Since graduating from Bronx Excellence 1, Mohamed Diallo ’18 (Yale ’26) has amounted quite the highlight reel. He finished high school at Fordham Prep, a private Catholic all-boys school in the Bronx, and is now studying Global Affairs and History at Yale University. In addition to his coursework, club sports, and community service in New Haven, Diallo’s final semesters at Yale are highlighted by an exhibit he worked on as an Undergraduate Research Assistant titled, “Shining Light on Truth: Black Lives at Yale & in New Haven.”

 

"I just wanted to get hands on doing historical research, and I found this position at [Yale's] Beinecke Library which was doing a joint project with the Yale and Slavery Research Project,” said Diallo of his job hunt during sophomore year, which led to his involvement in the “Shining Light on Truth” exhibit. His work on the project began in spring 2024.

 

 “Shining Light on Truth” focuses on the experiences of Black Yale students, enslaved laborers, faculty, and staff, as well as families in the New Haven community from about 1830-1940. Stories from descendants of those featured in the exhibit plus dozens of photographs were unearthed by Diallo and others on the research team to detail the important roles Black people had in the founding, improvement, and establishment of community organizations at Yale and in New Haven.

 

“It was a very pleasant and very humanizing experience,” Diallo noted, thinking back on his meetings with descendants of the exhibit's featured historical figures.

 

After almost a year since “Shining Light on Truth” opened in March 2025, the work to identify some of the individuals in the exhibit’s archival photos is ongoing. The efforts of Diallo and his research colleagues can be viewed at the Yale Schwartzman Center until March 8, 2026.

 

Learn more about Diallo’s work on the exhibit, his academic career post-Excellence, and how our faculty, staff and special programming helped him achieve success at Fordham Prep and Yale: