Showing 1 - 28 of 28 Items

Interview with Symone Howard (Class of 2015), Ashley Musana (Class of 2016), Briana Cardwell (Class of 2017), and Rebkah Tesfamariam (Class of 2018) by Nate DeMoranville

Date: 2019-11-10

Creator: Symone Howard, Ashley Musana, Briana Cardwell, Rebkah Tesfamariam

Access: Open access

Symone Howard ’15, Ashley Musana ’16, Briana Cardwell ’17, and Rebkah Tesfamariam ’18 were four consecutive presidents of the African American Society. They were the last to preside over the organization before the name changed to Black Student Union. They discuss the numerous challenges each encountered during their time here, which coincided with large scale instances of cultural appropriation, including Cracksgiving, the Gangster Party, and the Tequila Party. Musana, who was president for both parties, recounts the long hours spent working with students and administrators to sustain and support community. All four presidents recognize the tremendous burden placed on them as individuals, but all express gratitude for having created such a close knit community.

Interview with Randy Stakeman by Marcus Williams

Date: 2019-11-10

Creator: Randy Stakeman

Access: Open access

Randy Stakeman came to Bowdoin in 1978, not as a student, but as a member of the faculty. He discusses the history of the Africana Studies program, which he chaired from 1989 until his retirement in 2006. Stakeman also discusses his position as Acting Dean of Students, which he held for a brief period of time early in his career. He worked diligently to help bridge the achievement gap between black and white students. Stakeman partnered with faculty across the college to give special attention and support to underachieving students. He remembers fondly the role of the John B. Russwurm Center, where black students could congregate and find support. He says the house created a community, which he cherished.

Interview with Robert Johnson (Class of 1971) by Aisha Rickford

Date: 2019-11-10

Creator: Robert Johnson

Access: Open access

Robert Johnson, Class of 1971, talks about his first visit to Bowdoin in 1967 with a friend, and being involved with BUCRO, the Bowdoin Undergraduate Civil Rights Organization. There, he met Virgil Logan, president of BUCRO and an instrumental face on campus and in the Bowdoin African American Society. Johnson details how Afam came about after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr out of a desire to form community. Johnson then became the first President of the AfroAm at Bowdoin College. Johnson talks about how critical AfAm was for him and fellow black students isolated from their respective communities and drove black students to organize, and change racist systems. He shares stories of activism and resistance carried out on campus, specifically one where the black students on campus went silent and marched across campus to protest the lack of action on part of the Bowdoin administration as far as ensuring racial diversity in future classes. He also talks about racial incidents at Bowdoin and how Bowdoin shaped him in the years during and after graduation.

Interview with Daniel Levine by Marina Henke

Date: 2019-11-09

Creator: Daniel Levine

Access: Open access

Daniel Levine shares stories from his time working as the Thomas Brackett Reed Professor of History and Political Science between 1963 and 2006. As the first professor to teach a course directly addressing themes of black Americans, Levine charts his own path towards topics of racial injustice and the civil rights movement, beginning as a Jewish American growing up in New York City. He details Bayard Rustin’s visit to campus in 1964 and how the civil rights activist enthusiastically interacted with members of the black student body. Levine describes the environment of his classrooms, and how both he and students embarked on unchartered territory towards exploring elements of the academic cannon that the College had been reluctant to delve into. Levine shares stories of his other colleagues at the time, including Randy Stakeman, Professor of History and Africana Studies.

Interview with Awa Diaw (Class of 2011) by Aisha Rickford

Date: 2019-11-09

Creator: Awa Diaw

Access: Open access

Awa Diaw ‘11 talks about the experience of moving from the diverse community of Harlem, New York to snowy Brunswick, ME, and how it was one of her first times being around white students in an academic setting, which she calls a “cultural transition.” Diaw, reflects on learning to use Bowdoin’s resources and how to get support where she needed it, and recalls incidents of racial bias experienced by Bowdoin students during her time at the College. One of these culminated in a moment in Diaw’s junior year when, frustrated with the administration’s response to a particularly disturbing incident, Diaw and a committee of other students created a campaign called I Am Bowdoin, which elevated the voices of students who felt marginalized at Bowdoin.

Interview with DeRay Mckesson (Class of 2007) by Nate DeMoranville

Date: 2019-11-09

Creator: DeRay Mckesson

Access: Open access

DeRay Mckesson ’08 was a two-time president of Bowdoin Student Government, and instituted many of the programming and policies that are in place today. Mckesson shares how during his tenure he transferred several powers of the presidency onto the Executive Committee. He tasked this body with selecting members for BSG’s General Assembly but also with selecting students for institutional committees. Mckesson reaffirms his belief in the Bowdoin community, which he considers unique for its collection of highly capable individuals who believe in the bigness of the world. He discusses how he strove always to imagine new ways to serve the community and built meaningful relationships with faculty, staff, and students.

