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12 - DECEMBER 2000/JANUARY 2001 MBCWO- 63 Years Of Communications - HBCUs Making The Connection In The 21st Century.
Fruit of the Learning Tree
Black writers talk about how historically black colleges and universities particularly cultivated their talents
Ethnic News Watch reported that more than half of all African American students earn bachelor’s
degrees in journalism and communications at HBCUs.
by Taiia Smart-Young
and Cassandra Lane
/ / hv he blacker
■ ■ I the college,
the sweeter the
knowledge."
Students and alumni of historically
black colleges and universities
have recited this motto with pride,
and the shout remains important
from a writer’s perspective.
The role of traditionally
black colleges is to prepare
students to survive publish
ers and editors who have fre
quently ignored or misunder
stood black authors. Creative
writing can be deeply per
sonal, as though exposing a
chunk of your soul for judg
ment or praise. An HBCU can
provide an amiable setting
for folks who are eager to
study black literature, and
create memorable work in the
tradition of Richard Wright
(Lincoln University), Zora
Neal Hurston (Morgan State),
Ralph Ellison (Tuskegee
University), Toni Morrison
(Howard University), Iyanla
Vanzant (Medgar Evers Col
lege), James Baldwin (Lincoln
University), Spike Lee (More
house University) and Earl
Greaves (Morgan State Uni
versity). Most notably the
person with perhaps the most
profound recent impact on
books and reading—Oprah
Winfrey—attended Tennessee
State University, also an
HBCU.
David J. Dent, a Morehouse
alum and journalism profes
sor at New York University,
says HBCUs are valuable for
aspiring writers on many
levels. “A lot can be said for
learning in a comfortable
environment, not comfortable
in a lethargic way, but to
learn, grow and develop intel
lectually free of racial hostili
ties and tensions.’ Says Dent,
author of In Search of Black
America, Discovering the
African-American Dream,
“For students of HBCUs race
doesn’t impose itself in terms
of relationships and social
factors. You get to know and
understand people and that is
a very important dynamic for
being a writer.” Despite
obtaining a graduate degree
in journalism from Columbia
University, Dent credits his
experiences at Morehouse—
including a gig at the campus
radio station and some exposi
tory writing classes—for laying
the foundation for his career.
In 1984, poet and English
professor Toi Derricotte had a
rudeawakening while pursu
ing a master’s of fine arts
degree at New York Univer
sity. She asked her instructor
why black writers were not
included in the curriculum,
and his response was, “We
don’t go down that low.”
Luckily, Derricotte channeled
her frustration into forming a
haven for black poets, known
as the Cave Canem workshop,
but comments like those
made by her former professor’s
can crush vulnerable minds.
Last year, as an endowed
chair at Xavier University,
Derricotte informed her stu
dents that because during
slavery black people were not
allowed to read or write, many
of their descendants still have
an inferiority complex about
writing. “When I was in grad
uate school, I was the only
black person in my writing
classes,” she told her students.
“I thought, ‘I’m not going to
be as smart as these other
people. I’m not going to write
as well.’”
Poet and Dillard University
English professor Mona Lisa
Saloy, who launched the cre
ative writing program at Dil
lard, grew up in New Orleans
in the 1960s. She says that
today many black children
are still, unaware of the town’s
historical and cultural impor
tance and black Americans’
literary and artistic contribu
tions.
“The first time I heard the
work of Alice Walker, it blew
me away, that we black people
had our own literature,” Saloy
says. Now, in addition to pur
suing her own studies and
work, she spends her time
teaching and counseling stu
dents. She also exposes the
students to other nationally
known black writers, such as
Pearl Cleage, Brenda Marie
Osbey (a Dillard alum), Gwen
dolyn Brooks and Amiri
Baraka.
Yona Harvey, who earned
her bachelor’s in English
from Howard University and
is currently completing a MFA
at Ohio State University, con
trasts her experiences at the
two schools.
At Ohio State, she says, ‘I
knew it was all white there
(only three black students are
in her MFA program), but I
was looking for that same
kind of mentorship that I had
had at Howard. I didn’t get it.
