Visit the BCC Website!

In 1975, the Black Student Union (BSU) received funding from the Oregon State University student government, the Alumni Center, and the local community to open the BSU Cultural Center. The center's name changed in 1981 to the Lonnie B. Harris Black Cultural Center (BCC), in honor of the first director of OSU's Educational Opportunities Program. The mission of the Lonnie B. Harris BCC is to complement the academic program of studies and enrich the quality of campus life for African and African-American students at OSU.

Lonnie B. Harris Black Cultural Center (BCC) Records (RG 244)

The Lonnie B. Harris Black Cultural Center Records document activities and events sponsored by the Center, Oregon State University students and staff affiliated with the Center, and the campus environment for African-American students at Oregon State since the 1960s.

• Digitized versions of 4 photograph albums are available here. They include images of open houses at the Center; annual events such as Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebrations, Kwanzaa, and Black History Month; retreats; the 1996 boycott; Jesse Jackson's visit to Oregon State in 1992; fashion shows; the dedication of Carrie Halsell Hall; and students and staff affiliated with the Center.

Oregon Multicultural Archives Blog Post

This post is a combination of a set of documents from the OSU Black Cultural Center:

1. A binder with materials dated 1974-1980
2. A folder from the Memorial Union Records collection.

The original binder and a copy of the binder (a physical display binder accessible to the public) are with the OSU BCC.

• OSU’s Lonnie B. Harris Black Cultural Center, 1974-1980, binder documents include:
  • Advisory Board and Contract
  • Meeting Minutes
  • Inventory Reports
  • Budgets
  • Reports/Proposals
  • Position Description
  • Correspondence
• The Memorial Union Records, “Black Cultural Center”, 1975-1984, folder includes:
  • Materials related to all Cultural Centers
  • Multicultural Advisory Board Meeting Minutes
  • BCC Lonnie B. Harris Name Change information
  • Documentation pertaining to the Black Youth of America
  • Vandalism that occurred at the BCC
  • BCC Events
  • Budget information
  • Position descriptions
  • Meeting minutes
  • Agreements.

Oregon Multicultural Communities Research Collection (OMCRC)

The OMCRC is an artificial collection containing items of interest about multicultural communities within Oregon State University and to a lesser extent, the city of Corvallis, and the state of Oregon.

• Box-Folder 1.7: Black Cultural Center - Lonnie B. Harris, 1977-2017