Before Obama: A Reappraisal of Black Reconstruction Era Politicians
I have a chapter, ‘”Rise in the Scale of Being’: Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs, Philadelphia. Ministry, and Florida Politics,” in the forthcoming “Before Obama” anthology. It is scheduled to be released on October 31, 2012 – it’s time to preorder!
“In the roughly two-decade-long period after the American Civil War, a cadre of Black Reconstruction politicians found the courage to stand and attempt to effect change against powerful opposition—and at a time when the United States was not ready. The contributions of these brave souls set the stage for the Civil Rights movement and heightened the world’s consciousness of the need for equality.”
Panel Discussion: October 23, 2012 at Loyola Mayland
Voting and Civility: Privileges and Responsibilities of Citizenship
My topic: Be Inclusive: Historical and Contemporary Challenges to Inclusion
Suffrage rights and the ability to participate in the electoral process are rights hard won throughout American political history. How is political participation a civil right? What should we know about America’s history of inclusiveness? What are the contemporary challenges to democratic participation and inclusiveness?
Place/Time: 4th Floor Programming Room from 7:00p -9:00 p
*Join me for a lively discussion on the upcoming election. If you want to talk about before then, follow me @kayewhitehead
October 11, 2012: Brown Bag Talk at Morgan State University
-Topic: “We was the only colored people in the room.” Using Pocket Diaries (and other primary sources) to Reconstruct Lost Stories
-Place: HOLMES 115 at 11:30 am
*Join me for a lively discussion on how to become a forensic historical investigator (FHI).
the Bridge aCross forEver
©2013 by Karsonya Wise Whitehead
What if (as Richard Bach once asked) we were able to send a letter back in time to the person we used to be? Which “you” would you choose to communicate with and what would you say? (And even more important, how would you know that your letter has arrived and that the “you” you contacted has taken your advice?) I think of the Back to the Future movies where one change in the fabric of history, changed everything in his future but him. What started as a simple question really had me thinking long and hard about my life, the choices I have made, and the impact of those decisions. At 40+ years old, I now have the benefit of seeing the long-arm of history and how so many small decisions made in haste with very little thought have become the pillars of the life that I have constructed for myself. I have never been a reflective decision maker; instead, I tended to pray, make a decision very quickly, and just hope for the best. I believe that things do have a way of working out for the best and I have learned to trust myself enough to make a decision and stand by it. I have had so many adventures in my life from backpacking through East Africa to living with a blind woman on a mountain in Chemundu; from seeing the black Madonna to literally watching the moon “rise” on a fishing boat off the coast of Lamu; I tried unsuccessfully to climb Mount Kilimanjaro but made it to the top of the hot springs mountain in Wondo Genet; I have been roller skating in South Africa and bicycling in Paris; I cried when I stepped through the door of no return in Senegal and when I was learning how to breathe “Benedictine” style in Minnesota; I have lived in a Peace House in Indiana and in a tent in Shashamene; I became an adopted member of tribe in Tanzania and I pledged a sorority at Lincoln University; and, I literally met my soul/mate when I was moved to New York without a job to live and work as an independent filmmaker. I have stumbled onto more jobs, adventures, opportunities, and really good people simply because one thread of an experience has typically led me to another one.
What would I tell myself if I could get a letter back in time? When I first thought about it I decided to send a letter to the 16-year old girl that I used to be. I remember that that was the last year before I started to really believe that I knew everything. When I turned 17, something clicked in my brain. I felt like I had become an expert on the world and that there were very few people who could tell me anything. It took me years to break through and to realize and recognize how little I knew about the world and about myself. My father used to tell me that if I ever forgot who I was I should call him because he would remind me of who I was and whose I was. I have called him and asked him this question more times than I care to remember. (I thought I would tell my 16-year old self to go and find my husband so that they can marry early and not have to suffer so many heartaches before they found one another. When I shared this with my husband, he pointed out that when I was 16, he was 21 and he would not have listened to or spent time with a minor.) I then thought about the bad decisions that I have made and how I could use my letter to warn her about them. I then realized that every past “bad” decision helped me to make better future decisions. My scars, just like my gray hair and my wrinkles, are part of who I am. It has taken me years to understand who I am and whose I am and those decisions are the building blocks that are holding me up and helping me to move forward. Those decisions made me who I am and they are helping me to shape my boys into who they will eventually become. I try so hard to do for them what my parents did for me —to be their “Catcher in the Rye,” using my experiences to shield them, to mold them, to shape them, and to ultimately let them go. My parents pushed me out of the nest and then flew in front of me when I followed, behind me when I strayed, and beside me when I faltered. My parents taught me well.
