July 21, 2021
Two Books by BSU Faculty Published in July
Authors Explore Black Experience Past and Present
MEDIA CONTACT: Cassandra Robinson, crobinson@bowiestate.edu, 301-860-4336
(BOWIE, Md.) – Two Bowie State University faculty members authored new books published in July, providing fresh perspectives on the Black experience, from enslaved women’s quest for freedom during the Revolutionary War, to the struggle to survive the disparate challenges of virtual learning environments during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The book Running from Bondage by Dr. Karen Cook Bell, associate professor for the Department of History and Government, explores the history of enslaved women—a story that hasn’t always been widely shared historically.
Dr. Kimetta Hairston, associate professor, Department of Teaching, Learning & Professional Development, delves into the virtual learning experience in higher education in her book titled The Black Experience and Navigating Higher Education Through a Virtual World.
BSYou sat down with both Dr. Cook Bell and Dr. Hairston respectively to talk about their latest works, and here’s what they had to say.
BSYou: Can you set the stage for the reader and provide some background for Running from Bondage?
Dr. Karen Cook Bell: Running from Bondage tells the story of enslaved women who escaped, or who attempted to escape bondage, during the era of the American Revolutionary War. While over the past few decades, Black participation in the American Revolution has become an integral part of the story of American freedom, the experiences of Black women who fled slavery during the Revolutionary War has largely not been examined. My book points out that despite their positions as mothers and wives, Black women by the thousands ran away during the Revolutionary War. Trial records of fugitive slaves and runaway slave newspaper advertisements were used to reconstruct the life story of these enslaved women and the circumstances that led to their escape. I wanted to tell their stories.
BSYou: What is the relevance of the content to today’s society?
KCB: The stories that I tell in my book are an important part of Black women's political history. It adds to the discourse of how Black women, organized in their communities, protested slavery and segregation, built institutions that benefited the Black community and fought for equal access to vote on the ballot. Black women have been in the forefront of movements to address social oppression and injustice in this country. This is a fight that began during the Revolutionary War and continues today.
BSYou: How do you think women have evolved in their roles since the 18th century?
KCB: Historically, Black women have been the foundation of the Black community in terms of serving as leaders within the family, educating Black children, organizing within the Black community and creating organizations that benefit the Black community. I see the role of Black women, in terms of its evolution from the 1700s to today, to be a part of a history of being leaders, nurturers, caretakers and caregivers.
Still today, Black women are the backbone of their families. The role of Black women has been one of change and consistency.
BSYou: How does the book content align with academic programs at Bowie State University, its history and the history of HBCUs?
KCB: Bowie State University is the oldest HBCU in the state of Maryland. It was founded at a time when African Americans were just free from slavery. My book adds to the university's focus on educating African Americans and thinking to expand the intellectual development of students. It also provides critical discourse in the ways in which students think about their history and their place in the larger society. My book adds to the university's mission of making and preparing students for the 21st century, because you can't know where you're going unless you know where you've been.
It's important to create a narrative that underscores the fact that Black people were not happy with slavery. There's this movement underway with regard to critical race theory to prevent the teaching of Black history—the real history of Black people in this country. We must be very careful about this movement seeking to whitewash history by taking slavery out of the narrative of this country.
BSYou: What would you like the reader to take away from the stories in your book?
KCB: I would like the reader to acknowledge the perseverance, resilience, and the hope that Black women displayed in seeking to gain their freedom and to live as free Black women, despite the constant threat of being returned to bondage.
BSYou: What’s next for you with your writing projects?
KCB: Currently, I’m editing a book having to do with Black women’s struggle for freedom during the Civil War and Reconstruction Era. It looks at the ways in which Black women were seeking to navigate one of the most tumultuous periods in American history.
BSYou also talked with Dr. Kimetta Hairston about her research into the recent history of learning in a virtual environment during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges faced by students and faculty.
BSYou: What was your inspiration behind writing The Black Experience and Navigating Higher Education Through a Virtual World?
Dr. Kimetta Hairston: During the COVID outbreak in 2020 when universities shut down, everybody had to go remote and many people were having issues. They were not only dealing with the digital divide, but the mental health issues of Zoom as well. Colleagues were talking it through, and we decided that we needed to write a book. It became therapeutic for all of us. That was the inspiration—just being able to have a conversation with a variety of all Black authors, because it was the Black experience we wanted to get across. We wanted to have that conversation in a book that you can pick up and use in so many different ways.
BSYou: Does the book lend more toward what the virtual experience has been or a "how to" of sorts?
KH: It’s more about the virtual experience itself. My chapter deals with a focus group with all participants who have attended HBCUs sharing the whole HBCU experience, and what they went through during 2020 and COVID. They are all educators who talk about the difficulty of their transition going from fully face-to-face to remote and witnessing the anxiety of their students. Also, it focuses on the marginalization and the differentiation among their students. For example, some students didn't have computers.
The book is divided into four sections. Section one is about higher education and public school education. The next section is about the digital divide and marginalization. There’s a section on social justice, and the final chapter deals with coming out of COVID and how to deal with the mental health aspect after COVID.
BSYou: How has virtual learning impacted the higher education space?
KH: I think that the impact of the virtual world was varied. Some people who were already teaching online fell right into it, but the struggle for the faculty who had never taught online was unbelievable. They were missing that hands-on experience. You can do a lot virtually if you're creative, but if you're not and if you're not used to teaching online, it's rough.
There’s been Zoom anxiety, but many also had the issue of getting students to really be engaged. Students not being on camera and multitasking is a factor. Also, there is the stress of being at home in a household where there may be four people working with one computer.
BSYou: What will this new normal look like in higher education going forward?
KH: We definitely can't go back to where we were. Even though everybody wants to get back and see each other face-to-face, we need to keep the online options embedded. We don't want to go 100 percent back to where we were. We need to keep a balance, which I think is very important.
BSYou: What adjustments will the campus community need to make to adapt to this new normal?
KH: Number one, being flexible. If students do not want to come to campus, It's OK to have students in person and online. The reality is, if they can attend online from somewhere else, they should be given the choice. That's going to be a huge challenge for some people.
Number two would be a decrease of in-person attendance at events. Conferences have been booming online in upwards of thousands of people. The shift is going to be, not having to be at a meeting or at a conference in person every single time.
BSYou: Is there anything else you'd like to add?
KH: I want people to know that the book is the voice of the Black experience, capturing commonalities in all of the chapters. The students, the faculty, the staff, and anybody that we interacted with during this entire process all reflected the resilience to keep coming back despite the disparities that face Black people.
To learn more about each book, visit the following locations to pick up a copy:
Running from Bondage by Dr. Karen Cook Bell, is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Cambridge University Press, and available in all independent stores across the U.S.
The Black Experience and Navigating Higher Education Through a Virtual World, by Dr. Kimetta Hairston, Dr. Wendy Edmunds and Dr. Shanetia Clark, can be purchased exclusively at IGI Global. The e-book is currently available. The hardcopy and the soft copy will be available for order.
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