What was it like for B.Michael, a Black Queer man, to attend law school in Boston in the early 1980s?
Here is a taste of at least what he experienced in the classroom with brilliant professors like Northeastern’s Denise Carty-Bennia, who taught Constitutional Law, a staple class for everyone in their “1L”, or first year of law school.
The excerpt, recorded some time during the 1981-82 academic year, captures roughly 1.25 hours of lecture (with a gap of five seconds at the 37:40 mark) when someone flipped the cassette tape to the B side. Was it B.Michael himself, or did someone make the recording for B.Michael because he was absent?
And if you were in the classroom that day with Carty-Bennia, please contact us here. Bonus points if you recall the date of the lecture!
This unlabeled tape was found in B.Michael’s archives. Many thanks to Lisa Evans-Chapman, B.Michael’s good friend and fellow 1L, for confirming Carty-Bennia’s voice and the material.
