Finding Friendship and Fraternity at the Black Table

Yale University is one of the most prestigious and competitive universities in the country. The Ivy League school is also one of the oldest colleges in America and it has an alumni list featuring everyone from Vincent Price to George Bush (yes, both of them).

However, the pressures of its hallowed halls can sometimes leave students with a greater need for camaraderie and connection with one another. It helps to know you’re not alone when facing the university’s great expectations and can have a way to take a load off between classes. For the Black students at Yale during the 1990s, that way of coping involved pushing tables together at the Commons Dining Hall in order to create a space where these students could express their entire identities.

That space (and the impact that it had on students) is the subject of “Black Table,” one of the exceptional documentaries screening at this year’s Hamptons Doc Fest, which runs December 5 to 11 in Sag Harbor. The 93-minute documentary features a collection of Yale graduates, mostly from the classes of 1994 and 1997, sharing stories about what the Black Table means to them and how vital it is for Black students in American universities. East End residents can catch it this Saturday, December 7, at 1 p.m. at Sag Harbor Cinema. Attendees can also stay for the Q&A after the screening with the film’s producer Katie Taber (“Let Me Be Me”) and co-director John Antonio James.

James will have plenty of insight to offer on not only the film “Black Table,” but also experiences with the actual Black Table. He’s a member of Yale’s class of 1997, which had one of the largest number of Black students at the school during that decade. Though James didn’t sit there all that often, he said that he was friends with the frequent members of the Black Table and loved what it stood for.

“Part of the reason I loved making this documentary was that so many people that I interviewed are now back in my life,” James said over the phone last month. “When I was toying with the idea of making the movie, I called Wesley Morris and said, ‘I’m thinking about this because I kind of wanna know what was happening at that table.’ I always loved the table and loved its existence. It was loud and fun and charged in the sense that people would always stare at the table. I wanted to know about what stories were being told at the table. With Wesley’s ‘yes,’ I took the idea to Sheldon [Gilbert], and then I took it to others. From there, it was kind of seamless and natural.”

Morris, a critic-at-large for The New York Times, is one of the Yale alumni interviewed in the film and he’s an example of the varied prestige that blossomed at the Black Table. For example, class of 1997 alumnus Sheldon Gilbert went on to found Kura Labs, a nonprofit vocational academy that offers training in cybersecurity and cloud infrastructure to underserved communities. Aimee Allen also graduated from Yale in 1997 before getting her law degree at Columbia Law School in 2000 and became a senior attorney on trademark and copyright matters for CSL Seqirus. Imani Perry made a full-circle journey back to the Ivy League, having started at Yale and currently serving at Harvard University as the Henry A. Morss, Jr. and Elisabeth W. Morss Professor of Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality and of African and African American Studies.

“I think there was a responsibility to tell that story and they opened that door,” James added. “When I entered that door, I felt that they really wanted to make a point about that pivotal moment and what that meant to them and how that served as this connection that the class of ’94 and class of ’97 had.”

James explained the genesis of “Black Table” was practically spur of the moment. After releasing his 2020 documentary “Siempre, Luis” and trying to find a new topic to cover, the Black Table at Yale popped into his head. He then created a sizzle reel of interviews he conducted with the Yale graduates in February 2020 to see if the idea of revisiting the Black Table could work as a narrative. After feeling “really good about the stories” told in those interviews, he called on director and fellow Yale graduate Bill Mack to help him further develop the project. As a member of Yale’s class of 1995, Mack also saw the importance of the Black Table as a way for Black students to truly be themselves in an environment that might be subtly hostile to them.

“The Black Table is a phenomenon that people experience, probably starting in junior high school when people get clique-ish,” Mack said. “Whether it’s at high school, college, or corporate America, there’s usually gonna be a Black Table formed. The film is about demystifying that. These are things that are not talked about often, but the good news is that this is an opportunity to share it. The reason why you need a Black Table is so that you can not feel like ‘the other,’ like someone is gonna question your existence.”

History looms large over “Black Table,” specifically in regards to affirmative action. First established back in the 1960s, affirmative action policies required colleges in the U.S. to consider race as a factor in the admissions processes. Supporters of affirmative action believe it has helped give underprivileged students a chance to receive the best education possible. However, there have been a few court cases over the years filed by those who believe they were not accepted to colleges due to admissions policies with affirmative action language. That clashing came to a head on June 29, 2023, when the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, seemingly making similar action possible against other colleges.

Mack and James started working on “Black Table” long before the Supreme Court’s decision, but they were well aware that affirmative action could tie to the existence of the Black Table. Mack specifically noted how even though affirmative action helped some students get into great schools, those kids were the most qualified college hopefuls in the country regardless of their race.

“We didn’t go into the movie saying, ‘We’re gonna make a movie about affirmative action,’ but the interviews all contained affirmative action themes.” Mack said. “Thematically, a lot of students talk about the challenges from the academic environment and the culture environment that yields sort-of a microcosm of the real world.”

He goes on to note a point made by Perry in the film.

“African American students and other students of color often feel that they have a burden that’s greater than just personal success,” Mack explained. “The way those students came together at the Black Table in the ’90s helped them in their future careers to contribute to society in a way that other students may not have.”

“Part of the reason I appreciate getting ‘Black Table’ out of myself is that it raises a lot of questions,” James added. “I’m not sure if we have neat and tidy answers for all of those questions, but I like that it sparks the debate.”

While the future of affirmative action remains unclear, “Black Table” certainly makes the case for cherishing the places and connections made in college. Not only are the students of Yale’s Black Table finding each other again, but they are also seeing their side of history told to those who need to hear it.

“In the screenings I’ve attended, I’ve gotten a lot of people coming up to me and saying, ‘I went to the University of XYZ, I was part of a minority group. These types of issues came up all the time. I didn’t have anywhere to talk about it if there wasn’t a Black Table.’” Mack said. “That type of feedback is why we made the movie.”

“I hope people understand the Black experience within higher education,” James added. “It’s supposed to be linear, right? You do well and the guidance counselor is supposed to set a list of colleges you can apply to, and none of that seemed to happen with this cast. I’d love for people to appreciate the kind of obstacles that were placed in front of these students and didn’t affect the outcome. They succeeded beyond their wildest expectations regardless.”

“Black Table” screens at Sag Harbor Cinema on Saturday, December 7, at 1 p.m. For the full Hamptons Doc Fest schedule and to purchase tickets and festival passes, visit hamptonsdocfest.com. Sag Harbor Cinema is at 90 Main Street in Sag Harbor.