Interview with Alvin Hall (Class of 1974) by Marcus Williams

Date: 2019-11-10

Creator: Alvin Hall

Access: Open access

Alvin Hall ’74 begins with a brief anecdote on how he helped bring together Geoffrey Canada and Stanley Druckenmiller to collaborate on the Harlem’s Children Zone. Druckenmiller was a friend of Hall’s roommate at Bowdoin, and Canada a member of the Afro-American Society. A couple years after graduation, Hall ran into Canada on the streets of New York and shared that Druckenmiller had recently come into good fortune. The rest is history. Hall remembers fondly how close the Bowdoin community was when he was a student. He spent many nights in the John B. Russwurm Center, where black students could come together for community. Hall recounts his involvement with the Society during his four years as a student. He took part in several protests, including a silent strike, where black students advocated for more people of color in the faculty and student body.

Interview with Saira Toppin (Class of 2009) by Nate DeMoranville

Date: 2019-11-09

Creator: Saira Toppin

Access: Open access

Saira Toppin ’09 discusses her upbringing in Brooklyn, New York, and how that made for a challenging transition to Brunswick, Maine. She shares how a few juniors mentored her during her first year, which helped Toppin adjust to Bowdoin. She credits this mentorship with encouraging her to carve out space for herself on campus as an Afro-Latina and also to look out for others once she became an upperclassman. She shares stories from her time on the boards of both the African American Society and the Latin American Students Organization (LASO). As co-president of LASO during her junior and senior year, Toppin helped the organization have an impact on campus by organizing Latin American Heritage Month event Fall. She made sure to mentor underclassman so that they could run the club in her absence and considers LASO to be her legacy.

Interview with Adriennie Hatten (Class of 1990) and Shelby Cogdell Knox (Class of 1991) by Marina Henke

Date: 2019-11-10

Creator: Adriennie Hatten, Shelby Cogdell Knox

Access: Open access

Adriennie Hatten ('90) and Shelby Cogdell Knox ('91) both share their path to Bowdoin from East Cleveland. They describe the racism that they experienced on campus, especially in their first years at Bowdoin, and how they struggled to develop a sense of place in what was a campus with so few black students. Both Hatten and Knox were highly involved with the African American Society (AfAm) during their time at the College, and the two women share how central Russwurm was to their Bowdoin experience. They reminisce on various speakers that they brought to campus, including Toni Morrison. Finally, Hatten and Knox reflect on AF/AM/50, and share concerns about both the current state of Russwurm and the recent name change from the African-American Society to the Black Student Union. Finally both women criticize the ways that black alumni are treated by the College, and how they see that embodied in the offerings and verbage of their recent weekend on campus.

Interview with Marnita Eaddie (Class of 1990) by Marina Henke

Date: 2019-11-09

Creator: Marnita Eaddie

Access: Open access

Marnita Eaddie ('90) reminisces about her time at Bowdoin, particularly the transition of moving from her predominantly black hometown of East Cleveland to Brunswick, Maine. She shares how variations in wealth between students showed during her time at Bowdoin, but also how students from a variety of backgrounds managed to come together. She recounts confronting racism on the predominantly white campus, and how she navigated being one of less than fifteen black students in her incoming class. She additionally describes her own commitment to academics during her four years at the College, and how she managed to balance a superb academic record along with holding various part-time jobs during all of her semesters. Eaddie brings up the impact of various tragedies on campus, including the death of student Pamela Herbert (‘90) in the Pan Am Flight 103 terrorist attack. Finally, she explores how her later work in the military contrasted and aligned with her Bowdoin experience.

Interview with Justin Weathers (Class of 2018) by Aisha Rickford

This record is embargoed.

Date: 2019-11-09

Creator: Justin Weathers

Access: Permanent restriction

Interview with Joseph Adu (Class of 2007), Shawn Stewart (Class of 2008), and Michel Bamani (Class of 2008) by Marcus Williams

Date: 2019-11-09

Creator: Joseph Adu, Shawn Stewart, Michel Bamani

Access: Open access

Shawn Stewart '08, Michel Bamani '08, and Joseph Adu '07 reflect on their different paths that led them to Bowdoin: Stewart, who grew up in Harlem, working at and being a student of the Harlem Children's Zone, Bamani, a child of Congolese immigrants, and Adu, a child of Ghanaian immigrants. They talk about the challenge of transitioning to Bowdoin academically and socially, getting used to the high academic demands and also learning how to utilize resources. Adu tells a funny story of applying to college during his junior year of high school because he did not realize you had to wait until your senior year in America! Additionally, the three ask each other questions about their own experiences, highlighting the importance of understanding how to prioritize what's most important to them and reflecting on how Bowdoin aided them in that endeavor. They also talk about the expereinces of men of color at PWIs and how to better retain students of color.

