06/09/2026
“I was eager to try something new, outside the Los Angeles environment I grew up in. I was invited to fly out for a weekend by Cliff Thornton, and once I set foot onto campus, it all clicked. Wesleyan’s vibe just felt right, and it was the place where I could really tap into my personal growth.
While at Wes, I was part of Ujamaa’s leadership team, the men of color- Invisible Men group, Spectrum Q***r People of Color club, West African dance, Ebony Singers, Oddfellows Playhouse student teacher, Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship, and numerous student-led dance and theater productions.
I was also one of the co-founding organizers of the student of color art show “Be the Art”. This was particularly special since it felt rooted in the community and was built from the ground up. We were responding to needs and concerns that many students of color artists had expressed, not feeling seen for their artistic contributions in the larger community, and critiquing the art world’s elitism and racism. It was a powerful collaboration and displayed the brilliance of student of color artists on campus, showcasing a range of mediums and experiences.
After graduation, I followed the footsteps of many in my family by becoming an educator, the fourth generation on my maternal line. I have taught at a youth theater, museums, public and independent school classrooms, outdoor education, as well as summer and after-school programs for 15 years. I’ve also worked with nonprofit organizations, including Outdoor Afro, the Radical Monarchs, National Equity Project, and Black Teacher Project. Currently, I work in philanthropy at the East Bay Community Foundation, where I mobilize resources and provide capacity-building support to Black-led and other historically underinvested community-based organizations.
Presently, I’m interested in learning more about ancient healing modalities, including meditation, herbalism, and ancestor divination. I want these ancestral intelligence tools to serve not only me in my current life as a community worker and caregiver to my parents, but also to benefit the liberation and healing of oppressed people everywhere.” —Julius Crowe Hampton ’09
