newletter spring 2014 (5) - University of Wyoming · Dr. Erin Forbes: Top Ten Teacher, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Wyoming, ... Dr. Erin Forbes: Invited presentation

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AADS Departmental Tree

Table of Contents

Letter from the Director: Page One

Recovering The Black West: Page

Three

Faculty Kudos: Page Six

Donna Summers in Laramie Winter:

Page Seven

12 Years of Slave: Page Ten

AADS Graduation Ceremony and

Symposium 2014: Page Twelve

New Additions to the AADS Team:

Page Thirteen

Galen Abdar-Razzaq: Page

Fourteen

Voices UWYO African American

and Diaspora Studies

Newsletter

1

NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR

Happy Spring Everyone! The

wind has subsided and the

recent snow has melted. I

dare say spring is on the

horizon! As usual, this Spring

2014 semester has been a

busy one for African

American & Diaspora studies

from Black History Month

events to some AADS faculty

being involved with ABSL

(Associated Blacks Student

Leaders) and being on

various panels and guest

speakers.

History has been made—it

only took 45 years! Back in

1969 when the Black Student

Alliance demanded the

creation of an African

American Studies Program

(which did not materialize

until 1993 after a mandate

from the Department of

Justice and with no line or

majority line faculty), AADS

finally has a majority line

tenure track hire! We have

hired Dr. Kerry Pimblott into

the position. Dr. Pimblott has

been our visiting assistant

professor here since August

2012. In the Fall she will be a

joint tenure track faculty

member in AADS and History

where 75% of her job in

AADS and the remaining

25% is with the Department

of History. We are thrilled

about having a new faculty

member and continuing our

collaborative working

relationship with the

Department of History. My

sincere thanks to the search

committee for their diligent

work on this

national/international

search!

UWYO AFRICAN AMERICAN AND DIASPORA STUDIES NEWSLETTER

VOICES

LIZ BYRD SPEARKER SERIES

We continue to

pursue our

fundraising goals.

Thanks to our donors

this year, we are half-

way to endowing the

Harriet Elizabeth “Liz”

Byrd Speaker Series

(in order for the

speaker series to be

endowed, we need

to reach a goal of

$25k). This speaker

series also allows for

and funds student

travel. Please

consider supporting

a student in this

endeavor. Next year,

we hope to provide

scholarships through

the “Liz” Byrd

Speaker Series, to

help students study

the Black diaspora in

places like Ghana

and Great Britain

Pictured above Dr. Kerry

Pimblott.

2

U W Y O A F R I C A N A M E R I C A N A N D D I A S P O R A S T U D I E S N E W S L E T T E R

You may have seen AADS in

the media protesting and

leading town hall discussions.

Many of us in AADS, along

with other interdisciplinary

programs, faculty, staff,

students, the AADS Advisory

Board, and allies from all

over the campus and state

have been engaged in the

fight to retain the “diversity”

and “global awareness”

educational requirements. If

you feel you’ve read this

before…you have! Since

2012 AADS has been fighting

the aforementioned

change. However,

beginning in the Fall 2015

semester UW will start the

new “Human Cultures”

requirement that retains all

current general education

requirements (in some

fashion) except for

“diversity” and “global

awareness.” Leaders of this

change have said that

diversity and globalization

will be embedded in many

classes. Even the UW Faculty

Senate chair on April 29,

2014 said,

Attempts to

change USP 2015

requirements at the

eleventh hour are

counter-productive

and send the

message that

multiple

committees, task

forces, faculty, staff,

and administrators

erred in their

judgment of what is

in the best interest

of our students and

community. This

inadvertent

message can only

hurt the University

and our student

body.

This is simply not accurate.

