Knowledge Bank

Donna McIntyre Whyte discusses her time at Ohio State as a student beginning in 1966. She recalls her first impressions of campus as a Black Student, her involvement as a member of the Black Student Union (BSU), and her recollections in relation to a 1968 sit-in by BSU members and others in OSU’s Administration Building. This interview was one of 15 conducted by students in English 4567 (Rhetoric and Community Service) to capture as many stories as possible from former Ohio State students associated with the sit-in at the Administration Building (now Bricker Hall) that led to the arrests of 34 Black students, now known as the “OSU 34.” She also discusses the overall inequities that Blacks faced both in her hometown of Cleveland and at OSU, and the effect her experience at OSU had on her life.

To view video recordings of 2018 interviews of four students talking about the events of 1968, please go to http://go.osu.edu/CarmenCollection1968.