I am who I am because each one of my ancestor/selves made the best decision she could, prayed, and then hoped for the best.
With all of these thoughts in mind, my letter to my 16-year old self would actually be very short – I would thank her for being who she was, tell her that I loved her, and tell her that despite what she may think or how she may be feeling at that moment, everything will (and does) work out.
OS (on sabbatical) Log Day #12
I officially started my one-semester sabbatical leave on January 17, with excitement and trepidation. Even though I had a sound and clear sabbatical writing plan and a realistic grants/fellowship application schedule, I was (and still am) still very nervous. I find that after two weeks of focusing only on my research, I am more productive and I am more stressed. I am up to two cups of coffee a day and I am spending more time everyday in front of the computer. I feel like there is a weight hanging over my head and that no matter how much I submit or publish or write, the weight will never get smaller and will never disappear. My hope is that somewhere in this brain of mine, I will begin to understand (and believe) that tenure is a journey not a destination. It is not the top of the academic mountain nor will it be the most important or significant thing that has ever happened to me (getting married and raising two wonderful boys are at the top of that list). And yet, even though I keep saying it/chanting it/yelling it…I still haven’t accepted it.
malcolm X and chanGe(s)…
Yesterday, on my way back from my Education Task Force meeting I was listening to an archival interview with Malcolm X. He talked about how the Nation of Islam fundamentally disagreed with the concept of integration because in the opinion of the honorable Elijah Muhammad – true and pure integration was not possible in our nation. He noted that since we are living in a nation where the ancestors of black people in this country were worked seven days a week for 310 years without pay are living side by side by the ancestors of the white people in this country who enslaved them and chose not to pay them – true equality could never be achieved. He went on to add that he believes that for the next 200 years, the so-called black man will never be free and will continue to have to beg the so-called white man for a room at the inn.
As I sat in my car and listened I was struck by how much the world had changed since Malcolm X lived and how much it has actually stayed the same. My meeting was held at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum for Maryland African American History and Culture (Museum), which was built with monies donated by Reginald F. Lewis, America’s first black billionaire. In 1965, a couple of months after Malcolm X was assassinated, Lewis was invited to attend Harvard Law School, becoming the first student in the148-year history of the school to be admitted before applying. While history was being made through the Civil Rights Movement and the Nation of Islam, Lewis was making history as well by entering into the closed boardrooms where very few people of color were allowed to tread and equally participate. And yet, the name of Reginald F. Lewis is not taught in traditional American history classes. During my meeting, I sat at a table with five other PhDs – black men and women who work as deans, chairs, and chancellors at historically white institutions. I left that meeting in that museum excited about the next steps in educating the young boys and girls of Baltimore until I listened to Malcolm X and his version of the current and future state of black and white America. He argued that black people either needed to go and live in another land or be given a state here in America that they could call their own. I am not sure if either of those solutions was viable at that time and I am fairly certain that they are not viable in the current America. Should black people really have to leave America to be free? Do we really need to establish a “black” state so that we can experience true equality?
Hmm…I tend to believe that a better solution is to continue to work through the difficulties and try to come up with solutions. We should continue to force the discussions rather than assuming that since we have a president of color then racial tensions have ended. We must open up the discussions and talk about race and class rather than race or class. I tell you – there is nothing like a little dose of American history and reality to drag down the day.