And certainly AADS’ efforts

are not at the “eleventh

hour.” Frankly, what is in the

best interest of our students is

that they receive a

competitive education that

is on-par with or exceeds

other universities, not one

where a UW student can

receive a college education

without ever taking a class

focused on diversity or

global awareness—crucial

information and perspectives

that will help them in the

business world. Most faculty

and administrators are for

curricular change and

innovation, and this includes

AADS, but not at the

expense of our students. For

the last two years many of us

in AADS could not simply sit

idly by and watch the

elimination of the “diversity”


education requirements and

not speak out against this

curricular change. The

eradication of the “diversity”


educational requirements

will have a drastic, and likely

detrimental, impact on the

3

U W Y O A F R I C A N A M E R I C A N A N D D I A S P O R A S T U D I E S N E W S L E T T E R

growth of AADS. AADS

faculty are passionate about

educating our students, and

all UW students, with regard

to the broad and deep

history of our nation and our

planet, and, by so doing,

preparing them for success

as citizens and contributors

to a diverse and global

marketplace. Courses like

those offered in AADS are a

cornerstone of liberal

education for the twenty-first

century. We live in a very

globally connected and

diverse world, and

eliminating courses like

“diversity” and “global”

requirements will not serve

our students, our state, or our

country.

AADS has been growing! We

have a large number of

minors, and because of this,

and in responding to student

demand, in May 2014 we

submitted the paperwork to

add a graduate minor and

an official undergraduate

major (previous to this

students have only been

able to major in AADS as a

‘self-designed major’ and

this option has been

eliminated at UW). We will

keep you up to date on the

progress of this proposal.

Because of donors, this year,

we were able to fund two

students through our student

excellence fund. This year,

our recipients were Sierra

Johnson (double major

AADS and Civil Engineering)

and Wynne Berg (minor

AADS, major Global & Area

Studies).

On May 2nd we held our

Graduation Event and

Annual Research

Symposium. One AADS

major, one AADS minor, and

a McNair Scholar presented

their research. This event also

honored the AADS minors

who graduated as well as

the award winners, and their

families. The event took

place at the UW Hilton on

May 2nd from 6-8:30 p.m. See

inside for images and details

from the event.

We are sad to share two

goodbyes. One to Kendra

Gage who has been

teaching Outreach courses

for us for many years. She

has graduated with her Ph.D.

in History (specialization in

Africa and African American

history) from UNLV and also

has received a tenure track

faculty position. And our

work study Hope Gebes,

who is graduating from UW

Law School. She has

accepted a job as an

associate attorney in

Thermopolis, Wyoming.

We have an exciting

Summer and Fall semester of

events scheduled, so please

check out the “events”

page on our website at

http://www.uwyo.edu/aads/

and also become a “fan;”

join our new Facebook page

at

https://www.facebook.com/

groups/AADS.UW/ This is a

private group—and an

active page—so please ask

to be added!

Have a wonderful

summer,

Sincerely, Dr. Tracey Owens Patton Director, African American & Diaspora Studies Professor, Department of Communication & Journalism

4

UWYO African American and Diaspora Studies Newsletter

RECOVERING THE BLACK WEST Kerry Pimblott

James Beckwourth… Harriet

Elizabeth Byrd… Bass

Reeves… William Jefferson

Hardin… These are just a few

of the names of significant

Black westerners whose lives

and contributions have been

examined by students this

semester in our upper-

division seminar on the Black

West.

Despite their invisibility in

popular and historical

accounts, people of African

descent have played a key

role in shaping the culture

and society of the American

West. From the earliest

imperial expeditions of New

Spain to the expanding

influence of the United

States, Black men and

women arrived in the West

as soldiers, missionaries,

laborers, fur trappers, and

settlers.

This semester our students

surveyed the Black

experience in the West from

the earliest recorded

presence in the 16th century

through the present. Against

this backdrop, we explored

a number of key themes and

debates including the

motives for Black migration

to the West; how the region’s

distinctive political economy,

demography, and culture

shaped Black life and

opportunities; and the ways

in which Black men and

women contributed to and

transformed western

institutions and communities.

Since this class was being

taught at the University of

Wyoming, particular

attention was paid to the

Black experience in the

“Equality State.”

Upon establishing this

foundational knowledge,

each student was charged

with identifying and

performing original research

on a specific person, event,

or institution significant to the

history of the Black West.

After six weeks of painstaking

archival research –

performed both here in

Laramie at the American

Heritage Center and in

Cheyenne at the Wyoming

State Archives – students

translated their findings into

a variety of multimedia

artifacts designed to inform

the general public of the

important and often

overlooked contributions of

African Americans to

Wyoming and the West.

