Dover Resident Dorothy Vowels Recounts Family Experiences with Education in Segregated Virginia

Dorothy Vowels.

CHESTERTOWN, MD—Wade Foster of Warrenton, Va., was only concerned with his children’s safety when he requested a bus to transport his children to their school, miles from their home along a busy highway, in the early 1940s. But the school district ignored his request, despite the fact that the children of neighboring white families did have a bus. That prompted Foster to take decisive action against the injustice.

            Foster’s story, as recounted by one of his children, Dorothy Vowels, is the subject of a living-history conversation taking place on Oct. 22, at 5 p.m. in Hynson Lounge, Hodson Hall, on the Washington College campus, 300 Washington Ave.

            In “The Myth of Separate But Equal: Education in the Segregated South,” Vowels will discuss what happened to her father as a consequence of defending his children. The talk presents a glimpse into the struggle for equality as it happened family-by-family and skirmish-by-skirmish, finally culminating in the landmark 1954 Brown v Board of Ed. case.

            Dorothy Vowels currently lives in Dover, Del., where she is involved with the Bayhealth Medical Center and the Presbyterian Church of Dover. She has previously served as a representative to the Presbyterian General Assembly, as well as several terms on the Speer Trust, a Presbyterian Foundation that awards grants to organizations in Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Maryland that are working to improve their communities. Prior to her retirement, she worked with Kent General Hospital in Dover and served several years on the Bayhealth Foundation Board.

            She and her late husband, Milton Russell Vowels, lived the life of an Air Force family. They raised two children, Karen Earle and Susan Vowels, both of whom now have careers in education. Susan, who is an associate professor in the Business Management Department at Washington College, will be on stage with her mother for the Oct. 22 conversation.  

            The event, which is free and open to the public, is presented by the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Black Studies Program.

WC Alum and Scholar to Share Story Of Correspondence Among Separated Austrian Jews

Dr. Jacqueline Vansant.

CHESTERTOWN, MD—Sometime between March and August of 1938, a small group of 15- and 16-year-old Jewish schoolboys stood on a bridge in Vienna and said goodbye to each other “forever.” Their families were about to flee Austria to avoid the increasing Nazi persecution. But pledging to stay in touch, the boys first devised a complicated plan for a group correspondence or “round robin.”

On Tuesday, October 23, Washington College alumna  Jacqueline Vansant ’76, a professor of German studies at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, will share the story of the remarkable correspondence the young men maintained for more than 15 years across three continents.  Her presentation, “Making Connections over Space and Time: The Extraordinary Group Correspondence of Jewish-Austrian Schoolboys,” will take place at 4:30 p.m. in the Washington College Hillel House, 313 Washington Avenue. It is free and open to the public.

Vansant says she was first drawn to exile studies as a student of Washington College professor of German Erika Salloch, who had fled Nazi Germany. She has long focused her research on post-war Austrian literature and culture and in 2001 published Reclaiming ‘Heimat’: Trauma and Mourning in Memoirs of Jewish-Austrian Reemigres.

When Vansant heard about the correspondence among the nine Viennese schoolboys, she saw an opportunity to study how the experiences of the youth compared with those of the adult Jews who escaped Austria. “I was also fascinated by the thought of looking at texts that were contemporaneous with the historical events described in them,” she adds. “The letters indeed are amazing!”

 John Kautsky.

Vansant has worked closely with one of the original correspondents, John Kautsky, now a professor emeritus of Political Science at Washington University in St. Louis. She also met the son of correspondent Ali Hector, who emigrated to Erez Israel, and learned more about Ali’s life after the correspondence ended.

“My conversations with John Kautsky have given me a fuller understanding of just how important the correspondence was for the young men,” says Vansant. “John remained friends with some of the correspondents until their recent deaths. His wife, Lilli, has also shared her experiences of flight from Austria, which bring home how many stories are out there to be told.”

The Oct. 23 talk is sponsored by the Department of Modern Languages; the Institute for the Study of Religion, Politics, and Culture; the Office of Multicultural Affairs; and Hillel House.  For more information, contact Nicole Grewling at (800) 422-1782, ext. 5763, or by email, ngrewling2@washcoll.edu.

Son of "The Immortal Henrietta Lacks" To Speak Feb. 21 at Washington College

CHESTERTOWN, MD—David “Sonny” Lacks, whose mother is the subject of Rebecca Skloot’s best-selling book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, will visit Washington College Tuesday, February 21 to talk about his family’s reaction to learning that their late mother’s cells were being sold in the billions for use in laboratories around the world. The event, a moderated discussion with the audience, will take place at 5 p.m. in Decker Theatre, Gibson Center for the Arts, with a reception to follow in the Underwood Lobby.

Sponsored by the College’s Office of Multicultural Affairs, William James Forum, Black Studies Program, and Department of Philosophy, the event is free and open to the public.

Henrietta Lacks was a poor African-American tobacco farmer and mother of five whose cells, harvested without her knowledge in 1951, the year she died of cervical cancer, became the first immortal human cells to be grown in a laboratory. Nicknamed HeLa cells, they became an important tool for modern medicine and remain the most widely used cell line in the world today.

Sonny Lacks and his siblings first learned of the cells in the 1970s when researchers wanted to conduct tests on them to learn more about the HeLa line. It has been a point of controversy that, although biotech companies have profited from sales of the HeLa cells, the family has never been financially compensated.

The story was catapulted into the national conscience when author Skloot published her book in 2010. In lectures to university and library audiences throughout the country, Sonny Lacks now celebrates his mother’s legacy and offers a personal perspective on the collision of medicine, race, ethics and business represented by her story.

Vanderbilt Professor and Author to Explore Racial "Passing" in America Thursday, February 2

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CHESTERTOWN, MD— One of the most persistent of the myths that Americans tell themselves about race is that the line between black and white is a matter of genetics rather than choice. But new scholarship is chipping away at this assumption, revealing how men and women, and sometimes entire families, have consciously stepped across the color line.

In a February 2 presentation at Washington College, law professor and historian Daniel Sharfstein will delve into the dramatic stories of three black families who responded to times of great racial upheaval by seizing opportunities to reinvent themselves as white. Among the author’s astonishing discoveries is an antebellum Southern family that – after covertly crossing the line from black to white – became wealthy sugar planters, slaveholders, and ardent Confederates.

Sponsored by the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, Sharfstein’s talk, “The Invisible Line: A Secret History of Race in America,” is free and open to the public, and will begin at 5:00 pm in the college’s Hynson Lounge, Hodson Hall. A book signing will follow the presentation. The talk is co-sponsored by the Black Studies Program, the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Institute for Religion, Politics, and Culture.

Sharfstein’s recent book, The Invisible Line: Three American Families and the Secret Journey from Black to White (Penguin, 2011), has been lauded far and wide as a masterpiece, a work that, in the words of writer Melissa Fay Greene, “overthrows nearly everything Americans thought they knew about race.”

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed called The Invisible Line “a must read for all who are interested in the construction of race in the United States,” and the Boston Globe praised its “you-are-there” approach to history as “spellbinding.” The New York Times lauded Sharfstein’s “astonishingly detailed rendering of the variety and complexity of racial experience.’’

Sharfstein is an associate professor of law at Vanderbilt University. A graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School, he has held fellowships from Harvard University, New York University, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. His articles and reviews have appeared in the Yale Law Journal, the New York Times, The Economist, the Washington Post, and other publications.

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Founded in 1782 under the patronage of George Washington, Washington College is a private, independent college of liberal arts and sciences located in colonial Chestertown on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The College’s C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience is dedicated to fostering innovative approaches to the American past and present. Through educational programs, scholarship and public outreach, and a special focus on written history, the Starr Center seeks to bridge the divide between the academic world and the public at large. For more information on the Center, visit http://starrcenter.washcoll.edu.

Jan. 14 Concert to Kick Off Local Celebrations Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King

CHESTERTOWN, MD––The life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. will be celebrated with a special concert on Saturday, January 14th, at 4 p.m. in Norman James Theatre at Washington College. The theater is located in William Smith Hall. Ample parking is available on the college campus and along Campus Avenue in Chestertown.

"Songs of the Civil Rights Movement" will feature local talent including Sombarkin, Pilgrim Travelers, New Gospelites, Bob and Pam Ortiz, Mt. Olive Mass Choir, Still Pond Coleman Mass Choir, Sylvia Frazier, Stask and El Piostrowski, Bob and Janet Kelley, Rev. Anthony Brown, and God’s Wealth. The concert is FREE and open to the public. Sponsors include the Chester Valley Ministers' Association, Kent County Arts Council, Washington College's Office of the President, Center for Environment & Society, CV Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, and Office of Multicultural Affairs.

The songfest is one of two events honoring the legacy of Dr. King. The other is the annual MLK Breakfast on Monday, January 16th, at 7 a.m. at the Rock Hall Volunteer Fire Company. Breakfast tickets cost $10 and are available at the door. Contact jtitus2@washcoll.edu or jfairchild2@washcoll.edu or call 410-778-7295 for information.

Crossing Racial Lines in Kent County: Nov. 15 Programs Explore Local – and Personal – History

CHESTERTOWN, MD— Less than half a century after legal desegregation came to Kent County, many stories of the community’s long and complex racial history are only beginning to be told. But two special public programs on November 15 will present firsthand accounts of extraordinary family and personal sagas stretching back 200 years. Writer Dionne Ford will explore the history of her own family in “From Slaves to Senators: A Kent County Family in Black and White,” at 4:30 pm at Washington College; a roundtable discussion at the Heron Point retirement community, “Growing Up in the 1960s in Chestertown,” will follow at 8 pm.

Ford’s talk, hosted by the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience at Washington College and co-sponsored by the Black Studies Program and Office of Multicultural Affairs, will be held in Litrenta Lecture Hall, John S. Toll Science Center. The evening roundtable will take place in Heron Point’s Wesley Hall, 501 Campus Ave., Chestertown. Both events are free and open to the public.

Ford’s journey into her Eastern Shore family’s interracial roots began at the age of 12 with a simple question: “Grandpa, are you white?” His answer sent her on a lifelong quest to piece together the stories of the masters and slaves, Confederates and senators, preachers and entertainers whose lives eventually led to her own. Ford's great-great-grandfather, William R. Stuart, was a white Eastern Shore native and Confederate soldier who had several children with one of his African-American slaves, Tempy Burton. (Stuart’s father, also named William R. Stuart, was an early alumnus of Washington College.)

Ford blogs about her search for her ancestors at http://dionneford.com, often interweaving stories of her great-great-grandparents with those of her interracial immediate family. Her reflections on racial identity and self-determination have also appeared in the New York Times, the NAACP’s blog, and Brain, Child magazine. A former TV reporter, Ford has received several fellowships from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and is currently at work on a novel about a black expatriate in Brazil. Her November 15 talk will focus on the process of delving into what she calls “a not uncommon but often untold part of American history,” and its implications for her family.

The evening program, featuring Chestertown natives Armond Fletcher, Milford Murray, and Ellsworth Tolliver, will focus on a later period of Kent County history, but will explore some of the same themes: where and why American society draws racial lines, how these lines shift over time, and how we might transcend them today. Each of these three speakers experienced racial segregation firsthand and was an active participant in the struggle to integrate Kent County schools and instigate civil rights reform on a local level.

In sharing their stories, they hope to contribute to a larger understanding of the legacy of segregation on the Eastern Shore, and encourage dialogue across racial lines. “Both of these programs deal with different aspects of a topic that shapes all of our lives, and we hope that many people will be able to continue the conversation from one event to the other,” says Adam Goodheart, Hodson Trust-Griswold Director of the Starr Center.

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Founded in 1782 under the patronage of George Washington, Washington College is a private, independent college of liberal arts and sciences located in colonial Chestertown on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The College’s C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience is dedicated to fostering innovative approaches to the American past and present. Through educational programs, scholarship and public outreach, and a special focus on written history, the Starr Center seeks to bridge the divide between the academic world and the public at large. For more information on the Center, visit http://starrcenter.washcoll.edu.

Photograph: Dionne Ford poses with her daughters at the entrance to Washington College, where her great-great-great-grandfather was a student.

Roundtable Discussion Leads Events for Hispanic Heritage Month at Washington College

CHESTERTOWN, MD — As it continues to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, the Washington College community welcomes the public to a series of events that include a serious roundtable discussion, lessons in Flamenco dancing, and a lecture on the travel writing of a 16th century explorer from Spain.

First up, Wednesday, September 28, is a roundtable discussion on “Hispanics on the Eastern Shore” that will begin at 5 p.m. in Hynson Lounge of Hodson Hall. Representatives from non-governmental agencies such as Shared Opportunity Services and the Maryland Hispanic Chamber of Commerce will join faculty members Adalbert Mayer (economics), Bridget Bunten (education) and Elena Deanda (Spanish), and students Ryan Bankert ’13 and Charlotte Costa ’14 for a deeper look into issues affecting Hispanic residents of the area.

