Television station NBC 4 Washington has aired a segment on Mason's Black Lives Next Door project, focusing on the lives of Black families who lived near the university in the early years of its history.
"We felt that it was very important ... for current students−and for future students−to understand the role the Black communities played in shaping the region in which they go to school," said LaNitra Berger, associate director, African and African American Studies program, and senior director, Office of Fellowships, Undergraduate Education.
The segment also featured history student Rachel Amon, global affairs student Alexis Massenburg, and recent alumna Sydney Hardy, BA Economics '21, who had all worked on the research team.
The piece emphasized the experiences of the people who lived in the Black community surrounding the university, and touched on the barriers to integration during Mason's early days.
The project, launched with a Summer Team Impact Grant from the Office of Student Scholarship, Creative Activities, and Research, was designed to consider the racial inequities that shaped the neighborhoods surrounding Mason.