In honor of Juneteenth, celebrated each year on June 19th to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved people, SCARC is delighted to publish a research guide featuring a curated list of collection materials documenting the histories of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) Greek Letter Organizations at Oregon State University. 

BIPOC Greek Letter Organizations in the Special Collections and Archives Research Center

The National Pan-Hellenic Council (the Divine Nine) and the Multicultural Greek Council (consisting of 11 chapters) focus on creating safe and inclusive spaces for students of color on college and university campuses. As part of SCARC’s broader anti-racist and enhanced description efforts that began in 2020, we engaged in a collections survey and conducted research to chronicle the history and activities of these organizations to identify archival collections that would support research on each group (for more information on SCARC’s on-going anti-racist work please see our online guide).

As noted in the guide, the sororities and fraternities featured in this subject guide surfaced as part of our initial round of research into BIPOC Greek life on OSU’s campus. This is an ongoing project for which we will continue to seek out and add materials to our collections, and will update this guide with additional information we or community members surface. 

This summer we plan to update relevant archival collection finding aids to highlight specific materials. Look for another blog post later this year with more information documenting our process and providing more context for this project.