On Wednesday, October 5, professional instructor and dancer Natalie Sager from Washington, D.C. will offer a master class on Flamenco dancing at 5 p.m. in the Egg, a performance space on the ground floor of the Hodson Hall Commons. Bring hard sole shoes and lots of passion.

Monday, October 10, at 5 p.m. in Hynson Lounge, Carlos Jauregui, associate professor of Latin American literature and Romance languages at the University of Notre Dame, will lecture on “Ethnography as Exorcism: Cabeza de Vaca,” focusing on the Spanish explorer who wrote the first major narrative of exploration of North America after traveling through what today is Florida, Louisiana, and Texas.

Sponsored by the Department of Modern Languages and the Office of Multicultural Affairs, the events are free and open to the public. Hodson Hall and Hodson Hall Commons are located on the College’s main campus, 300 Washington Avenue. For more information: www.washcoll.edu.

Photo: The first event marking Hispanic Heritage Month on campus, a Peruvian Crafts Fair held September 14 in Hodson Hall Commons, offered clothing and gifts from Inka Yuka, a Baltimore-based supplier of arts and handcrafts.

Remember the Titans Coach, Herman Boone To Speak at Washington College April 6

CHESTERTOWN, MD—Herman Boone, former head football coach at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Va., and the inspiration behind the 2000 blockbuster movie Remember the Titans, will speak at Washington College on Wednesday, April 6. His talk, “Remember the Titans: A Lesson in Multiculturalism,” will begin at 5 p.m. in Russell Gymnasium, Cain Athletic Center, 300 Washington Avenue. The event is free and open to the public.

Boone will provide the real-life story of his integrated T.C. Williams team and its efforts to overcome prejudice and racial tension and become champions.

Herman Boone began his career as a teacher and coach in 1958, leading football teams in Blackstone, Va., and Williamstown, N.C., to championship seasons. In 1971, after school officials in Alexandria merged three segregated high schools into one integrated one named T.C. Williams, they invited Boone to be head coach of their new football team. Boone’s approach to coaching not only produced a winning football team, but also tackled new challenges of integration, building positive race relations within the student body and the community.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Titans’ Virginia AAA State Championship game victory. Now retired from coaching, Boone frequently shares his story nationwide as a public speaker. His appearance at Washington College is sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Affairs, the Department of Athletics, Student Development Programs, and Student Activities.

Tropicante Brings Latin Beats To Washington College

Chestertown – The rich musical traditions of Latin America will come alive when Tropicante performs on the Decker Theatre stage in Washington College’s new Daniel Z. Gibson Center for the Arts on Tuesday, October 6, at 7 p.m. The performance is presented in celebration of Latino Heritage Month.

Tropicante gets the audience swinging and clapping to the Colombian cumbia, the Dominican merengue, the Venezuelan tambor, the Brazilian samba and other popular Latin beats. The ensemble’s lively concerts are sprinkled with first-rate musicianship, anecdotes and humor.

Tropicante will also hold workshops for faculty, staff and students on the origins and development of Afro-Caribbean and Brazilian Music, in Gibson 204 on October 6 at 5 p.m. Seats are limited for the workshop; those interested in attending should RSVP to dparker2@washcoll.edu by Friday, October 2. 

Tropicante’s appearance at Washington College is presented by the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Department of Music. Admission to the performance is free and open to the public.

Piscataway Nation Chief Visits Washington College in Honor of Native American History Month

Chestertown, MD — In honor of Native American History Month, Washington College's Office of Multicultural Affairs will present a lecture by Chief Billy Redwing Tayac of the Piscataway Indian Nation at the Casey Academic Center Forum on Monday, November 10, at 5 p.m.

The Piscataway Indian Nation's traditional homelands are on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay in the areas of Charles County, Prince George's County, and St. Mary's County, Maryland. The Piscataway was one of the most populous and powerful tribal nations of the Chesapeake Bay region.

By the early 17th century, the Piscataway had come to exercise hegemony over other Native American groups on the north bank of the Potomac River. While Piscataway fortunes declined as the Maryland colony grew and prospered, the Piscataway today continue to be leaders among the tribal nations in their commitment to indigenous and human rights.

