Engaged Pluralism

The Reverend Howard Thurman, Blackness, and Vassar College: Student Panel and Presentations

February 15, 2024

Four students presented their original research on the legacy at Vassar College of the Black theologian the Reverend Howard Thurman, and offered their perspectives on the role that Thurman played in shaping the Vassar of the past, present, and future.

The students had developed their research in their Fall 2023 Intensive on Reverend Thurman. Reverend Thurman, who was a mentor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Bayard Rustin, and Pauli Murray, gave over a dozen sermons at Vassar College between 1928 and 1952. His daughter, Olive Thurman ’48, was one of the first Black students to graduate from Vassar. The student panel was moderated by Professor Jonathon Kahn, Director of Engaged Pluralism.

A group of students sit on a stage, above which is projected an image. The image shows a person speaking, and seems to be part of a video.
A group of students sit on a stage in front of a projected slide that reads "The Reverend Howard Thurman, Blackness, and Vassar College".

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