Mafeesa Monroe ’99, who has opened for the singer Jewel and will be performing with Russell Simmons’ Def Poetry this week, returned to Wesleyan last Monday to lead the first event of Black History Month Convocation. A spoken word artist, her speech on multi-racial identity and race relations on campus received an enthusiastic response from those who attended the event.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” said Ryan Ewers ’06. “Her experience really moved me.”
The convocation, sponsored by black student union group Ujamaa, the Dean’s Office, and the Student Activities and Leadership Fund, included a poetry recitation by Monroe and speeches by current students about their personal experiences as students of color on campus.
The numerous students who spoke each stressed different aspects of what Black History Month means to them. Cosi Yankey ’04 discussed the difficulties of coming to the University as a transfer student from Ghana. Fabrice Coles ’05 said that audience members should remember their racial heritage. Portia Hemphill ’07 discussed her experiences as a black freshman and called for unity among people of color from different backgrounds.
The strong attendance was particularly striking in light of the sudden time change for the event. The alteration was made that day to avoid a scheduling conflict with a performance by the Ebony Singers. Despite the last minute change, every seat in the Woodhead Lounge was full by the end of the evening.
“I was so pleased with the turnout,” said Anna Steed ’05, an organizer of the event. “We had people standing in the doorway, sitting in the aisle.”
Planners of the event also expressed pleasure at the diversity of the audience, pointing out that Asian, Latino and white students, as well as administrators were present.
“It was good to see that celebrating Black History Month isn’t just a black student thing,” said Iris Jacob ’06, chair of Ujamaa.
Jacob, who had suggested inviting Monroe, had first met her in Oct. at a convention in California during which Monroe read a poem about her experiences at “Diversity University.”
Monroe had had an unusual experience at Wesleyan, entering as a freshman intending to major in math in 1990 before departing in 1992 only to return five years later wanting to write. She said it was too late to be an English major, so she became an African American Studies Major and a tutorial with Professor Rushin on African American woman playwrights was arranged.
Monroe said she came to her studies knowing that she was looking to discover “where she came from,” and got a lot of good answers. She reserved special praise for professors like Gayle Pemberton and Kate Rushin who allowed her to “look beyond the facts and figures.”
“When you look into the soul of these situations you begin to have insights,” she said. Monroe read several poems that discussed the development of her racial identity and her relationship with the black community on campus. One poem discussed how as the daughter of a black father and a white mother, she was not welcomed by black women at “Diversity University” and how she later “shunned diversity” by living in an all-black house.
Monroe alluded to the current controversy over excluding freshmen from Malcolm X House.
“I talked about how those struggles have been going on since I’ve been here . . . They’ve always wanted to take it away,” Monroe said in an interview after her performance. She suggested that the root of that attitude was the University’s history as an all-male, white institution.
“Change is possible, and it’s due,” she said. “I just want to encourage them to continue the fight because that’s what makes Wesleyan incredible.”
Jacob said that the convocation set a strong tone for the rest of Black History Month.
“All Black is Beautiful: a celebration of culture, heritage, diversity and unity” is the theme of this year’s Black History Month events. Events will be sponsored by a number of organizations including the Black Women’s Collective, the Center for African American Studies and the West Indian Students Association.