On Tuesday, April 29, the

students presented their

findings at a landmark

symposium held at the

University of Wyoming Union

entitled, Challenging

Invisibility: Stories of Black Life

in the American West.

Projects ranged from

museum style exhibits to

documentary films and

portraiture.

5


Students Raena Bush and

Renzo McMullen spotlighted

William Jefferson Hardin,

Wyoming’s first African

American legislator, through

a museum style exhibit

(pictured above) and

historical marker.

Scottie Melton mapped the

life of a better-known Black

westerner, James

Beckwourth, whose

legendary travels led him to

participate in some of the

most seminal events in

western and U.S. history,

including the Seminole War

of 1835-1842 and the Gold

Rush of 1848.

Artists Alyssa Maurer and

Micah Trampe used the

medium of portraiture to

capture the Buffalo Soldiers

and U.S. Deputy Marshal Bass

Reeves

(pictured

below) upon who the

fictional character of the

Lone Ranger is supposedly

based.

The modern Black western

experience was the focus of

several projects including

historical markers

commemorating the 1968

Black 14 tragedy by Emily

Thiel and Wyoming legislator

and educator Harriet

Elizabeth Byrd by Derek

Frazier.

Two students – Will Chadwick

and Jamie Smith –

interrogated popular culture

representations of African

Americans in the western

genre while Canaan Hurst,

Natawsha Mitchell, and

Kylea Kugler-Spiker created

their own documentary

examining the

contemporary experiences

of Black students at the

University of Wyoming.

Collectively, these students

took an important step

towards recovering the

stories and experiences of

Black westerners – past and

present – and revising

dominant interpretations of

the West as a region.

6


FACULTY KUDOS Awards: Dr. Erin Forbes: Top Ten Teacher, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Wyoming, Laramie,

WY

Dr. Erin Forbes: Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship, The Huntington Library, San Marino,

CA

Dr. Marcus Watson.: A&S Extraordinary Merit in Teaching Award.

Dr. Marcus Watson, M.A.: Nominee, PIE Award (Promoting Intellectual Engagement in the First

Year).

Publications: Dr. Erin Forbes: “From Prison Cell to Slave Ship: Social Death in ‘The Premature Burial’” Poe

Studies: History, Theory and Interpretation 46.1 (December 2013).

Dr. Mary Keller: "The Sacred and Indigenous Studies" American Indian Quarterly, 38.1 Jan.

2014.

Dr. Kerry Pimblott: Review of The Cross and the Lynching Tree by James H. Cone, Journal of

African American History 98, no. 3 (Summer 2013): 481-483.

Papers Presented/Symposia/Invited Lectures/Professional Meetings: Dr. Ulrich Adelt: "Hot Stuff: Donna Summer, Disco and National Identity" for the Multicultural

Affairs Speaker Series.

Dr. Erin Forbes: Invited presentation. “Edgar Allan Poe and the Great Dismal Swamp.” UCLA

Americanist Research Colloquium. Los Angeles, CA.

Dr. Erin Forbes: Conference Paper. With Teena Gabrielson. “Plant Agency in Crevecouer and

Hawthorne.” American Comparative Literature Association. “New Perspectives in

Ecocriticsm” Seminar. New York, NY.

Dr. Erin Forbes: Panel Organizer and Chair. “Dissent in the Commons: Archives and Repertoires

of Resistance.” C19: The Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists. Chapel Hill, NC.

Dr. Erin Forbes: Conference Paper. “The Southampton Slave Revolt Considered as One of the

Fine Arts.” C19: The Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists. Chapel Hill, NC.

Dr. Erin Forbes: Position Paper. With Teena Gabrielson. “Plant Agency in Crevecouer and

Hawthorne.” “Natural Knowledges” Seminar at C19: The Society of Nineteenth-Century

Americanists. Chapel Hill, NC.

Dr. Erin Frobes: Invited Presentation. “Fugitive Genius: Edgar Allan Poe in the Great Dismal

Swamp.” Scripps College. Claremont, CA

7


Dr. Kerry Pimblott: "Black Community and Protest in a Northern Borderland City." Organization

of American Historians (OAH), Atlanta, Georgia.

