At a panel discussion entitled “Black Theatre at Princeton: A State of the Union Forum,” the moderator shared the statistic that only seven percent of current Princeton students identify as African-American. Despite the frequent discourse on diversity, or lack thereof, on this campus, the number surprised me. I wasn’t ignorant to the fact that the number isn’t high, of course, but seven percent seemed especially low.
Over the course of the discussion, I realized why the number sounded wrong. It is because, through organizations like Black Arts Company: Drama, the African-American community has a voice that rings much louder than one would expect of a group that constitutes only seven percent of Princeton University.
Miriam Camara ’10 said that through BAC: Drama, she learned that you must speak up when you need something, and I believe that the sentiment applies very much to the goals of the company as a whole. The panelists suggested that the "something" African-American students at this University need is to be heard, to have their presence be respected and appreciated. Black theater is their mode of speaking up. BAC: Drama lets these students be louder than any statistic would suggest, and in this way, the other 93 percent is made to pay attention to their presence.
While the University may have a long way to go in its attention to diversity, black theater at Princeton has provided a medium for cultural understanding across color lines. As Elizabeth Cook ’13 put it, BAC: Drama is telling “human stories” and those stories — their ability to connect with and touch anyone — give African-Americans an integral place in the arts.