Interview with Judy (Mike) Reinhold-Tucker (Class of 1975) by Aisha Rickford

Date: 2019-11-09

Creator: Judy (Mike) Reinhold-Tucker

Access: Open access

Judy Mike Reinhold Tucker reflects on her one year at Bowdoin, during which she was a member of the first class of women at Bowdoin. She also talks about the transition, both in weather and academics, as she moved from Trinidad to the United States when she finished high school in 1969 in Washington D.C. and then came to Bowdoin on a full scholarship in 1970. Despite only attending Bowdoin for one year, Tucker talks about how Bowdoin shaped her path to be pre med, her passion for education, and the AfAm community at Bowdoin that made her feel at home for the short time that she was here.

Interview with Terranicia Holmes (Class of 2013) by Aisha Rickford

Date: 2019-11-10

Creator: Terranicia Holmes

Access: Open access

Terranicia Holmes ‘13 talks about moving to New England from Atlanta, Georgia, and navigating the subtle cultural shock of living among tremendous wealth at Bowdoin, and recognizing the covert way that racism behaves in the Northeast in comparison to the South. She shares stories about encouraging and participating in conversations about race on campus, and how time change her perspective on how difficult and meaningful her experiences were. She details some of her most important relationships, like with Professor Tess Chakkalakal, and the importance of leaning into those who championed her and who thought highly of her. She also talks about Shelley Roseboro, who introduced her to loving kindness and helped her to process and grow emotionally during her time at Bowdoin. Finally, Homes reflects on how Bowdoin shaped her into who she is today, helped her develop direction, and how even now when she arrives in Maine, she feels like she is home.

Interview with Richard Adams (Class of 1973) by Aisha Rickford

Date: 2019-11-10

Creator: Richard Adams

Access: Open access

Richard Adams ‘73 talks about lobbying during his senior year of high school in Pittsburgh to make Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday a national holiday, shortly after Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in 1968. He chose Bowdoin for its liberal proclivities, believing it would be place for him, an avid activist by the time he graduated high school. Adams’s activism followed him to Bowdoin, where he was active in the African-American Society, finding a home in the black community at Bowdoin and in Maine at large, and how his passion for activism defined his time at Bowdoin and beyond.

Interview with Janelle Charles (Class of 2006) and Dudney Sylla (Class of 2008) by Aisha Rickford

Date: 2019-11-10

Creator: Janelle Charles, Dudney Sylla

Access: Open access

Janelle Charles ‘06 and Dudney Sylla ‘08 talk about their differing paths to Bowdoin. Sylla grew up in Boston, attending a Jesuit high school, and being a recipient of the Posse Scholarship. Charles talks about growing up in San Francisco, California and finding out about Bowdoin through fly-in programs. Both talk about the difficulty of transitioning to Bowdoin’s academic rigor, particularly as first-generation college students, and the freedom and independence that came with having an open college schedule. They also detail what it was like to leave their home communities and craft new communities at Bowdoin. Charles and Sylla both talk about the resources at Bowdoin and the leaders and professors that encouraged them and helped them feel seen at Bowdoin, particularly Shelley Roseboro, and reflect on their favorite memories and their own enduring friendship.

Interview with Osakhare Fasehun (Class of 2018) by Marcus Williams

Date: 2019-11-09

Creator: Osakhare Fasehun

Access: Open access

Osakhare Fasehun '18 recounts his first introduction to Bowdoin through the ‘Bowdoin Experience’ weekend, and the ways that this both excited him, but ultimately led to disappointment in realizing the lacking diversity on campus. Fasehun goes on to share how his passion for academics landed him at Bowdoin, and how ultimately he was able to fully nurture his intellectual engagement during his four years. Beyond academics, he shares how the Gangster Party influenced his time at Bowdoin, and how this act of virtual blackface pushed him to interact more heavily with AfAm. He described the difficulties he found in navigating campus as one of very few men of color in his class. Finally, Fasehun shares the biggest lessons he learned from Bowdoin, largely being the necessity to advocate for oneself amidst a system that may not always advocate for you.