Dr. Kerry Pimblott: "Building Grassroots Campaigns for Justice," ASUW, CAC, SLCE, and the

Good Mule Project, Finding the Leader Within Speaker Series, University of Wyoming, Invited

Speaker, Laramie, Wyoming.

Dr. Kerry Pimblott: "Shock Troops: College Students in the Modern Black Freedom Movement."

The Association of Black Student Leaders Black History Month Panel, University of Wyoming,

Invited Panelist, Laramie, Wyoming.

Dr. Kerry Pimblott: "Dream Forward." Martin Luther King Days of Dialogue, University of

Wyoming. Invited Keynote Speaker, Laramie, Wyoming.

Appointments: Jacquelyn Bridgeman, J.D.: Appointed Interim Dean of the University of Wyoming College of

Law.

Dr. Kerry Pimblott: Academic Program Committee, Association for the Study of African

American Life and History, 2012-14.

Dr. Kerry Pimblott: State Representative, Labor and Working Class History Association

(LAWCHA), 2014-15.

Grants: Dr. Tracey Owens-Patton: Working Title: A Nation's Undesirables - Mischlingskinder and

Whiteness: Post-WWII German Brown Babies. The International Programs Office. The

University of Wyoming: $5,000.00

Dr. Tracey Owens-Patton: Working Title: A Nation's Undesirables - Mischlingskinder and

Whiteness: Post-WWII German Brown Babies. Gender & Women’s Studies Program. The


Dr. Tracey Owens-Patton: Working Title: A Nation's Undesirables - Mischlingskinder and

Whiteness: Post-WWII German Brown Babies. The Social Justice Research Committee. The


Dr. Kerry Pimblott: American Heritage Center Teaching and Research Grant, University of

Wyoming.

Dr. Kerry Pimblott: James C. Hurst Each Student – A Person Award, Nominee, the Associated

Parents of the University of Wyoming (APUW).

Dr. Kerry Pimblott: Promoting Intellectual Engagement (PIE) Award, Nominee, University of

Wyoming.

Dr. Marcus Watson.: International Travel Grant

8


Dr. Marcus Watson: Wyoming Institute for Humanities Research, Individual Research Grant

Television and Radio Interviews: Dr. Kerry Pimblott: Interviewed about Black western history by Micah Schweizer, Wyoming

Public Radio, Laramie, Wyoming, April 8, 2014.

Dr. Kerry Pimblott: Interviewed about hip-hop and politics by Mary Jung, "Wyoming Signatures,"

television program, WPTV, Laramie, Wyoming, March 18, 2014.

Achievements: Dr. Kendra Gage: Obtained her PH. D. in History form UNLV. She specialized in area of African

and African American histories.

Pictured Above: Dr. Kerry Pimblott, Dr. Tracey Owens Patton, Dr. Deborah McGriff, Dr. Ulrich

Adelt, and Dr. Marcus Watson

9


DONNA SUMMER IN LARAMIE WINTER By Dr. Ulrich Adelt

I was honored to be

invited for the Multicultural

Speaker Series this

semester. My talk, entitled

“Hot Stuff: Donna Summer,

Disco and National

Identity,” drew on my

current research, in which I

situate Summer not only

within the context of

African American disco

divas but also look at her

many connections to

Germany. I was excited to

see that about 85

students, faculty and staff

attended the talk and that

the enthusiastic response

to 70s disco included some

dancing by attending

faculty members

and, eventually, even

some front-page

coverage in the Laramie

Boomerang.

I discussed the emergence

of disco in New York City in

the late 1970s within the

context of a

predominantly black and

Latino gay community

and how the music

became mainstream and

dehistoricized with the

movie Saturday Night

Fever. Donna Summer,

while part of the

mainstreaming of disco,

also challenged fixed

notions of identity through

her collaborations with

German-

Italian producer Giorgio

Moroder, creating a third

space of racial and

national identities that

defied easy

categorization.

I am happy to report that

Donna Summer’s legacy is

alive and well even a

place like Laramie,

Wyoming. A faculty

member of the university

revealed to me after the

talk that she is the niece of

Neil Bogart, record

company CEO of the label

Casablanca on which

Summer’s bestselling

records first appeared.