Billy Redwing Tayac is the present hereditary chief of the Piscataway Indian Nation and an American Indian Movement (AIM) leader and activist. He was a participant in many of the Native American struggles of modern times, including Wounded Knee, Gankineh, Big Mountain, OK'a, Gustafson Lake, the Salvadorian Indian Movement and the Ecuadorian Indian Movement.

Chief Tayac's lecture will cover the history and traditions of the Piscataway Nation. He also will speak on the different territories of Native Americans throughout the United States.

Admission to the lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, call 410/810-7457.

October 27, 2008

Love without Borders: 'Platanos & Collard Greens' Comes to Washington College

Chestertown, MD — The trials and tribulations of a cross-cultural couple are explored with insightful wit and heartfelt sentiment when "Platanos & Collard Greens," the smash-hit play visiting campuses nationwide, comes to Washington College's Norman James Theatre on Monday, October 13, at 6:30 p.m.

"Platanos & Collard Greens" is a romantic comedy that tells the story of Freeman, an African-American man, and Angelita, a Latina woman, who are both forced to confront and overcome cultural and racial prejudices, while defending their bond from family and friends.

With humor and hip-hop, the play tactfully addresses stereotypes, prejudices and urban myths that exist between African-Americans and Latinos.

"Platanos & Collard Greens" has enchanted audiences of over 40,000, both off-Broadway in New York City and at over 100 colleges and universities around the country.

The New York Times hailed it as "a modern-day 'West Side Story' ... it has developed a huge following among people who come to see it again and again."

The October 13 performance of "Platanos & Collard Greens" at Washington College is presented by the Office of Multicultural Affairs, the Department of Drama, the Department of Modern Languages, the Student Affairs Office and the Student Events Board, in honor of Latino Latina Heritage Month.

Admission is free and open to the public.

October 1, 2008

Washington College Presents Multicultural Awareness Week

Chestertown, MD — Washington College will honor and celebrate diversity with Multicultural Awareness Week from Monday through Friday, April 14 to 18.

Highlights include a Cultural Carnival, presented by the Community, Nation and World Multicultural Counseling Class, at Martha Washington Square on Tuesday, April 15, from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. Students will present artwork, music and history about the many cultures represented at the College.

The Office of Multicultural Affairs will present "Multicultural Awareness Jeopardy," featuring questions that cover aspects of diversity, at the Hodson Hall Student Center on Tuesday, April 15, at 7:30 p.m.

There also will be a trip the Reginald R. Lewis Museum in Baltimore and a "What Does Diversity at Washington College Mean to You?" photo contest. Throughout the week, the dining hall will serve meals based around various ethnic-cuisine themes.

April 3, 2008

Separate and Unequal: 'Dream Not of Other Worlds' at Washington College

Chestertown, MD — The Washington College 2007-2008 Sophie Kerr Lecture Series and the Office of Multicultural Affairs will present a Huston Diehl reading, "Dream Not of Other Worlds: Teaching in a Segregated School, 1970," in the Sophie Kerr Room at Miller Library on Monday, February 25, at 4:30 p.m.

When Diehl began teaching a fourth-grade class in a "Negro" elementary school in rural Virginia, the school system's white superintendent assured her that he didn't expect her to teach "those children" anything. It was the waning days of the Jim Crow South, and Diehl soon discovered how low expectations impeded her students' ability to learn. With its overcrowded classrooms and poor facilities, her segregated school was vastly inferior to the county's white elementary schools, and the message it sent her students was clear: "Dream not of other worlds."

In her memoir Diehl reveals how her students reached out to her, a young white Northerner, and shared their fears, anxieties and personal beliefs. She reflects on what the students taught her about the hurt of bigotry and the humiliation of poverty as well as dignity, courage and resiliency.

Today, Diehl is professor of English at the University of Iowa and a widely published authority in the field of Renaissance literature. Her memoir, Dream Not of Other Worlds: Teaching in a Segregated School, 1970, chronicles an important moment in American history and the struggle to integrate schools in the South.

The February 25 presentation at Washington College will be a reading from her memoir. Professor Diehl will be joined in the reading by Polly Sommerfeld, Lecturer in Drama at Washington College.

Admission to "Dream Not of Other Worlds" is free and open to the public.

February 7, 2008