Interview with Carroy Ferguson (Class of 1968) by Marcus Williams

Date: 2019-11-09

Creator: Carroy Ferguson

Access: Open access

Carroy Cuf Ferguson ‘68 talks about being offered a free ride to Bowdoin and deciding between Bowdoin and Morehouse College. He shares stories about growing up in the segregated South and having near zero contact with whites, having to be bussed across town to attend high school despite living a block away from an all-white high school. He talks about being the first student of color to be admitted into the fraternity Sigma Nu, which had a discriminatory clause in it forbidding students of color from joining, and what it was like to fight that clause with his fraternity brothers. Ferguson shares stories about how it felt to have the “weight of [his] race on his shoulders), navigating Bowdoin in the mid- to late- sixties, and the pressures that came with that.

Interview with David Dickson (Class of 1976) by Aisha Rickford

Date: 2019-11-09

Creator: David Dickson

Access: Open access

David Dickson '76 shares some remarks on his father, David W. D. Dickson, who graduated from Bowdoin in 1941, and his uncle who graduated in 1935. He talks about how the Bowdoin of their era had segregated fraternities that did not allow black students or Jewish students, and details his father’s experience with the emotional tax that such a reality posed. Dickson also talks about the importance of having the safe space of the African-American society that behaved as an “island on a lily-white campus.” He also talks about the former student organization, All Races United (ARU) and how students of marginalized backgrounds as well as “independent mainstream” students could come together in activism. Finally, Dickson shares how his experiences at Bowdoin affected the development of his racial identity.

Interview with Sandra Martinez (Class of 2013) by Marina Henke

Date: 2019-11-10

Creator: Sandra Martinez

Access: Open access

Sandra Martinez ('13) recounts life at Bowdoin as a Latina woman. She describes Bowdoin as a space where she came more into her cultural identity, while also being where she felt the limitations and challenges of being a minority on campus. Additionally, Martinez discusses the simultaneous division and alliance between the African American Society and the Latin American Student Organization, and the various means students went to in bridging or instating this distance. As a math major, Martinez confronted the realities of a faculty lacking in diversity, and explored how this impacted her academic career and confidence in the classroom. Finally she speaks to the way that she learned to command her opinions, against at times people’s wishes, and gives advice to future Bowdoin women of color for how they can make space for themselves.

Interview with Sajjad Jaffer (Class of 1995) by Marina Henke

Date: 2019-11-09

Creator: Sajjad Jaffer

Access: Open access

Sajjad Jaffer ('95) shares remarks on his experience as an international student from Tanzania. He explores his own journey towards finding a sense of belonging in Brunswick, Maine, worlds away from his life in eastern Africa. Jaffer speaks of the vast privilege that Bowdoin offered compared to his life at home, while also commenting on the difficulties of being a Muslim student and minority student on campus at the time. Jaffer shares the way that he continues to support Bowdoin students coming from African countries. “This is dedicated to the first American-born in my family- my daughter, Sophie Malaika Jaffer. Sophie recently started middle school as a 6th grader at Castilleja School in Palo Alto, CA. Castilleja has a tradition of picking a word as a theme for the academic year. For 2019-20, the theme is “Belonging”. Acknowledgments I want to thank J. Taylor Crandall ’76 for sharing 3 valuable lessons over the years: 1. It is the student who makes the school, not just the school that makes the student 2. Where there’s a will, there’s a way 3. Carpe diem – seize the day This reflection was influenced and reinforced by 5 notable Polar Bears: 1. Staci Williams ’90 for being my Bowdoin Big Sister 2. Geoffrey Canada ’74 who changed the world 3. Hari Kondabolu ’04 for challenging Hank Azaria, creator of The Simpsons 4. Kenneth Chenault ’73 who reminded us that business is the last frontier in the civil rights movement 5. Alvin Hall ’74 my Bowdoin Soul Brother About Sajjad graduated from Bowdoin in 1995 with a double major in Computer Science, Government and minor in Economics. Sajjad lives in Silicon Valley and co-founded a technology company that applies data science to private equity investing. The firm was founded on 25 years of research from Wharton where he did his MBA and serves on the board of the Wharton Customer Analytics research center."

Interview with Paul Wiley (Class of 1971) by Aisha Rickford

Date: 2019-11-09

Creator: Paul Wiley

Access: Open access

Paul Wiley ‘71 talks about the “turnkey” moment that led him to know Bowdoin was where he wanted to go to college: when visiting Bowdoin as a prospective student, an incredible snowstorm hit Maine and he and his father arrived very late in the night Wiley talks about how surprised he was that Harry Warren, the Secretary of the College, was still awake waiting for them and made sure that they had everything they needed. Building upon this, Wiley shares some of the most important and impactful relationships he made at Bowdoin, particularly his football coach, who acted as a father figure, a gentle and forceful leader, and a great motivator. Wiley also talks about his special relationship with one of the Presidents of the College, Roger Howell, attending Bowdoin College with former College president Barry Mills ‘72, and being the first House Manager of AfAm.

