IS is an oral history research seminar in LEADS at Spelman College that provides students from across the disciplines with rich opportunities to learn from and bond with African American women elders of the South from diverse economic background. The elders have ranged in age from sixty-five to 103 and in achievement from earning a GED at the age of eighty and a Ph.D. at the age of twenty-four.
They were born in rural or urban communities in the South as the daughters of domestics, coal miners, sharecroppers, land-owning farmers, seamstresses, railroad pipe fitters, blacksmiths, cooks, pressers, teachers, preachers, and artisans. They became secretaries, nurses, teachers, realtors, caterers, entrepreneurs, preachers, college professors, and librarians.
In interviews conducted by Young Scholars in SIS, the elders journeyed to different sites of memory where forgotten, or untold, stories reside, waiting to be shared. Whether the site was a midwife’s birthing room in Mississippi, a one-room Rosenwald school in Tennessee, a coal miner’s kitchen in Kentucky, a tobacco farm in North Carolina, a bayou in Louisiana, or a slowly moving train in Warm Springs from which President Roosevelt waves, they remembered in color and in sound, sometimes chanting children’s rhymes and singing favorite hymns.
The collective life stories of elders in SIS, spanning eight decades, add textures of the human experience to American history and give witness to their generation’s belief in family, faith, hard work, integrity, and education as tested anchors in life.
Bonding with elders and research across disciplines that opens the lens of age help prepare Young Scholars in SIS for age-sensitive leadership and service in the twenty-first century.
Gloria Wade Gayles
Founding Director of Spelman’s Independent Scholars
25 comments:
"SIS needs a blog!" During my three decades in the academy, I have always taken assignments from students. This is my most important assignment yet. I have Angela Wood and Jamine Moton to thank for completing it and Women of Wisdom in SIS to thank for giving all of us reason to celebrate elders who have had an impact on our lives. When the women gathered, they became the village that raised the child.
Gloria Wade Gayles
SIS was probably one of the best experiences for me. Because of what I learned, I was able to break ground with the Native American elderly population on reservations out in Montana. It helped me see the gap between generations and ageism in society.
I am pleased, Ebony, that you could draw on your year in SIS when you worked in Montana. Students currently enrolled are impressed!
Gloria Gayles
I am definitely glad SIS has a blog now. There are number of ways in which SIS has helped me grow. Being in public health it has helped me in my research skills when it comes to interviewing, and speaking with people in various communities. Especially this summer while I was in Kenya doing field research. It has also allowed me to look at things through various lenses, which is often not done in the field of research. I am excited about what's to come for SIS and I am glad for the experience. Raqiyah
Changed, empowered, humbled-- these are some of the adjectives that describe how I felt when I returned to Atlanta on Sunday, November 22nd,2009. I returned with a heart full of gratitude,in awe of a woman so generous,open, and vivacious. The catalyst of this change was a weekend of bonding with ninety-three-year-old matriarch, "Na-Na", Mrs. Anna Debro of Columbus, GA.When Brittney Daigle-Leonard and I met with her daughters, Mrs. Harriette Watkins and Mrs. Lisa Dore, we were told that "to know Mrs. Debro is to love her." That truth was an understatement. To know her is to know perserverance, strength, and determination. To know her is to understand the importance of selflessness, intergrity, and excellence. To have spent a weekend hearing her share stories about her life, in the presence of four generations she birthed, carried and cared for, was a true honor and privilege. When I left Columbus, I was so full-- full of knowledge, full of stories, and full of love, all of which Mrs. Debro gave us. I gratefully accepted her gifts. This type of bonding with an elder gives currency to the SIS Oral History Project.
If we do not collect their stories, who will? If we do not hold fast to our libraries (elders), what will happen to our history as a people? If we do not value the beauty of the spoken word, will our voices be buried? Being a part of SIS this semester has forced me to confront those questions. The course has challenged me to become an agent in helping to collect the stories of African American elders who want to be listened to and know that their memories are significant! It's an unforgettable experience that has helped me to grow, in wisdom and in thought. There is always something to learn in this class, from the incredible professor who's invested in the stories of elders and the empowerment of her students to the autodidact young scholars whom I've bonded very well with. I love SPELMAN INDEPENDENT SCHOLARS Oral History Project!
