Interview with David Dickson (Class of 1976) by Aisha Rickford

David Dickson '76 shares some remarks on his father, David W. D. Dickson, who graduated from Bowdoin in 1941, and his uncle who graduated in 1935. He talks about how the Bowdoin of their era had segregated fraternities that did not allow black students or Jewish students, and details his father’s experience with the emotional tax that such a reality posed. Dickson also talks about the importance of having the safe space of the African-American society that behaved as an “island on a lily-white campus.” He also talks about the former student organization, All Races United (ARU) and how students of marginalized backgrounds as well as “independent mainstream” students could come together in activism. Finally, Dickson shares how his experiences at Bowdoin affected the development of his racial identity.