Honoring Activism

In a year like no other, the Dr. Earl L. Avery MLK Leadership Award went for the first time to a cause, not an individual.

Joining the annual MLK Jr. Day celebration in January, organizers of Black at Bentley — Lakeya Graves ’11, Edith Joachimpillai ’12 and Stephanie Hartford ’12 — accepted on behalf of the movement. 

“Their contributions led to the creation of the Racial Justice Task Force, strategic goals developed by the President’s Cabinet, and the passion for change we are seeing from students, faculty, staff and alumni,” says Matt Banks, assistant director in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. “They did this work to not only hold Bentley accountable for these changes, but also to make Bentley a more equitable, anti-racist institution.” 

Their advocacy stems in part from personal experiences. Texas-native Hartford began her education in advocacy at the predominately white School for the Talented and Gifted.   

“During school picture day in first grade, I came home with pencil shavings and gum in my hair,” says the alumna, who traveled a half-hour to attend because neighborhood schools lacked funding. “The next day, my mom showed up at the school and we addressed it right away.” 

A Tale of Two Worlds  

Like Hartford, Graves grew up in a Black neighborhood and attended predominantly white schools for her whole academic career. “I struggled to find my place in both the white world and the Black world. These experiences helped shape my desire to advocate for change.” 

More recently, Hartford, Graves and Joachimpillai were moved by accounts of systemic racism that surfaced in the Bentley community and elsewhere following the murder of an unarmed Black man, George Floyd, by police officers in Minneapolis. 

The Black at Bentley movement launched via an Instagram account (@blackatbentley) to create a safe, public platform for sharing stories; but it didn’t — and couldn’t — end there. 

“We knew that, if we were going to do this, it wouldn’t be just to complain about the racism at Bentley,” says Hartford, a senior manager of global web implementation at Brink’s Inc. “We wanted to work with our classmates to develop ways for the university to make changes.” 

Graves, director of marketing for Connecticut-based King School, finds satisfaction in “making changes in the places where I have been, like my alma maters. I try to do whatever I can to make sure other people have a better and more inclusive experience than I had.” 

Lakeya Graves recently became a board member for the Falcons of the Last Decade alumni group.