Sometimes I do wonder if we live in the 21st century! Shouldn't a headline like this be something out of the times we spoke in class yesterday? Can you think of other headlines like "first [insert race/ethnicity/gender]..." that are hard to believe that they still make headlines?
http://education.illinois.edu/news/Alumna-RoSusan-Bartee-UM-s-first-African-American-professor-Educational-Leadership
Given the challenges that are experienced by Faculty of color at PWI's, I am not surprised.
ReplyDeleteWhen information such as this surfaces I wonder what students/faculty at that University think or feel as if this is something to be proud of!?! Do you feel the media puts this out there to congratulate or to make fun of? As Murillo posted, "Sometimes I do wonder if we live in the 21st century!"
ReplyDeleteI believe in Dr. Anderson's piece that we read, he stated that even as late as 1960, 80% of the black population in Mississippi had only completed school up to the eighth grade. That was so alarming and upsetting to me. I guess, given my new-found contextual understanding, it really is not so far-fetched to think that African Americans, especially in the South, are still making history as the "firsts". If (when) I complete this degree program, I will be the first Ph.D. in my family....
ReplyDeleteMurillo, thank you so much for sharing this article.
ReplyDeleteIt's both inspiring and nice to read that Prof. Bartee passed through the same hallways that we walk through every Monday.
I realize that it is 2013 and she is the first African-American Professor in Educational Leadership at Ole Miss. However, I can not help but imagine how many [more] firsts are still to come for the array of cultures and ethnicities represented in Higher Education all over America.?.
It would be a wonderful miracle if all of the firsts could be completed before the end of the 21st Century. But, I believe we have a few more centuries before we reach that goal. Best!