After connecting with some of her Black Boston Latin School 1994 alumni, Alicia Wedderburn and her classmates would always note that Black alumni would not typically attend the traditional class reunions. It was during these conversations that they began to talk about creating an event for Black alumni like themselves and the next generation.

This led to her becoming the coordinator for the upcoming Boston Latin School Black Alumni Mixer, in collaboration with Hue Boston, the Boston Latin School Association and the Boston Latin Black Alumni Committee.

The event will be held at HUE Boston at the Copley Square Hotel in the Back Bay on April 9 from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m.

“We were thinking about just a way of connecting everybody and having some networking opportunities [for alumni like] my son, [who] is a new alumni, to have them meet the mass majority of Black BLS alumni and see that there’s a lot of us,” she said.

This event will also fundraise for programming and scholarships for current Black BLS students.

Wedderburn hopes to provide a safe space of celebration for Black BLS alumni for overcoming some of the shared negative racial experiences they navigated as students. She recalls attending her first assembly as a Black BLS student where she and her classmates were told to look to their left and right, as one of them would not be at graduation.

“[It] was a very stark thing to say to young people and just realize that this is not a welcoming place when you’re counting on folks to not be around, vs. supporting them to stay,” she said.

This event will also celebrate recent Black BLS alumni and what they overcame as students.

“They’re kicking up space and they’re pushing back. And my son was that type of student. … It’s constantly the battle and they do have structures and programs that are supportive and beneficial [for current Black BLS students]…but we want it to be more of a school-wide cultural thing, and not like these little pockets of refuge.”

Despite some of the negative experiences, she also wants to make clear that the Black student experience is not all negative; most of the teachers and staff members were good, supportive educators who worked hard to ensure their success during her time as a student.

“The positive experiences we had far outweighed the negative. Most notably are the lifelong friendships that came from our time at BLS and the successes we now have in our careers, which is in large part because of the exceptional education and skills we honed at BLS,” she said.

Wedderburn said she hopes that Black BLS alumni who attend the event will take with them the power of connecting with one another.

“Also understanding, and I talked to my son about this… younger generations [are also] welcome to come. It’d be great to connect. …Trying to create that experience for younger alumni, I think, is important.”

ON THE WEB

Learn more and reserve tickets at eventbrite.com/e/boston-latin-school-blackalumni-mixer-tickets-1984819642982