Founded in 1857, it took approximately over a century before Lake Forest College started to racially integrate. First came the students (the first graduate, William Peyton, finished in 1907), then the staff, faculty, and board members. Folks like Mary Casselberry and Clayton Grey reveal how the 1970s and 1980s were a pivotal time when the College began to integrate its leadership. How does integration work from the top down? This talk will interrogate this question and more as we take steps to better understand the process of integration in an affluent North shore suburb.

Courtney Pierre Joseph is an Associate Professor of History and African American Studies at Lake Forest College. Her specializations are in African American history and culture, Haiti and its diaspora, women and gender studies, and Hip Hop culture. As a public historian, she has been invited to speak by the DuSable Museum of African American History, the Field Museum, NPR, NBC 5 Chicago, and CBS Chicago. As a scholar, she has published academic articles and essays and collaborated with the Haitian Museum of Chicago to develop the first oral history archive dedicated to the Haitian community in Chicago. Dr. Joseph is currently working on her first book, titled DuSable’s Diaspora: A Community History of Haitians in Chicago, which will be published by University of Texas Press. Dr. Joseph also served as the Faculty Consultant for the History Center's current exhibition, "Deeply Rooted & Rising High: African American Experiences in Lake Forest."