OAAA E-Weekly Newsletter
The Office of African-American Affairs Newsletter Highlighting Events and Opportunities for OAAA Students
"Young, Gifted & Black:
40 Years of Preparing Students for the Quest"
Special Announcement
The Office of African-American Affairs is on FACEBOOK!
LIKE US to keep up-to-date with events and more info about OAAA!
Mark Your Calendar
Monday, September 18 – Deadline when students must enroll in or waive their right to individual health insurance coverage - For information visit
Friday, September 22 – Deadline when students can appeal the decision if a health insurance waiver is denied. For information visit
Saturday, September 30 through Tuesday, October 3 – Reading Days (no classes)
Thursday, October 5 - Saturday, October 7 -- Cornerstone Bicentennial Weekend
Friday, November 3 – Sunday, November 5 – Family Weekend
Wednesday November 22 – Sunday, November 26 – Thanksgiving Recess
Quote of the Week
“Life is short, and it’s up to you to make it sweet.” – Sadie Delany
Spotlight on Student Achievements
Janetta Parker is a fourth year student from Austin, Texas, double majoring in Anthropology and Cognitive Science, with a Cognitive Psychology Concentration. She serves as a Senior Peer Advisor to the Office of African-American Affairs' Peer Advisor (PA) Program, where she is in charge of overseeing the planning of PA Orientation and monthly bonding events. In addition, she is one of 76 graduating fourth years chosen to serve as a Fourth Year Trustee, in which she is an active member of the Big Events Committee. Janetta is also a member of Phi Sigma Pi Honor Fraternity, where she has served as Fellowship Chair and most recently, Alumni Chair. In summer 2017, she interned at National AIDS Education and Services for Minorities, Inc. through Morehouse College's Project IMHOTEP, where she was named a CDC Undergraduate Public Health Scholar. Upon graduation, she plans to continue schooling to become a public health professional.
You can nominate an exceptional student (not yourself) to be featured in the Spotlight on Student Achievements. Please send your nominations to:
Dean Patrice Grimes (pgrimes@virginia.edu) every Thursday by 12 noon.
Quote's Corner
Sarah Louise "Sadie" Delany was born in Lynch's Station, Virginia, on September 19, 1889. She was an African-American educator and civil rights pioneer who was the subject, along with her younger sister Elizabeth "Bessie" Delany, of the New York Times bestselling oral history, Having Our Say, written by journalist Amy Hill Hearth. Sadie was the first Black person permitted to teach domestic science at the high-school level in the New York public schools, and became famous, with the publication of the book in 1993. She died peacefully at her Mount Vernon, NY home
Opportunites with Deadlines
This Week in Black History
Edward Alexander Bouchet (September 15, 1852 – October 28, 1918) was born. An African American physicist and educator, he became one of the first African-Americans to graduate from Yale College in 1874. He was also the first African-American to earn a Ph.D. from any American university, completing his dissertation in physics at Yale in 1876. On the basis of his academic record, he was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society. Bouchet was also among the first 20 Americans (of any race) to receive a Ph.D. in physics and was the sixth to earn a Ph. D. in Physics from Yale.
On September 16, 1963, a bomb exploded during Sunday morning services in the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four young girls. With its large African-American congregation, the 16th Street Baptist Church served as a meeting place for civil rights activities. Fifteen sticks of dynamite were planted in the church basement, underneath what turned out to be the girls’ restroom. The bomb detonated at 10:19 a.m., killing Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Addie Mae Collins–all 14 years old–and 11-year-old Denise McNair. Spike Lee’s film, Four Little Girls, depicts this true story.
Mary Burnett Talbert (September 17, 1866 – October 15, 1923), an American orator, activist, suffragist and reformer, was born. Called "the best known Colored Woman in the United States," Talbert was among the most prominent African Americans of her time. She used her education and energies to promote anti-lynching and anti-racism work. Talbert also supported women's suffrage and in 1915, she spoke at the "Votes for Women: A Symposium by Leading Thinkers of Colored Women" in Washington, D.C. During her national and international lecture tours, she educated audiences about oppressive conditions in African-American communities and the need for legislation to address these conditions. She was instrumental in gaining a voice for African-American women in international women's organizations. As a founder of the Niagara Movement, Talbert helped to launch organized civil rights activism in America.
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