Black Community
Led by a mission focused on social justice, diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism, Loyola Marymount University is committed to the success of students, staff, and faculty from historically marginalized communities. One step in this mission is to increase access to the resources and programs that our BIPOC community members may connect with the most, in order to enhance their LMU experience.
On this page you will find specialized programs, student and employee affinity and networking groups, upcoming events, and community resources that centralize the Black community. Each focused initiative offers a space to build community connections, to advance career and educational opportunities, and to thrive at LMU.
Celebrate Black History Month
Join us in honoring Black History Month throughout February. Together, we will reflect on the past, connect as a community, and celebrate and promote Black excellence, on and off the bluff.
Recommended Reads
The librarians and staff of the William H. Hannon Library have curated the following recommended books for celebrating and/or learning more about Black history. Want to explore more titles? Check out the complete list at LMU Library Staff Picks.
Policing Black Bodies
By Angela J. Hattery and Earl Smith
This work explores how Black lives are surveilled and how to work for change.
A Bound Woman is a Dangerous Thing
By DaMaris B. Hill
From Harriet Tubman to Assata Shakur, Ida B. Wells to Sandra Bland and Black Lives Matter, Black women freedom fighters have braved violence, scorn, despair, and isolation in order to lodge their protests.
Africana Womanism
By Clenora Hudson-Weems
This work examines the status, struggles, and experiences of the Africana woman forced into exile in Europe, Latin America, the United States or at home in Africa.
Life, I Swear
By Chloe Dulce Louvouezo
A collection of essays by Black women reflecting on selflove and healing, sharing stories of trials and tribulations, what has helped them confront pain and find connection.
Digital Black Feminism
By Catherine Knight Steele
This book walks readers through the technical skill, communicative expertise, and entrepreneurial acumen of Black women's labor--born of survival strategies and economic necessity--both on and offline.
Rest is Resistance
By Tricia Hersey
In this book, Tricia Hersey, aka The Nap Bishop, encourages us to connect to the liberating power of rest, daydreaming, and naps as a foundation for healing and justice.
Abolition. Feminism. Now.
By Angela Y. Davis, Gina Dent, Erica R. Meiners, and Beth E. Richie
This work is a celebration of freedom work, a movement genealogy, a call to action, and a challenge to those who think of abolition and feminism as separate—even incompatible—political projects.
The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks
By Jeanne Theoharis
Examines her six decades of activism, challenging perceptions of her as an accidental actor in the civil rights movement and presenting a corrective to the popular notion of Rosa Parks.
Barracoon
By Zora Neale Hurston
Illustrates the tragedy of slavery and of one life forever defined by it, offering insight into the pernicious legacy that continues to haunt us all, Black and white.
Their Eyes Were Watching God
By Zora Neale Hurston
A novel about Janie Crawford, a Southern Black woman in the 1930s whose journey from a free-spirited girl to a woman of independence and substance has inspired writers and readers for close to seventy years.
Agent Josephine
By Damien Lewis
Singer. Actress. Beauty. Spy. During WWII, Josephine Baker, the world's richest and most glamorous entertainer, was an Allied spy in occupied France.
Octavia’s Brood
By Zora Neale Hurston
Visionary tales that span genres -- sci-fi, fantasy, horror, magical realism -- but all are united by an attempt to inject a healthy dose of imagination and innovation into our political practice.
LMU Anti-Racism Project
The Mbongi Spot
Taking a concrete step to foster a sense of belonging and a space of connection for the Black student body, with an atmosphere that prioritizes the well-being of the Black student population at Loyola Marymount University, the Mbongi Spot, a Black student space, was established as a permanent campus location.
The Inclusive History and Images Project (IHIP)
The Inclusive History and Images Project (IHIP), an important component of LMU’s ongoing university-wide anti-racism initiative, seeks to address important gaps in understanding our own institutional history by gathering stories and images from alumni and the greater LMU community to tell the full and inclusive LMU story.
Community Affinity Groups
Black Faculty and Staff Association
The LMU Black Faculty & Staff Association (BFSA) provides opportunities for social and professional connection, and acknowledgement and celebration of the contributions of Black faculty and staff on and off campus.
Black Law Students' Association
The goals of the Black Law Students Association are to encourage and promote academic excellence for BLSA members and to increase awareness of national and international issues confronting Blacks and other people of color.
African American Alumni Association
The African American Alumni Association (AAAA) provides financial assistance to deserving undergraduate LMU students who achieve academically and actively support their community.
Student Organizations
- #BlackatLMU
- African Student Association
- Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. (Tau Kappa Chapter)
- Black Greek Council
- Black Student Union
- Black Queer + QTPOC Space
- Brothers of Consciousness
- Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. (Tau Delta Chapter)
- Indigenous Student Union
- Intercultural Facilitators Program (IF)
- Kappa Alpha Psi
- Kuumba Hip Hop Dance Crew
- LMU Association of Black Journalists
- Muslim Student Association
- National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE)
- One Pride
- School of Education's Black Graduate Student Association: Imani
- Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.
- Sisters in Solidarity
- Theater in Color
Programs and Departments
Cultural Resources
- Office of Black Student Services
- Ethnic and Intercultural Services (students)
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (faculty and staff)