Race, Gender and Education: A Dialogue Linking Past and Present
Remembering Charlotte
By: Natasha Murray
On March 7, folks from all walks of life gathered into the Recital Hall at Central Campus to celebrate our first African American graduate, Charlotte Forten with the program: Race, Gender and Education: A Dialogue Linking Past And Present. During Charlotte Forten's life, she was an educator, writer, poet, abolitionist, and women’s rights activist. She began her teaching career in the Salem school system and became the first African-American teacher hired in the City of Salem. Forten also was the first northern African-American teacher to go south to teach former slaves behind enemy lines during the Civil War on St. Helena’s sea island, off the coast of South Carolina. Forten’s legacy has shown that through sheer determination and hard work your dreams can come true.
Nate Bryant, Chief of Staff was our official host of the event for the evening. Bryant expressed that the title “A Dialogue Linking Past And Present” is apropos for today as some of the challenges that Charlotte faced is certainly relevant to today. Bryant expressed optimism that the evening’s panel discussion would be quite enlightening. He also assured the audience that we would be highly entertained in regards to the program lineup that included not only a panel discussion, but also performances by Salem State students and faculty. Bryant also added, “I am confident that you will be educated on Charlotte and the educational landscape from the race and gender discussion, as well as entertained by the engaging dialogue to the musical performances and our student performances. So sit back and enjoy.”
President Keenan, stated: “It is my privilege and honor to be here this afternoon and this is an event where I can basically sit back and enjoy and I look forward to doing that, but I wanted to welcome everyone to Salem State University on this wonderful day to celebrate Charlotte Forten.”
“We are in a wonderful room that looks just spectacular in its present form, in the past it was actually the boiler room. I am proud to say when we talk about the Charlotte Forten Legacy Room, it had a former use as well. It used to be my office and I can’t think of a better use for the former president’s office, after we decided to move across the street to 331 Lafayette Street. The room honors Charlotte Forten in an appropriate way, and it also enables our students, faculty, and staff to go into that space and think about Charlotte Forten and all that she was able to accomplish and hopefully inspire students today to be as passionate as she was about things that are important to them.”
President Keenan also acknowledged his Chief of Staff, Nate Bryant for his leadership, for putting together and developing the Charlotte Forten Legacy Room, and working alongside the Charlotte Forten Working Group. One of the first tasks assigned to Bryant when he became Chief of Staff was to bring back Charlotte Forten after the Salem State Library was condemned in 2007. The Charlotte Forten Hall Conference Room was on the fourth floor of the library. There were plans to bring Charlotte Forten’s presence back onto campus, however life, as it tends to do, gets in the way of plans. One of the first responsibilities given to Bryant by President Keenan was to form a committee; find a space for the room, but to also make sure that we celebrate Charlotte. Bryant also made it known that this was our second annual Charlotte Forten Day thanks to President Keenan.
Gwendolyn Rosemond, a visiting lecturer gave us context on Charlotte and what she means to Salem State and to Salem, Massachusetts. Rosemond talked about how they rediscovered Charlotte and how she was always there all along in the archives of Salem State. Rosemond shared with us that she remembered sitting in her office forty years ago when a young faculty member came to her exclaiming, “Gwen, I found the first black graduate of Salem State!” And that particular faculty member was that kind of researcher and historian that was meticulously going through college yearbooks and records, when she found a picture of this young woman [Charlotte] who was clearly a person of color. It was evident that nobody else in the yearbooks had looked like her and it was 1856. They began to dig into the history and came up with Charlotte’s journals. A couple of years later, they put together an article titled “Dear Charlotte” for the University’s faculty journal The Sextant. Then, Gwen and her colleague set out to find a location where we could honor her. They wanted Charlotte’s presence to be known and at the center of the campus. Finally, they came up with Charlotte Forten Hall in the former library, which would serve as the function room where faculty would be able to hold meetings and utilize it for different occasions.
There was a great display of portraits, artifacts, and other relics related to Charlotte and anyone who came to campus for meetings and events would go to Forten Hall and learn about her. Unfortunately, the library came crumbling down and the portraits and objects related to Charlotte were put into storage and nobody knew where. Time passed and Charlotte was very much forgotten, except for those who had worked so hard to rediscover and to get her front and center. They kept insisting that Charlotte needed to be brought back.
Regina Flynn, English faculty member and former city councilor read Salem Mayor Kimberley Driscoll’s Proclamation that February 28, be named Charlotte Forten Day in Salem, Massachusetts.
Our moderator for the evening’s panel discussion was Elizabeth Dulcos-Orsello, a professor and chair of the department of interdisciplinary studies and coordinator of American studies at Salem State. She is currently leading a 2-year NPS/OAH-funded project (with Kabria Baumgartner) to trace African-American history in our region.
Callie Crossley, is a Boston-based radio and TV host, commentator, and public speaker. Her Monday morning commentaries on WGBH’s Morning Edition tackle wide-ranging subject matter. She appears on WGBH-TV’s Beat the Press, examining local and national media coverage, and hosts Basic Black, which focuses on current events concerning communities of color Ms. Crossley worked as a former producer for ABC News 20/20, she is a multiple award-winning journalist and documentary filmmaker. She is the first African-American to win an Oscar nomination in the Documentary Feature category.
Kabria Baumgartner is an assistant professor of American studies, a core faculty in the women’s studies program and faculty affiliate at the University of New Hampshire. Her areas of expertise include social movements, Civil Rights, slavery, African-American studies, feminism, and education. To date, much of her work adheres to one essential theme: the social and political realities that shaped African-American activism in the 19th and 20th centuries. Her book, A Right to Learn: African-American Women and the Fight for Equal School Rights in America, is forthcoming with New York University Press.
As moderator, Dulcos-Orsello introduced a serious of themes then directed one question to Baumgartner and another to Crossley. The idea behind this was to have a dialogue between the past and present and see the ways in which the stories of Charlotte Forten and her moment in time intersect and inform us in the present, but also move us to think about the ways, the themes, and challenges of how her life are playing out broadly in 2019, but also locally and specifically on our campus.
First, Dulcos-Orsello brought up the theme of courage and independence since Forten came to Salem by herself to finish her education, worked to support herself, and build black and white friendships in New England. But it also took a lot of courage to move to St. Helena Island and teach formerly slaved islanders in a different social, cultural, and physical environment from her life in the North, surrounded by Confederates behind enemy lines. This theme led to the question: “When you think about “famous” African-American women of the 19th century and the courage that they had, what is typically unique or unusual in this regard? What was typically hard about their lives and the choices and risks they took? And if you could think about what they drew upon for inspiration or support?”
Baumgartner expressed that during her research she uncovered, a lot of these 19th century African-American knew each other and were very well connected and able to support one another in their community. These women faced racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression. But they never really gave up on their fight for a better life. An individual like Charlotte uprooted her life to further her education and accomplish her dreams up North because schools in Salem were integrated. These young girls and women were also integrated by gender. One example would be African-American women’s involvement in learning societies: literacy societies, reading books, and joining book clubs in Salem and throughout the Northeast. These were seen as important intellectual spaces for these women and they were very active in anti-slavery societies where they could be themselves, receive support, and fight for the rights.”
Dulcos-Orsello’s follow-up question to Crossley touched upon the types of courage that mark the lives of African-Americans today and if anyone draws upon the legacies and histories of the past for inspiration. Crossley feels as if they relied upon the legacy of community and their belief within themselves that they would beyond themselves and do what they could for themselves and their community. For example, the three black women who founded Black Lives Matter. This is something constructive for this time period because they knew each other and they were individually working in ways to uplift their communities. However, since the deaths of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, the realization came to mind that black lives really do matter. The founders are three, queer African-American women and their movement is supported, known, and emulated around the world. Another example would be Tarana Burke who established the #MeToo movement alone, but in community with these girls who thought of themselves as being marginalized because they thought they were the only ones who have gone through it.