Interview with Justin Foster (Class of 2011) by Marina Henke

Date: 2019-11-10

Creator: Justin Foster

Access: Open access

Justin Foster ('11) speaks of his time at Bowdoin primarily embodied through his experience with acapella. He describes how his passion for music carried him through Bowdoin. and also gave him room to try to bridge gaps and have conversations with students who were different from him. Foster also describes his relationship with AfAm, and outlines his personal choice to maintain deep connections outside of singularly all black spaces on campus. He expresses the conflictions that came from this decision, and the conversations that it then struck up with other students of color. Specifically, Foster describres certain highlights of his time in the Longfellows, including various performances across the country.

Interview with George Khaldun (Class of 1973) by Marcus Williams

Date: 2019-11-09

Creator: George Khaldun

Access: Open access

George Khaldun ’73 came to Bowdoin from New York at the suggestion of a mentor, the director of a library where Kahldun had worked part-time in high school. He shares that he was at first apprehensive of moving to Maine but decided to apply since it would provide a change of pace from the inner city. He discusses his political affiliation as a Black Panther and the comradery he felt in finding others at Bowdoin who shared his revolutionary beliefs. Kahldun found these men in the Afro-American Society, where he could connect with black people from across the country. He says this community helped hone his political beliefs but also adjust to the rigors of Bowdoin academics. Kahldun admits to struggling during his first year, after finding support in the Society, he was able to succeed in school.

Interview with Mark Richter (Class of 2014) by Marina Henke

Date: 2019-11-10

Creator: Mark Richter

Access: Open access

Mark Richter ('14) shares his experience as an Africana Studies student who grew up in Brunswick, Maine. He tells of his path to the Africana Studies department, as largely influenced by his classes with Professor Brian Purnell, including his course on the popular television show, 'The Wire.’ Richter describes how his academic work at Bowdoin provided him with a certain language to explore and discuss topics that he had not had the verbage for before. He recounts certain classes in the department which allowed for conversations surrounding race and identity that may not have happened normally on campus. Finally, Richter offers insight into how his major at Bowdoin has prepared him for work at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and given him tools as a white male to understand privilege and inequity.

Interview with Noma Petroff by Marina Henke

Date: 2019-11-09

Creator: Noma Petroff

Access: Open access

Noma Petroff shares her time working at Bowdoin, as secretary of the Senior Center (1975-1979), secretary of Afro-American Studies (1979-1985), secretary Women’s Studies (1990), and academic coordinator of Theater and Dance (1991-2016). She discusses her path to Bowdoin, and specifically her path to working in Russworm, coming from working at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and even leaving Bowdoin for several years to work on a Pennsylvanian farm. She recounts how she tried to serve as an ally to students of color on campus. Petroff describes the dynamic environment of Russworm during the early eighties, including the work she put into starting the center’s library. She shares stories from various work-study students who worked with her, including two students who fell in love after separately working under her. Petroff describes the transformations to the African American Studies department over her many years at the college, including highlights of working under both Randy Stakeman and Lynn Bolles.

Interview with Steve London (Class of 1964) by Marcus Williams

Date: 2019-11-09

Creator: Steve London

Access: Open access

Steve London '64 describes his family's long connection to Bowdoin, spanning three generations. He shares his father's experience at the College as a Jewish student in the 1930s who found most allegiance with the several black students on campus at the time. Speaking of his own time as a student, London describes how the civil rights movement greatly influenced his experience as an undergraduate. His time at Bowdoin and engagement with racial activism led him to later work with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference for two years shortly after graduating from Bowdoin. London outlines the ways that activism and understanding the role of identity and inequity were a central part to his time at the College, and his path afterwards.

Interview with Daniel Lind (Class of 1991) with Marina Henke

Date: 2019-11-09

Creator: Daniel Lind

Access: Open access

Daniel Lind ('91) describes his path to Bowdoin from New York City. Lind recounts his adjustment to academics during his first years at the College, and how help from his dean gave him the confidence as a scholar to navigate coursework and his sense of place in the classroom. Speaking directly to his time at Bowdoin, Lind emphasizes the importance of having the African American Studies department so linked with the African-American Society, and how this bridging between academics and communal life was crucial for developing a sense of place on campus. Lind expresses concern about what he sees as the current divide between black student life and the Africana Studies department. Finally, he describes his own path to academia, and how his current position as professor of Ethnic Studies at Cypress College is still influenced by his experience at Bowdoin, particularly his admiration for professors like Dan Levine.