Last modified: Monday, March 28, 2005
Public forum about IU's Neal-Marshall Alumni Club being filmed for documentary, public invited
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A public forum to remember the founding of the Neal-Marshall Alumni Club, an effort to meet the needs of Indiana University's African American alumni, will be held Saturday (April 2) at 10:30 a.m. at the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, 109 N. Jordan Ave., in the building's Grand Hall.
The event will be filmed for a documentary that is being produced to preserve the personal reflections of the national club's founders. The 10 founding members of the club, named for IU's first male and female African American graduates, will participate along with other IU and Bloomington representatives.
Participants will include:
-- Mildred Morgan Ball, BS '60, of Indianapolis, a former commissioner of the Indiana High School Athletic Association;
-- Janet Cheatham Bell, BS '64, of Bloomington, an author;
-- Rebecca Taylor Bingham, BS '50, MLS '69, of Louisville, a former member of the National Library Council;
-- Dr. Clarence W. Boone Sr., AB '53, MD '56, a current IU trustee and retired physician;
-- Helen Baker-Bundles, AB '61, MS '75; and Samuel Henry Bundles, who founded the Indianapolis Center for Leadership Development;
-- Elizabeth A. Bridgwaters, EX '68, of Bloomington, a historian;
-- Irene Kimble Eskridge, BS '65, of Granger;
-- Dr. Marie Love Johnson, BS '51, of Vernon Rockville, Conn.;
-- George Taliaferro, BS '51, of Bloomington, special assistant to former IU President John Ryan.
Clarence Boone Jr., director of diversity programs in the IU Alumni Association and of the Neal-Marshall Alumni Club, said the event will focus on two critical areas. "We hope to capture the reflections of the founders' experiences as undergraduate or as graduate students at IU," Boone said, "and we want them to share their recollections on the formation of the club."
The Neal-Marshall Alumni Club, an affiliate of the IU Alumnni Association, was founded in 1980 to increase African American alumni participation in local and national IU alumni groups. Today, the club's mission includes addressing the needs of African American students, faculty and staff, as well as promoting awareness of the history, traditions and legacy of African Americans at IU.
The club and the center are named for the first African American male and female graduates of Indiana University, Marcellus Neal, who received a bachelor of arts degree in 1895, and Frances Marshall, who received a bachelor of arts degree in 1919.