James Baldwin once said, "Know from whence you came. If you know whence you came, there are absolutely no limitations to where you can go." I believe this quote definitely applies to my experience with SIS. Being taught by the amazing Dr. Gloria Wade Gayles and sitting at the feet of courageous, intelligent, and driven women gave me and continually give me the fuel I need to propel me to the places I need to be personally and academically. Knowing the history and accomplishments of older Black women made me see no limit to where I can go. Listening to the women as opposed to reading stories was powerful and necessary. The skill set I attained helps me with my current clients at the agency where I am a social work intern. I became equipped with more lenses to view the world through. It has also helped me maneuver in my current academic setting where women of color may be overlooked or underrepresented. I always remember if my elders attained and maintained their goals under more difficult circumstances then I have no excuse not to continue on. SIS a jewel and I am forever grateful to have had the opportunity to revel in its brilliance. SIS will only get better as the years go by.- Afeisha Julien
We live in a world where technology is changing the way we communicate with one another. Phrases like OMG, LOL , TTFN, TTYL , L8TR and n00b have found their way into our conversations, ensuring that as little effort as possible is put into actual human dialogue and interaction. As a result, many of today’s young people are not taking the time talking to the elders in their families, churches, schools or neighborhoods to get a first hand portrayal of our struggles and accomplishments as a people. SIS ‘Celebrating Elders Project’ is very important, very important if we are to save the stories of these tremendous and extraordinary women. These stories are ripe with lessons on love, living, healing, growing and being African in America. For now, The younger generations may not be used to taking the time or making the time to learn the great art of conversation - but it is great to know that this information will be here when they are ready…TTFN
Antionette Brown-Waithe
This is exactly what I had dreamed of Spelman College doing one day and I am so happy to see it is being done especially through the LENS of Dr. Gloria Wade-Gayles who is directing young women scholars of tomorrow.
I will continue to watch, learn, absorb and be enriched by the stories of our wise SHE-ROs.
Kudos to Dr. Gloria Wade-Gayles for her vision and success in launching this powerful and phenomenal project. It is deserving of national attention ...and endowment.
Cyrice Griffith, Los Angeles
...Kudos to Dr. Gloria Wade-Gayles, her student scholars and the treasured elders who have launched this visionary project. It is deserving of national attention ...and endowment.
SIS was one of my most rewarding experiences at Spelman College. Oral history provides a narration tha goes beyond words in a textbook and includes personal stories outside of a history class. The stories from our Women of Wisdom are precious gifts. They constantly remind us that we sit at the feet of our elders.
As well as teaching invaluable research and interviewing skills, the intellectual discourse from SIS was stimulating and forced us to think critically about the world around us. These tools are universal in their application, and allow me to succeed in a classroom and work setting.
I am so proud of SIS and the SIS blog. It is beautiful and a wonderful resource for all students.I cannot wait to see how SIS continues to evolve, and I feel blessed to have been part of the journey. At the end of each class, Dr. Gayles would ask us to sum up our feelings in one word. The word could be about the discussion or simply a feeling from that day. My word for SIS is grateful.
Rachel Bland Spelman College c/o 2008
La-Keya, words can not express my sincere gratitute and appreciation for your lovely note about my mom, Mrs. Debro. You and Brittney really touched an amazing spark in my mother's 93 year old life! The love, time and care you took with my mother during your vists with her were priceless! The SIS program is a true testament to the Spelman legacy of developing women who care about, who learn from and who give back to the most important people in our community - our elders! I can't think of a better classroom than sitting at the feet of beautiful, strong and committed women who paved the way for us. Thank you Dr. Gayles for this outstanding program; and thank you La-Keya and Brittney for being Spelman women who will definitely change the world! You are my sisters!
Harriette Debro Watkins
SIS reminds us all of the important connection between elders and youth. In many of our traditional societies, there is the Djeli (griot/oral historian) who is responsible for remembering, documenting and transmitting the history of the community. Parables, proverbs, rituals, and ceremonies all have helped us remember. Now that we live in America, groups such as SIS are helping Afrikans in America reconnect to our recent past.
On this Christmas day, I am surrounded by family and this only makes me reflect more on my SIS family. This past semester has been been a journey for us all, filled with enrichment and growth. It is difficult for me to share my SIS experiences because they have been so wide- ranging and dynamic. The only commonality among the women we have interviewed has been strength. Each and every story I have listened to has been rooted in a spirit of strength that refused to give up.
I would be remiss not to mention the library we lost recently, Mrs. Ann Cooper. At 107 years old she captivated us with her stories as we sat on the floor, gathered around her chair. She told us stories that made us laugh and stories that made us thoughful and through it all she shared all of herself. She held nothing back. We were blessed to have known her, if only for a short time. I look forward to reading her book in January.
Another elder we who promotes strength, in all that she does, is Mrs. Faye Bush of Newtown,GA. Watching the video by Anissa Douglass reminded me of the interview Mia Dunlap and I conducted during our research trip. Mrs. Bush spoke to us about the environmental racism that has been affecting Newtown through the decades and the role that the Florist's Club has played. However, Mrs. Bush's story of endurance is not at its apex until you learn that she herself has lost several family members, including her husband and a son, to cancer and that she herself is a cancer survivor.