10


AADS GRADUATION CEREMONY AND SYMPOSIUM 2014 At the 2014 Spring AADS Graduation Ceremony and Symposium three students presented their research:

Sierra Johnson: AADS Major Presentation Title: Gender and Sexuality in the Black Power Movement

Katelyn Stout: AADS Minor Presentation Title: Dementia Care for African American: An Afrocentric Approach

Charity Haley: McNair Scholar Presentation Title: Social Pressures and Social Roles: The Fight for the Fate of the African

American Soldier in WWI

Three Students also received scholarship during the ceremony;

Sierra Johnson and Wynne Burg both received $500 Dollar Scholarships from the AADS Student Excellence Fund.

Natawsha Mitchell received the 2014 Outstanding Student Service Award from the Board of Victors. This award is accompanied by a $100.00 scholarship.

11


12 YEARS OF SLAVE By J. Caanan Hurst

Participating on the panel for the 12 Years A Slave film was an interesting experience, to say the least. Having read Solomon Northup’s book just days before the university showing, and then being able to discuss the critically acclaimed and widely distributed film, my initial reaction to the film was both confusion and anger. From Hollywood’s unwarranted addition of sexual elements to Northup’s story, to the lack of accurate explanation regarding the climate of the United States as a “slave nation” following the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law Act, the film was in need of some major changes. As my fellow panelists and I discussed our initial reactions to the film, I found it hard to mitigate my personal opinion with what I viewed as the most relevant issue the film

produced—namely, White face-saving.

It is a glorified, yet often unspoken, practice in the White community to marginalize the United States’ racist past in order to somehow prove our now “color-blindness.” Whites today seem to

(pictured above J. Caanan Hurst, Nawtasha Mitchell, and Dr. Tracey Owens Patton)

forsake the truth that racism manifests itself in many different forms—a truth left unspoken in the film, 12 Years A Slave. The film allows a White person to leave the movie theater, television set, or any other venue

seemingly confident of the false idea that racism has been defeated simply because slavery has been abolished. The panel was an opportunity to connect events of the past, such as those shown in (and omitted from) the film, to racism’s contemporary consequences. Had the movie been a completely

accurate representation of Northup’s extremely violent experience, no audience member would be able to complete the film, was, in my mind, crucial to engaging our audience in

the fact that one could never understand the evils of slavery by merely watching a Hollywood film. Facts such as these allowed the panel to expose many discrepancies and weak representations of the Black experience often shown in “historical” cinema.

12


(Pictured above Marlin Holmes)

It was also important that we addressed the glorification of Whites in purportedly Black-centered films, because it allowed us to further expose the fear that many White filmmakers may have to potentially portraying their ancestors’ depravity. In a culture and country arguably devoted more to the maintenance of a revered and respected White historical narrative rather than an accurate representation of a nation unjustly

developed on the backs of enslaved Black people, it is extremely important to uncover face-saving techniques such as this film’s exclusion of both historical background and Northup’s description of brutality. I was very honored to be asked to participate in the panel discussion, and must

recognize the wise intellectual critique of the film by my fellow panelists, Dr. Tracey Owens Patton and Natawsha Mitchell. I enjoy any opportunity to confront the glorified White narrative’s continued subjugation of Blacks through historical face-

saving, and genuinely hope that this panel discussion peacefully, yet strongly, exposed the inaccuracies still present in “historical” accounts made in our country’s theoretically “colorblind” modernity.

(Pictured below Dr. Kerry Pimblott)

13


NEW ADDITIONS TO THE AADS TEAM

AADS is pleased to announce the

formation of a new advisory board. African

American and Diaspora Studies Program

(AADS) at the University of Wyoming (UW), is

currently undergoing many changes

including developing an undergraduate

major (currently we have a self-designed

major), developing a graduate minor,

funding the AADS Student Excellence Fund,

and endowing the Liz Byrd Speaker Series

Fund (this fund helps students with

international travel opportunities, brings in

guest speakers, and allows for special topic

classes by world-renowned educators). In

order to continue the growth of the

program, and carry on with these changes,

AADS is establishing a new Advisory Board.

