BLS B.A.N. (BLS Black Alumni Network) is a wholly independent, communal, no-fee membership, affinity group comprised of Black alumni from the historic Boston Latin School in Boston, MA. Founded in the summer of 2020, BLS B.A.N. is a self-sustaining, unfettered voice of a group of Black alumni, who strongly believe that Black Lives Matter. Furthermore, this group aims to encourage, engage and empower young Black students currently studying at Boston Latin School and to affirm that their lives, experiences, and voices are significant. 

BLS B.A.N. is comprised of Black alumni from various generations, genders, geographical regions, cultural backgrounds, socioeconomic status, professions, and professional experience. Together, we coalesce our talent, treasure, and time to advance the conversation and causes of Black people, specifically Black BLS students and alumni. BLS B.A.N. is designed to be an open and safe space for students and alumni to express their ideas, process racial discriminatory acts and ideas promulgated against them, and find support in a community of Black alumni with similar shared experiences. 

How It All Started

It was the height of the global Black Lives Matter movement during the summer of 2020, when seven Black Boston Latin School alumni came together via a video conference amid the COVID-19 pandemic to support, guide, mentor, and inspire current BLS Black students and alumni. As the world was facing a reckoning with systemic and systematic racism, these BLS Black alumni wanted to evoke change, stem the tide of racial injustice and add their voices to the conversation in the BLS community that will shape the next generation of Black leaders emerging from Boston Latin School. 

BLS B.A.N. has expanded its reach to include a separate BLS Alumni Allyship Committee, which is comprised of Black and non-Black Boston Latin School alumni, who believe that Black Lives Matter. This committee is essential to cross-racial, transgenerational learning and conversations that are needed to support current students at BLS from all races and socioeconomic backgrounds.