The year was 1968.
It was a year filled with political debate, American involvement in Vietnam and heightened awareness of racial issues still left over from the end of the Civil Rights Movement.
And the University of Pennsylvania was no exception. Here, the atmosphere was just as hostile, with regular clashes between students and the administration regarding issues such as military action and the mistreatment of black students.
At the time, there was a growing number of minority students being admitted to the University because of increasing attempts to build diversity of culture and experiences within the student population.
But these minority students found themselves in an unwelcoming and alienating atmosphere that finally prompted student action in 1968, after many local black residents were displaced by University construction in surrounding neighborhoods.
Students joined together to protest the University's construction, as well as the supposed military research being conducted on campus, leading to a highly emotional sit-in and takeover of College Hall.
According to Education Professor Howard Stevenson, the campaign for more minority professors and resources that culminated in this sit-in was not just one that affected black students, but "a fight for the campus at large to have a broader exposure" to different cultures and perspectives.
Though no one knew it at the time, this would prove to be a turning point for black students at Penn, as well as the beginning of a house focused on black history and culture -- the W.E.B DuBois College House.
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A New York City native, College junior Dwayne McFarlane is spending his first year living in DuBois, and describes the differences between DuBois and other college houses with thoughtful reflection.
"It's like a home, not a dorm," he says. "All the students basically know each other."
McFarlane notes that DuBois is a place to "come together collectively" because many of the residents "draw from similar backgrounds."
And the family-like nature of the house can be felt immediately upon entering, with students talking and laughing around the front desk or congregating in front of the huge TV in the lounge to play video games together.
Halo is one of the current favorites.
As for the issue of diversity -- after all, DuBois is approximately 80 percent black -- McFarlane sums up the topic: "It's OK to go out in the world and mix with people from other backgrounds," but "when it's all said and done, you want to have that bond with someone else" of your same race and "a common place to fall back on just in case."
To Anwar Goins, a College senior and former resident of the house, the race issue affects everyone in the same way.
"Just about all ethnic groups stick together because they have cultural consistencies that they need," he says. "People need that to kind of balance them so people don't lose themselves."
It was this apparent need for black students to have a place of their own that led the administration to eventually begin discussions with student leaders after the 1968 sit-in, leading to the establishment of the Afro-American Studies Program and the inception of DuBois College House.
The new developments were aimed at the many minority students who sought "not just intellectual safety, but emotional safety" at the time, Stevenson says, which came in the form of a "safe haven" in which students could congregate and live.
And their interest in black unity didn't stop with housing -- according to Stevenson, they also had a strong desire to learn about a wider range of cultures and history.
"In course work, students felt like there were racist remarks being made by professors," he says. "There were very few faculty of color."
This, however, would finally change, as Penn established the Afro-American Studies Program in 1969.
But the struggle didn't end there. While the students felt victorious with the new changes that took place, the plans for the college house came under national scrutiny.
DuBois was criticized for instilling "reverse discrimination" and "separatism" by groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union, and even the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People denounced the house as taking a step in the wrong direction.
Even today, some continue to argue that DuBois promotes segregation and containment, but the house also serves its original -- not to mention vital -- purpose of helping black students who still find themselves in a hostile and discriminatory world.
"Some kids would see the atmosphere at Penn as 'hostile'... and some would not," DuBois Faculty Master Freida Outlaw says. "There are many different reasons why people are here."
Take the January 2002 incident, with students decrying the alleged racial profiling of then-College senior Dimitri Dube by local police.
While many DuBois residents have experienced such discrimination firsthand, their house policy seeks to avoid the same mistake.
Thus, despite the strong emphasis on black culture and history, no one has ever been denied admittance due to race, and black students do not comprise the entire population of DuBois, with 15 to 20 percent of the residents being non-black, according to DuBois Dean Patricia Williams.
The issue of race is a highly complicated one, and Outlaw often turns the question of self-segregation around.
"Do people ask questions about the Quad being predominantly white?" she wonders, noting that she feels all students need to work toward "break[ing] down some of the stereotypes" and "perceptions of the houses."