The new AADS Advisory Board will aid

the department in fundraising, providing

assistance with events the Program will host,

speak on behalf of the department when

appropriate. Finally, Advisory Board

members will be expected, on occasion, to

promote and facilitate student recruitment,

and/or awareness, to African American &

Diaspora Studies here at UW.

The new advisory board currently

consists of the following members:

Aaron Lozano

Keileigh Yeend

Derreck Martin

Reggie Slater

Alvester Alexander

Mel Hamilton

Fancis Price

Donna Amstutz

John McNiell

John Griffin

We would like to thank all the members

for their dedication to the program and

look forward to improving the program with

their help. We also hope to expand the

board in the near future.

LUCAS STRICKER

This semester Lucas Stricker joined

the AADS team as an Introduction to African American Studies Lecturer. Lucas has a minor in African American and Diaspora Studies from the University of Wyoming. He will continue to be part of the team next fall as the outreach instructor for the Introduction to African American Studies course. We are pleased to have Lucas as part of the team.

14


GALEN ABDAR-RAZZAQ By Dr. Marcus Watson

On the evening of January

21st, during Black History

Week, master flutist Galen

Abdur-Razzaq put on a

spectacular jazz

performance for an

audience of forty faculty,

students, and community

members. The

performance took place in

the lower level of the

Union, which, after careful

work, looked and felt like a

cool night club where

customers could unwind

after a hard day’s work in

a dimly lit environment

warmed by the sound of

sweet jazz. And there was

a need to unwind, as

Galan had spent hours

earlier in the day

enlightening our students

from Dr. Adelt’s and Dr.

Pimblott’s AADS classes on

topics such as the history

of jazz, jazz and women,

and the pillars of jazz

music. The first smooth

notes this night were

played by UW’s Jazz

Combo, a student group

that opened for Galen in

impressive fashion. Then

Galen took over and was

a maestro on the flute. It is

no wonder that he has

been asked, over a thirty

year period, to perform at

dozens of campuses

across the US, for the

music he plays is elegantly

soulful and he himself

embodies a cultural

contradiction, which was

also the elephant in the

room: A Black man

playing a flute? Yes, and

masterfully so, and

perhaps without a general

awareness of it but not

without precedent. Hailing

from New Jersey and with

his own music company in

Florida called Flute Juice

Productions, Galen has

performed internationally

and collaborated with

renowned recording

artists, such as Billy Taylor,

Sonny Phillips, and Gwen

Guthrie. On this night,

Galen brought his wealth

of worldly experience to

our Black History Week at

UW, gracing the audience

with the soul-comforting

sounds of his flute,

punctuated by questions

he would ask of the

audience about jazz and

the audience’s usually

wrong but playful and

well-taken responses. On

this night, only Galen’s

warm smile matched the

soothing sounds of his

flute.

Pictured here Galen Abdar-

Razzaq on his flute.

15


Moriah Hager


Dept 4297

1000 University Ave

Laramie, WY 82071

Http://www.uwyo.edu/AAST

For more information about the department please contact us at 307-766-2481

or email Dr. Tracey Patton at [email protected].

DONATIONS TO AADS ARE ALWAYS APPRECIATED

TO MAKE A DONATION

ONLINE: Make a payment

using our secure server:

www.uwyo.edu/giveonline.

TO MAKE A DONATION BY

PHONE: Call the University

of Wyoming Foundation

during normal business

hours: (307) 766-6300 or

(888) 831-7795.

FALL 2014 CLASSES • INTRO TO AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES

O FULFILLS D REQUIREMENT • INTRO TO AFRICAN AMERICAN LIT

O FULFILLS WB AND D REQUIREMENTS • TRADITIONAL AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURE

O FULFILLS CH AND G REQUIREMENTS • GLOBAL IMPACT OF AFRICAN CULTURE • HARLEM RENAISSANCE • RACE, GENDER, ETHNICITY, & MEDIA

O FULFILLS D REQUIREMENT • BLACK WOMEN IN HISTORY • DIGITAL AUDIO STORYTELLING • CIVIL WAR RECONSTRUCTION

Documents

newletter spring 2014 (5) - University of Wyoming · Dr. Erin Forbes: Top Ten Teacher, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Wyoming, ... Dr. Erin Forbes: Invited presentation