Freedom Summer '64 Remembered at Washington College

Chestertown, MD — It was a season that made history. In the flashpoint state of Mississippi and throughout the segregated South, the downtrodden put their lives on the line for the cause of racial equality. It was 1964, and they called it Freedom Summer.

A participant in those epochal events will visit Washington College to describe them firsthand and to ponder their meaning to society. Dr. Jo Ann O. Robinson, professor of history at Morgan State University, will present "Freedom Summer, 1964: Personal Memories and Historical Reflections" at Hynson Lounge on Thursday, February 14, at 7:30 p.m. Dr. Robinson's appearance at Washington College is being presented by the Center for the Study of Black Culture.

Dr. Robinson is the author and co-author of a number of books, including Abraham Went Out: A Biography of A.J. Muste and Education as My Agenda: Gertrude Williams, Race, and the Baltimore Public Schools. She also is the editor of Affirmative Action: A Documentary History.

Admission to "Freedom Summer, 1964: Personal Memories and Historical Reflections" is free and open to the public.

February 6, 2008

A Color-Blind Society: Myth or Reality? Discussion November 3

Chestertown, MD, October 28, 2005 — Washington College's Center For The Study of Black Culture is sponsoring a discussion series titled, "A Color-Blind Society: Myth or Reality?" The first forum will take place on Thursday, November 3, at 7:00 p.m. in the Hynson Study Lounge. The entire campus is invited to participate.

The purpose of the discussion series is to heighten community awareness of contemporary racial identity issues, provide a safe place for students to openly reflect and honestly discuss these issues, and initiate a dialogue that will lead to a more unified and trusting campus community.

Two forums—one for fall, one for spring-have been designed specifically to engage Washington College students. This Thursday, representatives of student organizations will to come together and share their experiences dealing with (or not having to deal with) racial and ethnic identities in their clubs, sororities, fraternities, and athletic teams.

For more information, e-mail mstevens2@washcoll.edu, or contact Nina Wilson, Diversity Advisor, at ext. 7457 or nwilson3@washcoll.edu.

Lecture Series Marks 50th Anniversary Of Brown V. Board Of Education Desegregation Decision

Chestertown, MD, January 28, 2004 — May 17, 2004, will mark the 50th anniversary of the unanimous Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which outlawed segregation in public education. In honor of Black History Month, Washington College—in cooperation with the Maryland Humanities Council—will host a lecture series to examine the context, impact and legacy of this historic turn in Civil Rights. All lectures are free and open to the public and will begin at 7 p.m. in the College's Hynson Lounge on their respective dates.

On Tuesday, February 3, Jeffrey L. Coleman, assistant professor of English specializing in multicultural/American literature at St. Mary's College of Maryland, will speak on “Pride and Protest: Poetry of the American Civil Rights Movement.” Dr. Coleman's lecture will explore the relationship between social forces and art during the late 1950s, the 1960s, and the early 1970s, and how the Civil Rights Movement of this period is expressed in the poetry of Gwendolyn Brooks, Alice Walker, Amiri Baraka, Michael S. Harper and others.

Dr. Coleman has worked as poetry editor for Hayden's Ferry Review and advertising copywriter for Young and Rubicam in New York. He earned his Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of New Mexico, his M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Arizona State University, and his B.A. in Communications from Winthrop University.

On Wednesday, February 11, 2004, Debra Newman Ham, professor of history at Morgan State University, will present “Expert Witnesses: The NAACP's Brown Case Strategy.” While many people know about the attorneys who argued many of the cases leading up to Brown v. Board of Education—Thurgood Marshall, Constance Baker Motley, Robert Carter and Jack Greenberg—few realize the number of scholars from various disciplines who were called upon to build or strengthen the school desegregation cases in courts around the country. Dr. Ham will look at the contributions of scholars such as historian John Hope Franklin and social psychologists Mamie and Kenneth Bancroft Clark, and the way the NAACP and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund strategized their assault against segregation in American schools with the aid of such scholars.

Dr. Ham received her Ph.D. in African History from Howard University, her M.A. in African History from Boston University, and her B.A. in history from Howard University. She served as curator of the NAACP Papers at the Library of Congress from 1986 to 1995. She teaches African, African-American, archival and public history at Morgan State.

