By Carlos Wiley and Darryl Daisey, Penn State
A dedication ceremony and reception for the revealing of a Penn State historical marker at the former site of the Walnut Building will be held at 4 p.m. on April 15, outside of the Chemistry Building on Shortlidge Road. Those who wish to participate should meet at 3:30 p.m. in the Paul Robeson Cultural Center on the first floor of the HUB-Robeson Center. From there, the group will proceed to the dedication site. The ceremony will be followed by a reception at the Paul Robeson Cultural Center Library. The event is open to the public.
The Walnut Building, formerly located at the current site of the Chemistry Building on Shortlidge Road, was the center of minority student social, cultural and political life at Penn State from the opening of the Black Cultural Center in 1971 until the Paul Robeson Cultural Center moved to its current location in 1999.
A former USO surplus building on an Army base in Lebanon, PA, it was transferred piece-by-piece in the fall of 1947 to the Shortlidge Road site at the University Park campus. The building later served as the Temporary Union Building, affectionately known as the TUB, for Penn State students in the 1940s and ’50s. When the Hetzel Union Building (HUB), opened in 1955, it was renamed the Walnut Building and was used by the Division of Student Affairs and then the Department of Anthropology before becoming home to the student run Black Cultural Center (1971) and later the Paul Robeson Cultural Center (1972).
The building underwent makeovers in 1974 and 1986, including construction of a small art gallery, a library, conference room, and meeting spaces for faculty and staff. One constant was the auditorium, a multi-function space, where the center sponsored diverse speakers, dances, meetings and receptions, including events with Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee; Alex Haley; Nikki Giovanni; Julian Bond; Jessie Jackson; Earth, Wind & Fire; and many others. The building housed more than 500 events per year during the 1980s and 1990s. The Walnut Building was demolished in the summer of 2000 to make way for the current Chemistry Building.
“The Walnut Building was the focal point of the Black and Hispanic communities while I was at Penn State,” said Darryl Daisey, class of 1983. “It was the place that many of us felt most comfortable. It may not have been the best looking building on campus, but we felt like it was ours.”
“I am excited that as the new Director of the Paul Robeson Cultural Center I will have the chance to be a part of the storied history of the Black community at Penn State,” said Carlos Wiley.
In the summer of 2010 the Penn State Black History Project (PSBHP) submitted a request to erect a Penn State Historical Marker to honor the impact the Walnut Building had in nurturing diversity on campus. The PSBHP is a coalition of the African-American Alumni Organization, the Office of Educational Equity, the Africana Research Center, the Alumni Association, the Paul Robeson Cultural Center, the Department of African and African-American Studies, Penn State Public Broadcasting, the Penn State Archives, the Black Alumni Reunion Committee and other student, University and alumni groups. The request for the marker was approved by the Office of University Relations.
For more information, contact Wiley at caw53@psu.edu or 814-865-1779; Darryl Daisey, of the Penn State Black History Project, at darryl.daisey@psualum.com or 215-519-7806; Mike Bezilla in the Office of University Relations at mxb13@psu.edu or 814-865-9481; or visit the PSBHP’s website, at http://www.blackhistory.psu.edu/ online.
Historical markers at the University Park campus and other Penn State locations across the Commonwealth call attention to the University’s rich tradition of achievement in higher education and in service to society. A formal series of blue-and-white markers was launched in 1989 by the Penn State Alumni Association and the Office of University Relations. The Alumni Association funds the project while the Office of University Relations provides management services and coordinates the installation and maintenance of the markers with the Office of Physical Plant. The markers in general commemorate events and locations of broad importance to the intellectual and scientific development of Penn State as one of America’s leading public universities.