Crossley mentioned Rosa Parks and Jo Ann Robinson’s work through political activism and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. These contemporary women made their mark in history in the 1950’s by taking a courageous stand against segregation. This led to Callie’s final point that African-Americans seemed to believe in the idea of the individual, but also never forgetting where they came from and wanting to better the lives of not only themselves, but for their community as well.
Dulcos-Orsello brought up the issue of intersectionality and the particular ways in which being both black and female challenged and shaped the lives of women in the 19th century here in the North. Baumgartner stated that although intersectionality is a modern term, it is also applies to African-American women in the 19th century. During her research, she discovered that many of these women were talking about intersectionality. They don’t use that term, but they are definitely talking about opportunities not being met due to their race and gender or even economic status for some. Someone like Charlotte was more advantaged because she had more opportunities open to her. There is another African-American woman who I talk about in my book, Mary Elizabeth Miles (Bibb), married Henry Bibb, a fugitive slave. She came from an incredibly poor background, born in Rhode Island, and she decided that she wanted to be educated and wanted to attend school.
Many truly paved the way for Charlotte because Miles was the first African-American woman to enter and graduate from Framingham Normal School when it resided in Lexington, MA in the early 1840s. Baumgartner’s research led her to see one common theme with African-American women in the 19th century had one commonality: perseverance. Women continued to persevere despite failure after failure or overcome any disadvantages that stood in their way.
The moderator’s question to Callie Crossley pertained to how crucial the concept of intersectionality is in 2019 and the challenges that are faced by African-American women in which intersectionality either helps to reveal or explain. Callie explained that the concept is difficult for people to grasp. Crossley’s example of the first big Women’s March in November, which was huge, but also difficult in particular for white women to grasp. Since black women have accused white women of showing little concern for issues that have long affected women of color such as having to worry about the safety of their sons every time they leave the house. Crossley discussed the womanist versus feminist discussion. This led to her question: “Which ideology do particular women prefer?” The various answers lead to what Crossley calls “the ugly conversation. However, you don’t get to the good stuff until you’ve had the ugly conversation.”
The difference between civic and social equality was mentioned by Dulcos-Orsello due to the fact that Charlotte expressed this in her journal entries, explaining that in the North laws might have been on her side such as slavery being illegal, or segregation being banned in Massachusetts at a certain point, but no one could legislate against prejudice. There were too many classmates that were kind to her and cordial to her in class, but didn’t interact with her on the streets. She witnessed discrimination in Boston against her family friends, at the opera house, on the train, and other places. The commitment to abolishing slavery did not necessarily mean social acceptance.
The question to Kabria Baumgartner was, “How did this image of the North as being this safe haven come to be or persist over time in the 19th century when we know there were in fact some challenges?” Baumgartner made it clear that myths included symbolizing the North as a beacon of liberty. By the 19th century, the North was not a slave-holding region, however, the North did benefit from slavery and Northerners sold slaves, but it was not often seen, since the South was a slave-holding region. African-Americans in the 19th century up North dealt with various kinds of racial oppression such as public accommodation, segregated schools, and disenfranchisement. African-Americans in the North still had to be activists and organize public conventions, meetings, and anti-slavery societies. They did all that they could to force the North to be truly equal and welcoming, but that did not happen. The North benefited from excluding blacks.
Dulcos-Orsello brought up the topic of the legacies and false narratives of the North, but was also particularly interested in hearing either panelist’s thoughts on schools and universities participating in this pattern of being kind and cordial, but not fully inclusive histories that Charlotte Forten was experiencing. Crossley responded by mentioning that existence of slavery in the North, recalling a decade or so of a huge slavery exhibit in New York that left people stunned and in disbelief. As a Southerner herself, they always considered slavery a “Southern thing”. They believed in the myths of The Underground Railroad, “freedom”, and the North Star. She also expressed that the same structures of systemic racism still exist today and advised us to not forget that a majority of these schools were built by slave labor and were profited off it being built by slave labor. This calls into question the recognition of the developers and the names on these buildings.