On March 23, 2004, the Brown v. Board of Education Lecture Series will conclude with a talk by Dr. Lenneal Henderson, distinguished professor of Government and Public Administration at University of Baltimore. Dr. Henderson will discuss “Brown at 50: New Challenges of the Hardening of the Categories,” taking a deeper look at Brown and its trail of cases leading up to today's controversies in educational equity. His lecture will address the shift in demographic, socioeconomic and educational context and content of school segregation; the shift from rights to resources and the problem of equitable public school financing; battles over curriculum and tracking, including the disproportionate number of non-white students in special education and learning disability tracks; and the quality of education and issues of multiculturalism and diversity.

Dr. Henderson serves as a Senior Fellow at the William Donald Schaefer Center for Public Policy and a Senior Fellow in the Hoffberger Center for Professional Ethics at the University of Baltimore. He has been a consultant to federal, state and local government, the corporate sector, and the nonprofit sector for more than 30 years in the areas of housing, education policy, energy management, environmental policy and public management. He received his A.B., M.A., and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.

The Brown v. Board of Education Lecture Series is sponsored by Washington College's Office of International & Diversity Affairs, Goldstein Program in Public Affairs, Campus Events and Visitors Committee, Student Government Association, Center for The Study of Black Culture, Black Student Union and Cleopatra's Daughters, in cooperation with the Maryland Humanities Council and the Kent County Chapter of the NAACP.

Taylor Branch to Speak on Civil Rights in the Wake of the September 11th Terrorist Attacks

Chestertown, MD, January 17, 2002 — In celebration of Black History Month, the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, the Center for the Study of Black Culture, and the Black Student Union of Washington College present "FREEDOM, FAITH, AND TERROR: THOUGHTS ON THE DAWNING AGE," a talk by Taylor Branch, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on Tuesday, February 12, 2002, at 8 p.m. in the College's Norman James Theatre, William Smith Hall. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.

Branch's talk will focus on reinterpreting the legacy of Martin Luther King in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and how the ideals of the Civil Rights Movement can be carried on amidst concerns for national security and public safety. Branch is the award-winning writer of a multi-volume history of the Civil Rights Movement and the work of Martin Luther King, Jr.: "Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63" and "Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963-5." These exhaustive treatments of the early history, personalities and politics of the Civil Rights Movement—representing 13 years of writing and research—have established Branch as a national authority, and he frequently advised President Clinton on racial matters and civil rights issues during his terms. Currently Branch is working on the third and final installment in this history, titled At Canaan's Edge.

The C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience at Washington College opened in Fall 2001 to encourage the broad study of American history and culture and the ways we give daily new meaning to what George Washington called "the great experiment." In keeping with the special history and character of Washington College, the Center focuses on the nation's founding moment, ideals and experiences by highlighting contemporary scholarship and research in these areas.

See the Chesapeake through Ebony Eyes: Chantey Singers Share the Black Heritage of the Bay

Chestertown, MD, November 7, 2001 — Washington College's Center for the Environment and Society and Center for Black Studies present "Ebony Eyes and Voices on the Chesapeake," Thursday, November 15, 2001, at 8 p.m. in the College's Norman James Theatre, William Smith Hall. The event is free and the public is invited to enjoy an evening of song and history of the African Americans on the Chesapeake Bay.

Although a little known tradition today, much like gandy dancers on American railroads, singing was used by the black fishermen of the Chesapeake to coordinate their work on the Bay's menhaden boats. In the early 1990s, a group of retired menhaden fishermen from Virginia formed the Northern Neck Chantey Singers to preserve this musical tradition and to recreate for public audiences the traditional worksongs that the all-black menhaden crews sang. The Singers met with immediate acclaim from area residents of the Northern Neck of Virginia for whom chanteys were a distinctive regional tradition.

The Singers' performances generated public demand for a recording of these songs, so in 1993 they recorded "See You When the Sun Goes Down: Traditional Worksongs of Virginia Menhaden Fishermen." Revenues from sale of the cassette are divided equally by the Reedville (VA) Fishermen's Museum and the Northern Neck Chantey Singers. For more information on the Singers, visit www.virginia.edu/vfh/vfp/chanteys.html online.

