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Black Justice League Records
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Held at: Princeton University Library: University Archives [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: University Archives. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
The Black Justice League (BJL) is a coalition of undergraduate students at Princeton University with the stated purpose of standing in solidarity with Ferguson (Missouri) and dismantling racism on the Princeton University campus. Princeton students created the organization, which is neither registered with nor funded by the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students, in the fall of 2014 as a response to the August 9, 2014, shooting death of Michael Brown by Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson and spent part of its first year organizing direct actions on campus, including die-ins and #BlackBrunch initiatives at local Princeton businesses.
On November 18, 2015, BJL organized and led a two-day sit-in at Nassau Hall in which student members occupied the office of University President Christopher L. Eisgruber. The sit-in was a protest of, among other things, the use of Woodrow Wilson's image and name on campus, for which the group began a poster campaign earlier in the Fall 2015 semester. Other significant points of emphases for BJL in the fall 2015 semester, which the group highlighted in its petition and negotiations with President Eisgruber, included the push for mandatory competency training for all faculty and staff, amendment to the distribution requirement that would require students to take a class about a marginalized group, and dedicated cultural affinity spaces.
The collection consists of the organization's Google Drive, two of the organization's social media webpages as well as an online petition that states the organization's demands.
The social media websites were captured in November of 2015 (Crawl ID 185189 and Crawl ID 184674) as part of the Archiving Student Activism at Princeton (ASAP) initiative. The online petition was captured in January of 2016 (Crawl ID 190840). The Google Drive was transferred to Mudd Library in 2018 (AR.2019.072).
Full text searching of the Black Justice League archived websites is available through the Archive-It interface.
For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.
The websites in this collection were described by Jarrett M. Drake in 2016. Finding aid written by Jarrett M. Drake in January 2016. Finding aid updated by Valencia L. Johnson in November 2019.
No materials were separated from the collection at the time of accessioning.
Organization
Subject
- Publisher
- University Archives
- Finding Aid Date
- 2016
- Access Restrictions
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The collection is open for research use.
- Use Restrictions
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Collection Inventory
This page provides information, photographs, and posts about and by the Black Justice League, an organization of Princeton University students that formed in the fall of 2014 in response to the August 9, 2014 shooting death of Michael Brown by Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson.
Full text searching of the Black Justice League archived websites is available through the Archive-It interface.
Physical Description1 website
This page, which is intended for the general Princeton community, contains blog posts written by the Black Justice League pertaining to the group's #OccupyNassau protest and the university's response regarding the status of several buildings named for Woodrow Wilson. Also included is an open letter to black students of the Class of 2020, published on the occasion of their first week on campus.
Full text searching of the Black Justice League archived websites is available through the Archive-It interface.
Physical Description1 website
This petition, published in November of 2015, states the demands of the Black Justice League as students occupied the office of Princeton University President Christopher L. Eisgruber on November 18, 2015, and November 19, 2015.
Full text searching of the Black Justice League archived websites is available through the Archive-It interface.
Physical Description1 website
This page provides streamed Twitter content shared by the Black Justice League, an organization of Princeton University students that formed in the fall of 2014 in response to the August 9, 2014 shooting death of Michael Brown by Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson.
Full text searching of the Black Justice League archived websites is available through the Archive-It interface.
Physical Description1 website
These are the administrative files of the BJL. They include planning docuements, meeting minutes, video of meetings and events, and photographs.
Physical Description20.7 GB