While at Northeastern, he was involved with, and helped organize, the Black Law Students Association (BLSA).
One cultural artifact from that time period, the plaque below, remained in his files for safekeeping. It did, however, find its way to Peter Alexander — one of that year’s formidable advocates, who remembers Bert from Moot Court — in 2020.
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.