The Singers will be joined by Vincent O. Leggett, president of the Blacks on the Chesapeake Foundation and author of two books, Blacks on the Chesapeake and The Chesapeake Bay Through Ebony Eyes. Since 1984, Mr. Leggett has worked to document and to preserve the history of African Americans living and working in the Chesapeake Bay's maritime and seafood industries, and has organized exhibits and delivered lectures throughout the region.

The Singers also will appear Wednesday, November 14, 2001, at 7:30 p.m. in the Historic Avalon Theatre in Easton, MD, as part of the 2001 Eastern Shore Lecture Series "Journeys Home: People, Nature and Sense of Place," a subscription series co-sponsored by the Center for the Environment and Society, the Adkins Arboretum, the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, the Horsehead Wetlands Center, and the Maryland Center for Agroecology. To learn more about this or other events sponsored by the Center for the Environment and Society, visit the center online at http://ces.washcoll.edu or call 410-810-7151.

Biehls to Speak on Justice and Empowerment in South Africa

Chestertown, MD, March 21, 2001 — On Monday, April 9, 2001, Washington College will host Peter and Linda Biehl speaking on "Restorative Justice: 'Ubuntu' Revisited" at 7:30 p.m. in Washington College's Casey Academic Center Forum. The Biehls are the founders and directors of the Amy Biehl Foundation and Amy Biehl Foundation Trust, named in honor of their daughter who sacrificed her life at the age of 26 to serve the underrepresented, downtrodden and disenfranchised in the struggle for democracy in South Africa.

Originally from Southern California, Amy Biehl was a young American Fulbright Scholar in South Africa in 1993, when she was stoned and stabbed to death by an angry mob while driving friends home to a black township near Cape Town. Working in the politically charged atmosphere in the last days of Apartheid, she journeyed to South Africa to help disenfranchised voters and to empower the women of the country to ensure the protection of their interests under the country's majority-rule system. In 1999, Biehl's life and work was honored posthumously with the Immortal Chaplains Prize for Humanity, given to those who have risked their lives to protect others of a different race or religion.

Linda and Peter Biehl have established the Amy Biehl Foundation and Amy Biehl Foundation Trust to continue their daughter's work and have been highly supportive of groups concerned with alleviating the lasting effects and injustices of Apartheid. In the United States, the Amy Biehl Foundation seeks to encourage a new generation of social activists and freedom fighters in middle schools, high schools and colleges. The foundation supports scholarships and internships for South African students to study in the United States and for American students to study in South Africa. In South Africa, the Amy Biehl Foundation Trust directs a holistic and comprehensive violence prevention initiative comprised of more than 15 individual, community-based programs targeted at adolescents and care-givers in South Africa's marginalized communities. Programs are offered in health, education, arts, recreation and economic empowerment.

The talk is sponsored by the Leadership Development Office, Anthropology Club, Black Student Alliance, Center for Black Culture, Cleopatra's Daughters, Goldstein Program, International House, Student Athlete Mentors and the William James Forum. The program is free and the public is invited to attend. For further information, call 410-778-7849.

Author of Nappy Hair to Speak on the Contexts of Women's Beauty

Chestertown, MD, March 7, 2001 — Carolivia Herron, author of the award-winning children's book Nappy Hair(Knopf 1997), will speak on "Nappy Hair and the Contexts of Women's Beauty" on Wednesday, March 21, 2001 at 7:30 p.m. in Washington College's Norman James Theatre.

Dr. Herron is a scholar in the field of classical epic and African-American literature and an Assistant Professor of English at California State University, Chico. Nappy Hair is an award-winning, vibrantly illustrated children's book that uses the African-American call-and-response tradition, as a family talks back and forth about the main character, Brenda's, hair. The family delights in poking gentle fun with their hilarious descriptions, all the time discovering the beauty and meaning of Brenda's hair. The book encourages the recognition and celebration of beauty in racial diversity and the diversity of beauty.

The talk is sponsored by the Center for the Study of Black Culture, the Sophie Kerr Committee, the Diversity Planning Task Force, the International House, the Black Student Union and Cleopatra's Daughters. The public is invited to attend.