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But back in the early '70s, the question of self-segregation had even more virulent roots -- after all, thousands of Americans had sacrificed their lives in the Civil Rights Movement to end segregation, and DuBois' overt decision to self-segregate seemed counterintuitive, if not regressive.
While criticism continued, plans for the house went forward, and the DuBois College House was finally established in 1973.
Yet, even more turmoil still awaited Penn's black community. Throughout the years, both members of the house and other black students across campus have faced racist insults by professors, bomb threats, rallies and more sit-ins.
To this end, DuBois has served as a central hub from which to organize and combat these challenges.
For instance -- one of many instances in its 30-year history -- there is the Feb. 13, 1985 sit-in to protest remarks by Wharton professor Murray Dolfman, after he allegedly referred to five black students as "ex-slaves." After the sit-in, then-Black Student League President Alma Bone led the protesters back to DuBois, where a press conference was held.
And another example is the Nov. 10, 1988 anti-racism rally on College Green, which began with a silent march from DuBois to the Green.
But DuBois residents have also celebrated milestones as a family, with students setting new records in academics, athletics and leadership. Even today, students work in unison by planning such events as today's march in Washington, D.C., for affirmative action.
Despite the controversy, the historical objections to the house must be taken in context, Outlaw argues.
Many believed that those founding the house "didn't really understand the price people had to pay to be in integrated situations," Outlaw says.
But self-segregation is a fact of life, she adds, noting that she cannot possibly overemphasize the importance of the house.
"Similar people tend to congregate for different reasons," she says. "I don't see that as a particular problem."
And to those who still insist that any type of segregation is inherently bad, Outlaw maintains that students of one race choosing to live together is only negative "if people do it because they don't feel comfortable anywhere else," which is not the central reason behind the choice to live in DuBois.
If some students think "everyone is here for the same reason" and that DuBois residents are "not wanting to be with white kids," Outlaw says, "I think that's a mistake... we need to be real clear about that."
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Today, the house still stands as a monument not only to the work of students who stood up for their rights so many years ago, but it also honors W.E.B. DuBois, a highly influential black activist and scholar whose work in Philadelphia played a central role in modern history.
After receiving a fellowship from the University, DuBois' subsequent studies took the shape of an influential work published in 1899 -- The Philadelphia Negro.
DuBois' work looked closely at the social structure in the black Seventh Ward of Philadelphia, a highly impoverished area that DuBois found to be treated with ignorance, representative of the way that poor blacks were treated in general.
The work shed new light on the idea that the history and heritage of blacks deserved new attention and legitimate understanding.
In fact, the legacy of DuBois' fight for the recognition of black history was intended to be honored by the establishment of DuBois College House, and his memory echoes throughout the building in the form of colorful murals depicting black families, authors and scholars and a hall dedicated to mapping out black history through pictures and stories.
Collages picturing current residents mixed with newspaper articles about issues relevant to DuBois College House take their place on the walls as well, with a huge framed quilt by young school children at the Jubilee School in Philadelphia representing the dedication house residents have to the local community.
Outlaw, along with the rest of the house, recognizes and celebrates the community and family that has stemmed from the establishment of DuBois.
Although Outlaw is a new faculty member, she has quickly become a central part of everyday life in the house, watching over meetings and activities all organized by residents, and even listening to the music of choir practice many nights before she goes to bed.
"I love this place," she reflects. "This house is needed for so many reasons."
"We're all a part of this University, and we should all feel a part of this University," she says, adding that everyone should have "all the opportunities to explore experiences."
For some, that means being involved in the Black Yearbook, the House Council or living in DuBois as a member of the Politics and Cultural Pluralism program, a floor-wide, multiethnic group that explores issues of race and affirmative action.
And within this community atmosphere, the residents and faculty of DuBois continue to thrive and learn in a friendly, family-like environment that has made DuBois the only college house where students can actually say they know almost everyone around them, even if they are so close that, according to Goins, "business spreads like wildfire."
As for the future, Outlaw believes that "this house will always be predominantly people of the African diaspora... probably [because] it's self-selected," adding that "a lot of white students think they couldn't live here," even though "we are a welcoming people."
No matter the future, DuBois will always remain a symbol of accomplishment and history as well as a center of black culture on campus.
