USC's Black Alumni Association was begun in 1976 by Dr. Thomas Kilgore, although in its early years it was known as the Ebonics Support Group. In addition to having a voice for the Black community at USC, the original mission of Ebonics was to give merit scholarships, based on need, to minority students--Black as well as Latino and Asian-American--since no alumni groups existed for those communities. By 1986, Ebonics had evolved into the Black Alumni Association/Ebonics Support Group to better reflect that it was also an alumni association--shortening its name to the USC BAA/ESG, and eventually to just the BAA. Around the same time, it was decided that the BAA would adopt its by-laws and structure similar to the USC General Alumni Association (GAA), which is the University-wide alumni association. And like the GAA, the BAA's mission includes recruiting, mentoring, and alumni affairs, in addition to awarding scholarships. The records in this collection include organization histories and fact sheets, clippings and ephemera related to the annual scholarship dinner and other events, meeting agendas and minutes, by-laws, newsletters, membership information, and a Board of Directors handbook (2004).

USC's Black Alumni Association was begun in 1976 by Dr. Thomas Kilgore, although in its early years it was known as the Ebonics Support Group. In addition to having a voice for the Black community at USC, the original mission of Ebonics was to give merit scholarships, based on need, to minority students--Black as well as Latino and Asian-American--since no alumni groups existed for those communities. By 1986, Ebonics had evolved into the Black Alumni Association/Ebonics Support Group to better reflect that it was also an alumni association--shortening its name to the USC BAA/ESG, and eventually to just the BAA. Around the same time, it was decided that the BAA would adopt its by-laws and structure similar to the USC General Alumni Association (GAA), which is the University-wide alumni association. And like the GAA, the BAA's mission is expanded to include recruiting, mentoring, alumni affairs, etc. By 1988, Lura Daniels-Ball had secured a donation of $100,000 from Coors Brewery that would establish the Coors/Kilgore Endowment to build towards a $1,000,000 endowment. In addition to endowments, funding for scholarships is obtained through membership dues, individual gifts, corporate contributions, and several fundraising events including an annual scholarship fundraising dinner each spring.

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