While driving back up town from the Museum, I passed through neighborhoods where people are struggling just to get from one day to the next; I passed by schools that don’t have heat or new books or computers; and I passed the Occupy Baltimore protest where men and women who are temporarily experiencing homelessness are taking up residence alongside the protestors. These are issues that transcend race that must be discussed alongside discussions about race
We have come so far and at the same time, we have so much farther to go. In a nation where we still struggle to understand, talk about, and transcend race/class&gender, it is hard to be upbeat when you feel like the weight of the world is sitting on your shoulders. We are going to talk about it in my Stereotypes class today…because I believe that talking about is the first step in trying to figure out what to do about it. change/someday/is/possIble…
white aNd privileged…
©2013 by Karsonya Wise Whitehead
As always, I left my Stereotypes class with more questions than answers, more hope than sorrow, and more laughter than tears. This class has become an important part of my Mon, Wed, and Fri teaching routine. It is not often that you stumble upon a group of students who actually read all of the assignments, spend time thinking and talking about the class when they are not there, and who walk into the classroom prepared to try and figure this race, class, and gender stuff out. After spending four weeks on race and four weeks on gender, we have finally reached class. I purposefully save this discussion until the end because it is so much harder to deal with, admit to, and discuss openly and honestly. In the past, I have had students leave my class and come straight into my office either very upset with the tenor of the discussion or crying about something I said, they said (or sometimes, something they thought), or one of their classmates said. There have been times when what they heard me say was the polar opposite of what I actually said. Or other times when they thought that I was only looking at them when we talked about white privilege. See, I have the advantage of being in the front of the room so I can see everyone’s face. I know the moment when they begin to agree (the head starts to nod, a slight smile appears, and they start leaning forward) and the moment when they completely disagree (the eyes widen, heads begin to shake, or eyebrows start to furrow). I get it. Race is easier to discuss. Most (if not all) of my students are familiar with enslavement, the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. King, Harriet Tubman, Black History Month, The Long Civil Rights Movement, etc…and they agree that equality must be achieved, that people should be equal, and most importantly, they note that they do not personally harbor any racist tendencies or ideologies. Gender is also easier to discuss. Again my students believe in gender equality, they believe that women should make equal pay for equal work, they love and respect their mothers, they know that women have contributed to our nation (We Shall Not Be Moved), they believe in girl power, etc…
And then there is class. These discussions are much more difficult because they involve conversations around privilege, economic status, and the haves and the have/nots. It forces them to look at their own lives as examples of privilege and reexamine what it really means to be middle-class. When we talk about privilege, we are talking about entitlement, advantages, benefits that they receive but they did not earn.
In this class, we are really wrestling with this issue, trying to figure out what it means in our lives and how it has shaped and colored our experiences. My class is 98% white, 76% male, and 100% privileged. We spent time today talking about what would happen in America if the Tea Party was comprised of a majority of black people. We read Tim Wise‘s article \”What if the Tea Party was black?\”, watched Jasiri X’s video \”What if the Tea Party was black?\”, and spent the rest of the class trying to make sense out of it all. The discussion was heated as students argued about everything from who was controlling the Tea Party’s message to the changing face and fabric of the American racial fabric. One student after mentioning how he had traveled down to join the “Occupy Baltimore” protest and met up with about 20 people, 15 of which were men and women who are temporarily experiencing homelessness wondered if we should be talking about white privilege as if it was separate from race. Another student wondered what the world is going to look like and what the pressing issues will be in the year 2042, when whites will be in the minority (\”U.S. Census Report\. The student mentioned that he wasn’t nervous about the new America, but he was very curious. The best moment (for me!) was when a student mentioned how white people were afraid of President Obama because he was half-black and then I mentioned that President Obama was also half-white and that (so far) people of color were not admitting to being afraid of that part of him.
