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Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished
Dear friends and colleagues throughout UI&U: As an avid student of both history and leadership, I have great respect for the brave and visionary philosophy of the founding father of Black History Month, Dr. Carter G. Woodson. The son of former slaves, Dr. Woodson made the most of brief classroom respites from a childhood of hard labor, taking charge of his own education and eventually earning a Ph.D. in history from Harvard University. Appalled by the absence of African-American achievers in the textbooks of his day, he dedicated his life to including their stories and contributions within the nation’s collective history. Just as Dr. Woodson insisted on placing the historic contributions of blacks in America within the larger context and scope of our shared experience, so Union Institute & University has always encouraged all learners to take charge of their learning by using a broad, interdisciplinary approach to their individual studies while emphasizing academic excellence, innovative scholarship, and well-reasoned theory that connects and applies to real-world action and practice. As we join with citizens and other universities across the country to celebrate Black History Month, I invite you to revisit the compilation of last year’s UI&U Celebrates Notable Alumni during Black History Month, and learn more from these UI&U Black History Month Web links, which feature timely activities or rich information links from the following UI&U alumni: Collette Fournier, Vermont College M.F.A. – Visual Art 2003 (Photography) Educational Specialist, Campus Communications and Art Department, SUNY-Rockland Community College, Suffern, NY; one of 40 African-American artists recognized by the Dedicators, Inc. at their 2006 Black Artists Awards luncheon and art sale, Brooklyn; photographer and lecturer for the exhibition, Amistad: From Mystic Seaport to Halifax, Nova Scotia, featured throughout February at Rockland Community College, chronicling African- American shipwright Wayne Bartow’s recreation of the sailing ship that became a symbol in the fight to abolish slavery in 1839 after a revolt on board by African captives. Linda Beatrice Brown, Ph.D. 1980 (Creative Writing) Dissertation: “Firewords and Rainbows: Finding and Freeing the Imagination of the Black Child.” Willa B. Player Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Bennett College, Greensboro, NC, one of only two historically black colleges in the U.S. exclusively for women; author of Rainbow Roun Mah Shoulder, named best book by a minority writer in 1983 by the North Carolina Cultural Arts Coalition, and Crossing Over Jordan, which follows four generations of mothers and daughters in post-slavery years from 1873 to 2012. Leonard Clyde King Jr., B.A. 2006 (Music) Drummer, vocalist, and arranger for more than 40 years with many renowned soul, rhythm & blues, and jazz artists at clubs, festivals, and cultural centers throughout the United States, Europe, South America and the West Indies; owner, Uuquipleu Records, featuring an eclectic mix of American, African, and Caribbean music; and a 2003 "Man of Motown" inductee, Detroit’s Motown Historical Museum; currently teaching a course on "The Social Responsibility of African American Music," Macalester College’s Experimental College Program, St. Paul, MN; and performing this April at Carnegie Hall and throughout Europe in May. We hope you enjoy this small sampling of UI&U alumni who use the knowledge and creativity they honed as scholar-practitioners to bring black history to life each February. Through special academic or creative events on their campuses, communities, or Web sites, they show us how the lessons of our history can make a difference in our lives today. If you know of other notable alumni, learners, or faculty in any fields we should be aware of, or wish to share your updated news with the Union community, contact us at Network Cross Currents or Open Book. As always, thank you for your involvement in the life of the university. Warm regards, Roger H. Sublett, Ph.D. Dear friends and colleagues throughout UI&U: As February comes to a close, we invite you to learn about several more alumni whose expertise and year-round professional activities illustrate the concept that Black History Month means more than an annual celebration: it encourages us to recognize how events and people can impact the very fabric of all our lives for decades and even centuries to come. Our newly added experts are detailed below. If you haven’t already, please take time to peruse informative links connected to these and other UI&U alumni noted on this year’s UI&U Black History Month Web page, which also takes you to 2006’s UI&U Black History Month Celebration and an extensive listing of alumni accomplishments. We trust that such projects lead to a deeper appreciation of the remarkable history, the exciting present, and the unlimited future for all adult learners who want to make a difference, and who choose Union Institute & University to follow their dreams. Thanks to your many inspiring letters, suggestions, and ideas, you can look forward to more communications that place the accomplishments of members of our university community within the context of national monthly celebrations, beginning in March with a weekly sampling throughout Women’s History Month. As always, we invite you to send us news about your UI&U colleagues or your own activities and achievements, and thank you for your involvement in the life of the university Warm regards, Roger H. Sublett, Ph.D.
Janet Sims-Wood, Ph.D. 1994 (Women’s Studies/History/Oral History) Dr. Wood served as national vice president of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), founded in 1915 by Dr. Carter Woodson, father of Black History Month. She is also a bibliographer for ASALH’s Black History Month annual theme kits , which includes the 2007 Woodson Review, a magazine devoted to this year’s theme, From Slavery to Freedom: Africans in the Americas; a co-editor of the 2004 ASALH Black History Month Learning Resources Manual on Brown v. Board of Education, and a frequent speaker on that theme throughout the country. She retired as assistant chief librarian, Reference/Reader Services Department, at the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University, and is currently a part-time librarian for the Prince George (MD) Community College Library. She also serves as a consultant for such special grant projects as the three-volume series, Voices of Triumph for Time-Life Books, the WETA Channel 26 documentary on "Marian Anderson.” She has also conducted oral historian interviews of World War II veterans, and is a freelance oral historian for The HistoryMakers, a video documentary company located in Chicago that documents the life stories of African Americans. Jimmy McJamerson, Ph.D. 2005 (African American History) Dr. McJamerson is associate professor of history at Grambling State University, Louisiana and a motivational speaker. He is the recipient of the Slade Award for two of his poems, published in 2005 in Griot, a journal of the Southern Conference on African American Studies, Inc.(SCAASI). He has presented several poems of tribute related to Hurricane Katrina and presented “When the Saints Come Marching Back: The Usage of Sport to Promote Hidden Agenda in New Orleans” during SCAASI’s annual meeting in Baton Rouge this past February 15-17. Its theme was “African American Lives: Before and After Katrina.” He has also presented several of his poems about leaders of the Civil Rights Movement during Black History Month on the Grambling campus and at the Ruston, Louisiana Wal-Mart. In March, he will present a paper about Grambling’s legendary late “Coach Frederick C. Hobdy: A Competitive Champion,” the winningest basketball coach in history in the state of Louisiana, at the 49th annual meeting of the Louisiana Historical Association and regional meeting of the Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society. Donna Beasley, Vermont College M.F.A.Writing for Children and Adults, 2001 Ms. Beasley is president of Lindsey Publishing, a publisher of African American children's books and is also a freelance writer and former advertising executive in Chicago, IL. She is the author of The Family Reunion Planner, a comprehensive step-by-step guide to all facets of creating and hosting a successful family reunion, and Family Pride: The Complete Guide to Tracing African-American Genealogy, which uses Beasley’s own experience in tracing her family back to 1790 as a step-by-step example and includes detailed African American genealogy resources (both John Wiley & Sons, 1997). She was a featured expert for two years at former Web site, www.blackvoices.com/searsblackfamilyreunion, sponsored by Sears, Roebuck and Co., in partnership with Blackvoices.com, that assisted families in planning reunions and learning more about their genealogy. She was also the founder/organizer for the Chicago Black History Month Book Fair for eight years, through 2005. |
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