20 Years Later, Does Homecoming Still Mean the Same Thing

By Jalondra Jackson

On September 11, 2001, Phoebe Kenney was in a class at Clark Atlanta University when she had been notified about the horrific events that caused the death of many at the World Trade Center, The Pentagon, in Pennsylvania and on two hijacked airplanes. In complete shock, she left class, went to her dorm to gather all of the quarters she could and ran to the nearest payphone to call her parents.

At the time, no one on campus felt safe. There were rumours of a plane heading for Atlanta and staying safe inside was of great importance. But nearly two weeks later when CAU’s homecoming began, the conversations quickly shifted from “we need to take some safety precautions” to “life is short and we can not live in fear.” As a graduating senior, the homecoming of Fall 2001 was Kenney’s last stride at irrefutable fun and memories as an undergraduate student; and to commemorate the lives lost on 9/11, she understood what that year’s homecoming meant: a celebration and appreciation of life, because it’s short.

Photo Credit: CAU Homecoming Concert, 2001, Archives Research Center, AUC Robert W. Woodruff Library

“I remember that year the theme was Le Renaissance Noire [focusing on the Black renaissance], and it brought out that diversity [of all of the students],” Kenney said. “People you have never seen at homecoming before, were there.”

Twenty years later, CAU students hoped to experience that same sentiment at the homecoming of Fall 2021 after all in-person events were cancelled during the 2020-2021 academic year due to Covid-19. This year, all CAU students and others in the Atlanta University Center can attend an one-day event at the Panther Stadium shaped by the tradition of homecoming, under limitations. With a week’s agenda of events compacted into one day, it leaves room for many students, especially freshmen and sophomores, to wonder what the true heritage of traditional homecoming is. Is it a fellowship for all attendees? Or a connection between alumni and current students?

“We’re responsible for preserving the history of the AUC,” said Brittany Newberry, a Processing Archivist at the Archives Research Center. “To understand the present and [your] history, you have to understand the past,” she added. “We’re helping students, faculty, staff and the AUC community understand and preserve current work and projects, as well as, what has happened before them.”

As the repository for CAU, the research center stores archives of newspapers, photographs, research papers and historical artifacts. More specifically for students looking to explore the culture of the university, yearbooks from 1926 to 2017 are available online for public access. From page to page, students are engulfed into the culture of the year they choose.

The Archives Research Center was established in 1925 and was created to, “preserve and document the rich history and culture of African Americans, from their diverse experiences in the United States to their African Diaspora connections.” The center holds more than 8,000 linear feet of archival materials. Online, more than 27,000 items are available and are changing the way research lives for the student by hosting digital collections.

With collections like the Atlanta Student Movement, Countee Cullen-Harold Jackman Memorial and Southern Education Foundation records, the Archives Research Center is gradually transforming the visual landscape of the AUC and its sharp culture. But on the other hand, archival materials like yearbooks and photographs are reminding students of the candid tradition of homecoming and its importance to, not only AUC history but, HBCU culture in its entirety.

Comparing two homecomings dated 2001 and 2021 with more than a 20-year difference, the entire landscape of what homecoming looks like for students and alumni has changed. While the connection between current students and alumni may not be a highlight at this year’s homecoming, resources like the Archives Research Center available to the AUC community, still provides that similar feeling. One like the pipeline between students in 2001 excited for a Ludacris headlined concert and students in 2021 excited for a Gunna headlined concert.

Photos Credit: CAU Homecoming Concert, 2021, Jackie Gwin

For further exploration of AUC culture and history, an exhibit curated by Newberry, Student Life: A Celebration of the AUC is available online at digitalexhibits.auctr.edu/exhibits. For more information or to visit the Archives Research Center, contact the archives via phone at 404-978-2052 or email archives@auctr.edu.