Black Table

The Commons Dining Hall is undoubtedly one of the images that comes to mind when one thinks of Yale College—a place to eat, hang out and mix. For the Yale students of the 1990s, a group of heavy tables hastily pushed together in the dining hall became known as the Black Table. The class of 1997 was the largest class of Black students at Yale in the 1990s, and with them came a new generation of students who would navigate the hallowed halls of the Ivy League institution and confront the many ways it was not fully prepared for them. With that in mind, the Black Table became their refuge, an attempt to carve out space of their own. Directors John James and Bill Mack construct a thoughtful documentary that tells the story of these students through the story of this table, a created environment that provided an outlet for scholars who were learning who they were in the context of a university that often failed to see them. Through a series of interviews and visits to the campus for reunions, the film is an open time capsule whose insights resonate today as the country now grapples with the effect of the Supreme Court's decision to abolish affirmative action. (Tribeca Film Festival)