I learned recently—confirmed by the current president of Brown’s Black Student Union—that the informal Black section of the Ratty, which we denizens once fondly called “Little Africa,” is no more. That, after being there for decades, it kind of just dwindled away early in the 21st century.

If that’s because student life at Brown has become more racially mixed overall than in my time, then I guess that’s good. But the news also made me a bit sad. Because at a time when Brown was far whiter than it is today, Little Africa was a place where I could feel at home among other Black students while still being part of the larger university community. And that was invaluable for me.

When I visited Brown post-acceptance but pre-decision, I stayed with a Black student, Harold Weekes ’91, who took me to the Ratty and introduced me to “Little Africa”—about five tables at the left entrance where Black students of various backgrounds, hues, and styles sat, chatting and laughing. I was coming from a majority-white high school in New Jersey. So when I saw this all-Black corner, my heart leapt. Brown may not have been a historically Black college or university (HBCU), but between campus enclaves like Little Africa, the Third World Center (now the Brown Center for Students of Color), and the Black-led Rites & Reason Theatre, I surmised that perhaps I could have a quasi-HBCU experience there. And so I chose Brown.

I made the right choice—and Little Africa was a big part of why. In 1990, according to the University, students who called themselves Black or African American made up only 6.8 percent of the campus. But the sheer diversity of the Black students in that section was exhilarating. I soon learned I wasn’t alone in having gone to a predominantly white high school. Now, as young adults, we finally had a little oasis where we got to be the rule, not the exception, and hence let our guard down.