Although my post is getting long, I refuse to close it out without acknowledging my newest friend, Mrs. Anna Debro of columbus, GA. I use the word friend because Mrs. Debro makes a friend of everyone she meets. La-Keya described our first visit wonderfully, but I must also add that our weekend was so enlightening that we both returned to spend Thanksgiving in Mrs. Debro's presence. This was a unique opportunity to see the concrete manifestations of the characteristics we heard in her stories. We saw Mrs. Debro's focus on family as people flew in from across the country. We saw her humor everytime her grandchildren told a joke. We saw her prioritization of education in the professional success of her children. Yes, to know her is to love her and to know her family is to respect her even more. I cannot wait to go and visit her again next semester.
This was supposed to be a short post, but it is so hard to think about SIS and not get caught up in the stories and the memories. We have become the librarians to the libraries and as we organize thier stories, we cannot help but keep them with us.
So thankful to have participated in SIS. It is more than a project, but an experience. It opened my eyes and taught me to look through a lens other than my own. Sitting at the feet of my elders and capturing their memories, allowed me to escape into a time when things were much different than they are now. It made me appreciate not only the foundation we now have, but also the people -- the women -- who made sure it was solid.
Dr. Gayles, "you are." I'm inspired by your ever-increasing vision and your commitment to this experience. Thank you, thank you.
This effort is to be celebrated by all. It is my sincere hope that Spelman recognizes the significance of Dr. Gayles' efforts in relation to the SIS project. This is an important opportunity for Spelman to reverse the unfortunate trend in which HBCUs fail to embrace their own scholars. I will support the SIS project and will encourage everyone else to do so as well.
I am one of the few men to have had the privilege of participating in SIS. As such, the lessons I learned resonated differently with me as I was used to looking from a different perspective than my classmates. Growing up, we as young men tend to believe that everything we've done and accomplished was solely of our own accord. Lessons to the contrary are an awakening.
As part of SIS, I heard several women retell history as herstory and listened to eachone's indirect contribution to my life and those of my generation. Each storyteller represented countless pages that our grade school history books had missed or the authors never knew. Often the matriarchs of communities and not just families, their guidance, leadership, and sacrifice is still felt in many of the things we far too easily take for granted.
Experiencing SIS helped me to look at both my history and my future with a different set of lenses. These new lenses now allow me to view my world, free of preconceptions about gender and age. I thank SIS, not only for awakening and broadening my perspective, but for also recording the priceless pages of ourstory.
As a former Gerotologist and Health Researcher, I understand the importance of having intergenerational dialogue between students and elders. This type of exchange has health benefits for the elders because they are not isolated but are connected to a community. It is beneficial for the students' health because elders pass on "ways of living" that they might not find in a textbook.
Kimya Imani Jackson, PhD
This project is a treasure and so very necessary! Our heritage is steeped in oral tradition and there is immeasurable value in the oral passing down of history which invokes the passion, emotion, and humanity of the experience. This is also so very powerful for many of us who never got the opportunity to have these conversations with our elders. Perhaps they passed on before we reached an age to ask them these questions and in some cases with many of our people, vital history has not been passed down because it was too painful and elders chose to block it out. I am so grateful this project exists and wish it to get more support and more positive attention.
The video of Newtown resonates with me because the concept of environmental racism is starting to have wheels and really be looked upon. This is true of racial architecture and other things that through further examination adds to quality of life or lack there of for people of color. My alma mater and work place has a College of Natural Resources which has become very popular as more people look to study sustainability, being "green", and the study of toxicity. Being green is a trait in many of our cultures where we always "recycled", but the current view is that other cultures are leading this cause. I see a new area of study and examination of environmental racism. I am so proud of this project and I hope it gets the support it needs to continue!
Ameen Shakoor Atlanta GA...
Thank you Doctor Gloria Gayles for this beautiful and necessary program. I have seen in my life the lack of recognition of our elders and their historical work. Their beautiful and strong commitment to lay positive foundations, struggle for positive change, and solidify the needed goals, for continuous perfection of our lives should never be forgotten. Their commiment should always be in the mental and spiritual spotlight of our lives.
What a wonderful project. Lived history is so important.
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SIS Program at Spelman, Bravo! There isn't another program like it in the Country. It embraces culturally enriched opportunities for young women to develop beyond the boundaries of the campus through a unique Mentor/Mentee relationship. This is a valuable Program.
Dr. Zelma A. Payne
February 11, 2013
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