There was also a moment – about halfway into the class – when I realized that we, as a collective, were in the stream. We were having one of those rare educational moments when everybody was sharing, everybody was listening, and everybody was first seeking to understand before they were understood. These are the days when I love what I do…when I realize that these are the kinds of discussions that shape and shift people’s values and that challenge their worldviews. These are the kind of discussions that I enjoyed the most when I was a undergraduate at Lincoln University PA, a peace fellow at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana and a doctoral student at UMBC. It really was a good daY for teaching…and learning.
whiTe priviLege, backPacks, and mE…
Stereotypes keep coming and going and more often than not I have found that we are all creatures of habit that have been trained and nurtured by a society that was/is built and constructed around some very racist and classicist and sexist ideals. Which (in the larger framework) means what? Perhaps nothing at all or maybe when we try to untangle these societal knots we can begin to understand why it is so hard to change people, to change ideas, and to simply just change. Because, really…what does change actually mean? What does it look like? And how do we know it when it happens?
In 1954, folks went to bed one night and the world was black and white (separate and very unequal) and when they woke up, the world – according to the Supreme Court – was now this motley shade of gray. It was integrated and it was supposed to be equal. We now know what it should have looked like and we also know what it actually looked like. Had real change happened? In one sense yes – the law had been changed and in another sense no – because laws can not change the way a person sees, accepts, or defines you. I had my Stereotypes today and we talked about privilege here at our university. What does it look like? How is it defined? And what does it really mean in our eyes and through our experiences? My students went out on Wednesday, after reading Peggy McIntosh‘s article Unpacking the Backpack of Privilege and they were charged with photographing examples of privilege and coming up with a list of shared student privileges. From the parking lot to the on-campus Starbucks, they were increasingly surprised at how much privilege seems to exist (albeit this is all on the surface) at their campus. They mentioned in class that it was not the privilege that bothered them but the fact that they never saw “privilege” as privilege before this class. There is talk that my students live in a bubble – a privileged bubble that encapsulates them and protects them from the outside world – my goal in this class is to (I want to say pop it but that is too harsh) do what? I don’t know but I will wrestle with this question until I figure it out. SomedAy…
Change GoN’ Come…
Not a day goes by without me thinking about the students from my Stereotypes class. This has been, in so many ways, a challenging semester for them and for me. We are covering issues that, through their own admission, they have never even thought about before now. For so long the issues of race, class, and gender have been swept under the rug, dismissed as being unimportant, or just simply ignored. Those days have ended. These are the issues that we must discuss, we must address, and we must get through – regardless of what it will cost us. Now I must admit, that there is a chance that the cost to pay for getting to the other side of these issues might be too great but that is the chance that I think is worth taking. One of my brightest students came into my office today and told me that this is the only class that they have taken at Loyola where they are forced to think about who they are, where they have come from, and how all of these issues make them who they are and will be in this world. My student said that my class has forced them to think about and confront some of the issues that they chose not to deal with when they were in high school (my student attended a private school and was one of only four students of color). My student is now revisiting past situations and finally starting to see them for what they were…unfortunately these are hard issues and we are imperfect people who constantly and consistently fall short. At the same time, there are times when we do it get it right. I like to think that in my Stereotypes class we are trying to find a way to get it right more often that we get it wrong. someday…
a cUltural woRk in proGress..
Today in my Stereotypes course, my students presented their Cultural Portraits. They had to bring in a cultural artifact, write a 3-page paper about their cultural make-up, and then present it in 3-5 minutes. I was pleasantly surprised every step of the way. I realized during class that we are all in the process of working our culture; understanding our past; and then figuring out how to keep moving forward towards the future we have planned for ourselves. We are all “in process.” There were many moments throughout the presentation when I turned my head because I was moved: the moment when the student said that he lost his mother at the age of five and does not remember anything about her (not the sound of her voice, her smell, her eyes…) and that his father had not kept the memory of his mother alive for him; or the moment when the student said that he lost his father when he was in the sixth grade and that he made the decision that day not to go away to college so that he could stay in the area and take care of his mother; or the moment when the student said that he won the “Cura Personalis” Award for his honesty, his integrity, and his ministry on campus and for him these were the things that were most important to him…all males – all sensitive – all real – and all very very honest…some day yet again!
Karsonya (Kaye) Wise Whitehead #blackmommyactivist 