BLACK STUDENT ALLIANCE + GSAPP


GRIOT
Archiving the Black Experience at/by/beyond GSAPP




In 2021, Columbia GSAPP admitted the largest population of Black students since the 1970s. In both instances, a major swell in Black student demographics followed national calls for institutional racial reckoning, precipitated by the civil rights movement of the 1960s and the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020. 

In May 2024, a majority of Black students who entered GSAPP in 2021 graduated, bringing the Black demographic back down to an inappreciable low. 

GRIOT historicizes the Black  experience at Columbia GSAPP over the past 50 years and documents the school’s relationship with Harlem, as told through the eyes of Black students, faculty, alumni, and Harlem residents. 

    Interviewees

    Alade McKen
    Cory Archie
    Emanuel Admassu
    Ife Vanable
    Ifeoma Ebo
    Justin Garrett Moore
    Dr. Mabel O. Wilson
    Malo Hutson
    Mario Gooden
    Matthew Shore
    Najha Zigbi-Johnson
    Dr. Sharon E. Sutton
    Dr. Sophonie Joseph
    Vernice Miller-Travis
    Victor Edwards