and better ensure that everyone feels seen, represented, and celebrated. “We as Black people are not a monolith,” Iman reflects.
Bolstered by the strength of this diversity, Dr. Johnson encourages Black Lakesiders to stand together. “At the end of the day, we’re all Black people,” he concludes. “There’s a community that you feel connected to and a common experience that you all share.”
Since Gossett, Mitchell, and Vassar first entered the school six decades ago, Black students at Lakeside have built a strong sense of belonging grounded in shared experiences, community spaces, and a commitment to supporting one another. Amongst the diversity of backgrounds and perspectives within, this has been and will continue to be the force which binds the community together. After all, belonging to Lakeside’s Black community is something which, in the words of Dr. Johnson, “nobody can really understand unless you go through it.”