I think the people are very
nice, but I wasn’t close to
anyone. As for writing, there
was no one exploring their
identity in their work. Obvi
ously, we didn’t look at a lot
of poets of color. We didn’t
have any black poets or wri
ters visit the school.”
But at Howard, E. Ethel-
bert Miller, renowned writer
and director of Howard’s Afri
can American Resource Cen
ter, was Harvey’s mentor.
‘You just kind of pop in his
office,” she explains. “He’s
just sitting back there behind
his desk. There’s always a zil
lion people trying to talk to
him, but everyone tells you
that if you’re a young writer,
you need to go see Ethelbert:’
And despite his own literary
work, “he always takes time
to get back to you as a student.
I think he’s such a good men
tor because he understands
the importance of mentoring.
Steven Henderson was his
mentor.”
Harvey’s mentorship with
Miller opened up the world of
black literature for her. After
switching majors from nurs
ing to English, she was exposed
to black writers’ books in her
classes. Ethelbert also encour
aged her to get involved in
literary activities outside cam
pus, such as Cave Canem,
where she ultimately met her
husband, Terrance Hayes,
poet and Xavier University
creative writing professor
(and author of Muscular
Music), and Haye’s mentor,
Toi Derricotte.
Tina McElroy Ansa, the
bestselling novelist who’s cur
rently adapting her book
Baby in the Family to film,
affirms that it’s important to
have mentors who can relate
to you on a cultural level. At
Spelman she had instructors
of “outstanding caliber” and
listened to lectures from the
inspirational Dr. Gloria Wade-
Gayles, endowed chair of
humanities at Dillard Univer
sity, where Ansa continues to
spread her infectious love of
writing and reading to stu
dents. “We all wanted to be
like her-wonderful, smart
and well-read. She infected
women with writing:’ says
Ansa about the woman who
introduced her to Zora Neale
Hurston and Their Eyes Were
Watching God.
After giving the southern
girl a stellar grade on a paper
about Hurston, Gayles asked
her protege: “Do you know
that you're a writer?” Little
did Wade-Gayles know what
those words gave Ansa the
freedom to fashion stories
about the southern folk who
intrigued her as a girl. This
meeting was such a turning
point for the young writer
that she urges HBCUs to
expose students to writers.
Ansa, .the former writer-in-
residence at her alma mater,
states that it’s important for
students to make that face-to-
face connection and ask ques
tions. “It’s difficult to stand
up and say I’m a writer,’ be
cause people automatically
ask, ‘Well, what have you
published?’ or ‘Are you mak
ing a decent living?”’
Valerie Wilson Wesley
studied philosophy and soci
ology at Harvard University’s
School of Communications.
Maybe those disciplines were
effective in plotting her widly
popular Tamara Hayle mys
“...it’s important for students to make that face-to-face
connection and ask questions. “It’s difficult to stand up
and say I’m a writer,’ because people automatically
ask, ‘Well, what have you published?...”
Pearl Cleage
Howard University, Spelman
College and Atlanta University
Toni Morrison
Howard University
Class of 1953
David Dent
Morehouse College
Class of 1977
Ralph Ellison
Tuskegee Institute
Class of 1937
Tina McElroy Ansa
Spelman College
Class of 1971
E. Ethelbert Miller
Howard University
Class of 1972
Toi Derricote
Poet and Professor
Xavier. University
Elizabeth Nunez
Novelist and Professor
Medgar Evers College
During a recent survey of college life at
TMSF schools, Ashley discovered a shrinking interest in
newspaper and yearbook activities...
teries about a sassy, take-no-
junk gumshoe. For Wesley,
her Howard days were invalu
able. “I wouldn’t be who I am
today without it (the Howard
experience).” Fondly remem
bering a course conducted by
Sterling Brown, Wesley says,
“He would just read to us and
to this day whenever I read
his poems I hear his voice.
That’s the gift of the HBCU.”
Another gift of the HBCU,
the John Oliver Killens Work
shop at Medgar Evers College—
was named after the novelist,
writer-in-residence at Medgar
Evers, John Oliver Killens
also the organizer of the Na
tional Black Writer’s Confer
ence (originally held at How
ard and Fisk Universities).
Author and professor Dr. Eliz
abeth Nunez, director of the
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