One of the final themes discussed was that of institutionalized and structural racism particularly in education. During Baumgartner’s research, she uncovered Sarah Parker Remond’s dismissal from Salem’s School for Girls in 1834. The story of Salem as an integrated city with integrated schools conveniently ignores this story. The reason for Sarah’s dismissal was that Sarah’s academic excellence threatened her white classmates. This particular moment in Salem’s history proves that institutionalized power still worked and works to codify racism, to hide black accomplishments, and to impede black progress. However, in this particular incident, it was unable to hide black existence because the Remond sisters, family, and allies fought against the school segregation policy in 1844 (they succeeded).
Crossley shared her thoughts about the legal doctrine, Separate but Equal, however, separate was not equal since a higher power was blocking opportunities for black children. She also recalled being a member of a group that challenged the City of Memphis to integrate Central High School. Her father had dropped her off on her first day, but in that moment before entering the school, she did not recognize the level of trauma she was going to have or the fear her parents were experiencing for her. Her father advised her to shove anyone who touched her into a locker and to run away as fast as she could.
Lastly, the final topic covered was activism and using one’s voice to be heard whether it be in life or on campus. They encouraged everyone to not give up and their voices will be heard and not fall on deaf ears. A short Q & A period followed the panel discussion.
In honor of Forten’s legacy, Michaela Notice, a sophomore education major and member of UAT and The BEES sang a rousing rendition of “Isn’t She Lovely” by Stevie Wonder. Another student, Fanelson Monexant, a junior biology major and member of UAT and The Brotherhood performed an original spoken word piece inspired by Forten. Fanelson’s performance had the audience hanging on his every word, particularly with phrases such as: “We always learn about his story, and we always heed his dream. It is also equally important if not more that we see her story” or “Let us not forget the details of the strong black woman who blazed the trail”.
The student performances indicate how evident and relevant Charlotte Forten is for today’s young adults. She not only serves as a lasting inspiration to the Salem community, but as a beacon of hope when it comes to pursuing your dreams.
To end the evening program lineup, a musical tribute to celebrate Forten’s life was performed by fellow professor and pianist, Beverly Soll and violinist, Rachel Shiryayeva of Swampscott. They performed two musical selections from William Grant Still’s collection. Their decision in terms of selection of appropriate musical choices stemmed from their thoughts on what they thought that Charlotte would appreciate. Soll spoke highly of Still who was a brilliant pioneer in American music who was learning to find his way and place within a white world. Still wrote eight operas and is known as the “Dean of African-American Composers”. He has also received recognition from Shiryayeva’s alma mater, the Eastman School of Music. The pieces chosen from Still’s work were Suite No. 1 “African Dancer” and “Mother and Child”, both pieces premiered in Jordan Hall in 1944.
Closing remarks were delivered by Chief of Staff, Nate Bryant who wanted to acknowledge and give thanks to the Charlotte Forten Committee for organizing the program and for keeping the legacy of Charlotte Forten alive in our community. The committee included: Alyce Davis, Connie Arlander, Fillette Lovaincy, Gwendolyn Rosemond, Joseph Dipoli, Louise Swiniarski, Lucinda Damon-Bach, Rebecca Comage, Rebecca Flynn, Susan Edwards, and Mandy Ray.
The panelists (Callie Crossley, Elizabeth Duclos-Orsello, and Kabria Baumgartner) received parting gifts, which signified a token of appreciation from Salem State University. In addition, Crossley and Baumgartner received a customized T-shirt with the image of Charlotte Forten and a quote from her journal while she was a student at Salem Normal School. “I came not here for friendly sympathy or for anything else but to work, and to work hard. Let me do that faithfully and well.”