Fireworks at the end of the bicentennial party

The Bicentennial Party: 200 Years in the Making!

A concert. A ferris wheel. A slide. A sack race. Lots of food. Horses. More music. Oh, and fireworks! Check out all the photos from the Bicentennial Party.

Eye Mind Heart: A View of Amherst College at 200

June 17, 2021

Nancy Pick '83 and three research assistants spent years collecting stories for Eye Mind Heart: A View of Amherst College at 200. Join the author and Michael Harmon '16, Constance Holden '15 and Matthew Randolph '16 for tales from the making of the book.

“The Storm and the War that Changed Amherst” A Conversation with Blair Kamin

April 30, 2021

Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic Blair Kamin '79, P'15, discusses how the Great New England Hurricane of 1938 and World War II led to a profound reorientation of Amherst’s hilltop campus.


  

Amherst Uprising Events

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Amherst College Bicentennial 1821 2021

November 12, 2020, marks the fifth anniversary of the Amherst Uprising, a weekend-long occupation of Frost Library during which students of color, among others, gave testimony about their struggles and marginalization at Amherst. In response to the Uprising, the College enacted several measures designed to foster a more inclusive campus environment.

Learn about the original 2015 Amherst Uprising, and watch past events below.

From Protest to Progress: Five Years of Being Human in STEM @ Amherst and Beyond

November 19, 2020

Speakers: Louise Atadja ’16, Prof. Sony Coráñez Bolton, Sarah Bunnell, Nicole Chung ’22 Kristen Greenland, Prof. Sheila Jaswal, Megan Lyster, Gaby Mayer ’16, Prof. Leah Schmalzbauer, Sanyu Takirambudde ’18

Alumni Reflections on the Fifth Anniversary of Amherst Uprising

Thursday, November 12

This conversation between Amherst Uprising alumni begins with reflection on the fifth anniversary and the digital website and continues towards present-day challenges of diversity, equity, and inclusion at and outside the College.

Black Student Activism and the Struggle for Institutional Change in Higher Education

November 5, 2020

Dr. Stefan Bradley, author of Upending the Ivory Tower: Civil Rights, Black Power, and the Ivy League, in conversation with Amherst College student activists Jeremy Thomas '21 and Kyndall Ashe '18.

For Further Reading

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Three Black woman sitting on a table in a library smiling

The Women of the Uprising

In 2018, on the eve of their graduation, the three friends who sparked the transformative campus protest of 2015 shared their thoughts.

Read the story

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A Black woman standing in a book-filled office

Ph.Diversity

This 2019 article describes how a Mellon fellowship is recruiting and mentoring Amherst students to become professors--and how this effort is one legacy of the Amherst Uprising.

Read the story

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A young Black man speaking in front of a group of people

Home: Some Thoughts on the Frost Library Protests

Cullen Murphy '74, then chair of the College's board of trustees, reflected in 2016 on the Uprising, the liberal arts and the aspirational idea of home.

Read the story

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A woman speaking in front of a crowd of protestors

Being Human in STEM: Student Protest to Institutional Progress

Professor Sheila Jaswal examines her experiences with the Amherst Uprising and what this "transformative moment of reckoning" means for STEM education at the College.

Read the story