Published: March 29, 2018

Never officially recognized during her lifetime,Lucile Berkeley Buchanan, the first African American woman to graduate from the university, will be posthumously honored this spring.

If you go

Who: Open to the public
What: Inaugural Lucile Berkeley Buchanan Lecture
When: Wednesday, April 4, 6:30–8 p.m.
Where: Old Main Chapel

On April 4,ŷڱƵ Boulder Associate Professor of Media StudiesPolly McLean will give the first Lucile Berkeley Buchanan Lecture. McCleanspent more than a decade exhuming Buchanan’s story andfinallycorrectingthe university’s official history, which erroneously stated the first black woman to graduate from ŷڱƵ earned her degree in 1924—when, in fact, Buchanan,graduated from ŷڱƵ in 1918.

Later this spring,McLean’s book Remembering Lucile: A Virginia Family’s Rise from Slavery and a Legacy Forged a Mile High will be published. And at the May commencement, McLean will accept Buchanan'sdiploma and the recognition officially withheld for a century, a move Chancellor Philip DiStefano has called“long overdue.”

Learn moreabout Buchanan’s impressive storyand how McClean helped bring it to light.