On Our Radar
NEWISH
I just want to compliment you on the newish design and general feel of the Bulletin.
Thanks and congratulations.
— BILL AYRES ’64, New York, N.Y.
APPLAUSE FOR WINTER ISSUE
— ROBERT GURFIELD ’60 Los Angeles, Calif.
Mine Wars Museum
The severity of the armed put-down of pro-union fighters at the 1921 Battle of Blair Mountain is notable. The battle was the single time in national history when the U.S. military carried out aerial bombing against U.S. people, on U.S. land.
The photo of Lawrence at a book-signing shows a purchaser wearing a West Virginia Mine Wars Museum t-shirt. This museum at Matewan, WV, provides excellent educational material about the Mine Wars (a part of WVA history typically omitted in several decades of school textbooks). In the words of Chuck Keeney, vice president of the Friends of Blair Mountain, “[The history] encompasses everything that we are, how divisive coal can be, the labor struggles, current environmental struggles, political corruption, economic issues.”
Regarding marginalized groups, particularly Blacks: In the 1970s, when Lawrence did her work, there was no public access to the history of Black, Indigenous American, or mixed-background Americans who were part of the Appalachian population, many of whom were coal miners and union members. An initial volume, Blacks in Appalachia, edited by Dr. William H. Turner and Edward J. Cabbell, was published in 1985.
A highly regarded new contribution is the engaging chronicle of Black Appalachian experience in the 1900s, published Nov. 2021, titled The Harlan Renaissance: Stories of Black Life in Appalachian Coal Towns, by Dr. William H. Turner, West Virginia University Press.
— GAIL FOSTER NEWBOLD ’71, Cochranville, Pa.
A Shared Experience
A Shared Experience
Our family members have experiences as varied as being the second Black man to reach the North Pole, to ancestors who fought in the United States Colored Troops during the Civil War. We are also the offspring of ordinary people whose lives were proscribed by American society that restricted us to “ghettos” and segregated towns. In other words, just like Ms. Alexander, we are the children and grandchildren of Black achievers who surmounted many barriers against almost insurmountable odds.
We are personally offended and hurt by the Bulletin’s inclusion of Ms. Alexander’s statements in a context that we felt was disparaging and unfair to her classmates. The Bulletin’s decision to include a quote that suggests that we were the children of America’s segregated communities and were therefore somehow not worth knowing, cut to the quick. It felt derogatory and hurtful. The Bulletin owes our entire cohort and our families an apology for perpetuating such damaging stereotypes and for the callous disregard it may cause to our reputations, as well as that of the College, displayed in this section of an otherwise interesting article.
In the years since we graduated, we have had distinguished careers in the arts, education, medicine, law, civil rights, the ministry, business, and other fields. It is our sincere hope that going forward the Bulletin will publish stories that tell of our distinctive history and accomplishments in a more fulsome manner, recognizing the historical context that shaped all of our lives throughout the African diaspora.
SHERRY F. BELLAMY, ESQ., ’74 Takoma Park, Md.
DON MIZELL, ESQ., ’71 Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
H. RUSSELL FRISBY, JR., ESQ., ’72 Columbia, Md.
ANGELA MERCER, M.D., ’73 Virginia Beach, Va.
JANIS SANCHEZ-HUCLES, PH.D., ’73 Virginia Beach, Va.
REV. DARRYL BURKE ’74 Bloomfield, Conn.
SCHERYL W. GLANTON ’74 Philadelphia, Pa.
ANDREW HENDERSON III, M.D., ’74 Bryn Mawr, Pa.
CYNTHIA JETTER ’74 Drexel Hill, Pa.
RAYMOND THOMAS ’75 Jamison, Pa.
BRENDA RICHARDSON MALONE, ESQ., ’76 Cary, N.C.
W.T. “CHIP” BOYKIN ’77 Aurora, Colo.
RUTH PERRY, M.D., ’78 Jersey City, N.J.
Our family members have experiences as varied as being the second Black man to reach the North Pole, to ancestors who fought in the United States Colored Troops during the Civil War. We are also the offspring of ordinary people whose lives were proscribed by American society that restricted us to “ghettos” and segregated towns. In other words, just like Ms. Alexander, we are the children and grandchildren of Black achievers who surmounted many barriers against almost insurmountable odds.
We are personally offended and hurt by the Bulletin’s inclusion of Ms. Alexander’s statements in a context that we felt was disparaging and unfair to her classmates. The Bulletin’s decision to include a quote that suggests that we were the children of America’s segregated communities and were therefore somehow not worth knowing, cut to the quick. It felt derogatory and hurtful. The Bulletin owes our entire cohort and our families an apology for perpetuating such damaging stereotypes and for the callous disregard it may cause to our reputations, as well as that of the College, displayed in this section of an otherwise interesting article.
In the years since we graduated, we have had distinguished careers in the arts, education, medicine, law, civil rights, the ministry, business, and other fields. It is our sincere hope that going forward the Bulletin will publish stories that tell of our distinctive history and accomplishments in a more fulsome manner, recognizing the historical context that shaped all of our lives throughout the African diaspora.
SHERRY F. BELLAMY, ESQ., ’74 Takoma Park, Md.
DON MIZELL, ESQ., ’71 Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
H. RUSSELL FRISBY, JR., ESQ., ’72 Columbia, Md.
ANGELA MERCER, M.D., ’73 Virginia Beach, Va.
JANIS SANCHEZ-HUCLES, PH.D., ’73 Virginia Beach, Va.
REV. DARRYL BURKE ’74 Bloomfield, Conn.
SCHERYL W. GLANTON ’74 Philadelphia, Pa.
ANDREW HENDERSON III, M.D., ’74 Bryn Mawr, Pa.
CYNTHIA JETTER ’74 Drexel Hill, Pa.
RAYMOND THOMAS ’75 Jamison, Pa.
BRENDA RICHARDSON MALONE, ESQ., ’76 Cary, N.C.
W.T. “CHIP” BOYKIN ’77 Aurora, Colo.
RUTH PERRY, M.D., ’78 Jersey City, N.J.