Every three years, Ohio University holds a reunion for its African-American alumni, hundreds of whom return to Athens for the event.
Many of the workers at The Post consider Athens a second home, and we are sure our alumni feel the same way. We want to wish them a warm welcome back to OU.
Ohio University has an array of events for its alumni this weekend. If you are one of many returning to your alma mater, check out a breakdown of activities in this issue of The Post if you haven’t already.
One event you should surely check out is former Post photographer Ken Steinhoff’s photo exhibit, which will open Friday at 9 a.m. on the fifth floor of Baker University Center.
The exhibit, titled “Dawn of Mourning,” features photos from April 7, 1968, the National Day of Mourning, when hundreds gathered on Court Street to mourn the loss of Martin Luther King Jr.
Throughout the years, Ohio University has had many notable African-American graduates from journalists — including Clarence Page and Leon Harris — to leaders such as Edward James Roye, who served as the fifth president of Liberia.
Unfortunately, many students take Ohio University’s African-American history for granted.
So next time you see a show in the Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium, stop and think about the people it was named after: John Templeton, who was born a slave and later became the first black man to graduate from OU, and Martha Jane Hunley Blackburn, the university’s first African-American woman to graduate.
Some things might have changed since your last visit to campus, but as fellow Bobcats, we hope it feels good to be “home” again.
Editorials represent the majority opinion of The Post’s executive editors.
