Learning, Unlearning, and Re-Learning at almost 52!

Learning, Unlearning, and 

Re-Learning at almost 52!

“Advocating for new systems often requires demolishing the old way of doing things, and we hold back for fear of rocking the boat”

Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World, Adam Grant 

Anyone who knows me, realizes that I’m not afraid to rock the boat. As promised I am trying to keep you up to date on what I am learning at school. For the most part, I am doing an incredible amount of reading and writing. The truth is I need to do a whole lot more reading and writing. Today, I am trying to catch up on notes, articles and sleuth through chapters of several books. I also need to clean my room and figure out what to cook for Easter (which may or may not happen i.e. the cooking), plus do some bookkeeping for church. Below is a quick list of reading suggestions; ALL are items that are touching me deeply from my coursework. As a side note on books, please note the first Ubound Book Festival will be hosted on April 23 at Stephens College. Please REGISTER to attend.

New things I learned which took me by surprise

• The History of Human Zoos
• When Real People Were Exhibits
• History of the Cake Walk

I discovered one of my ancestors was an entertainer in the late late 1800s, early 1900s--her husband appeared on stage in Black-face and they performed this dance.

Booker T. Washington’s venture into Togo, Africa with a cotton plantation. This history about was among the most difficult papers I read this semester; along the treatment of Colonized Africans and of mixed-race Afro-Germans. Of course, I learned a good deal more about the Nazi’s

• BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE, AND THE GERMAN EMPIRE: RACE AND COTTON IN THE BLACK ATLANTIC.
• A German Alabama in Germany and an excerpt from Andrew Zimmerman’s book about Booker T. and his cotton plantation venture in Togo, Africa.

Here's a quick new books I bought this month including:

• Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant (awesome)
• All Bound Up Together: The Woman Question in African American Public Culture 1830-1900 by Martha S. Jones. [Digital version is available via MU libraries]

I also have a great pile of books I requested via interlibrary loan for my History of Blacks in Germany class. Some of the items below have very interesting papers hyperlinked.

• Strange Fruit: Why Both Sides are Wrong in the Race Debate: Kenan Malik
• A Breath of Freedom: The Civil Rights Struggle, African American GIs and Germany, by Maria Hohn and Martin Klimke
• Black Germany: THe Making and UnMaking of a Diaspora Community: 1884-1960 by Robbie Aitken and Eve Rosenhaft
• Germany and The Diaspora: Points of Contact, 1250-1914 by Mischa Honeck, Martin Klimke, and Anne Kuhlmann
• Destined to Witness: Growing Up in Black Nazi Germany, by Hans J. Massaquoi
• Mary Church Terrell: “The Picture of Health”: The Public Life and Private Ailments of Mary Church Terrell
• American to the backbone : the life of James W.C. Pennington, the fugitive slave who became one of the first black abolitionists / Christopher L. Webber (Excellent summary)

I was introduced to Marcus J. Borg at Sunday school a couple of months ago (Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time) and have been very engaged in reading more about Spiritualist and Feminist Theory.

• Taking the Bible Seriously But Not Literally
• The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions

Borg’s book (Meeting Jesus Again...has fabulous end notes which lead me borrow from my pastor: In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza and Dirt, Greed and Sex: Sexual Ethics in the New Testament and their Implications for Today by William L. Countryman.

Last Sunday 3.2.16 Bryan Stevenson was a MU guest at Jesse Hall and spoke of injustice in the criminal justice system (he is a death row attorney). His book Just Mercy is profound (please watch his TedTalk) -- and another book I really want to delve into is: Lloyd Gains and the Fight to End Segregation by James W. Endersby and William T. Horner.

This morning I am watching an interview via C-SPAN online: Secrets of the Underground Railroad Don Papson talked about his book, Secret Lives of the Underground Railroad in New York City: Sydney Howard Gay, Louis Napoleon and the Record of Fugitives. Mr. Papson spoke about the “Record of Fugitives,” a previously unpublished text from the 1850s kept by abolitionist Sydney Howard Gay, in which he reveals his close collaboration with Louis Napoleon, a free black who helped many runaway slaves escape to freedom. Mr. Papson co-wrote the book with Tom Calarco -- of which I also have a signed copy:-).

Mr. Papson's wife has roots in Columbia, they will be in town this weekend. I did some cool genealogical research on their family over winter break on Alexander Campbell and Alexander Hicks. Check out Mr. Papson's CSPAN interview. I am excited to be a guest at my neighbor's DAR book club Christina Maring they will be discussing Woody Holton's book Abigail Adams.

Traci Wilson-Kleekamp

Practice Makes Perfect, but it doesn’t make new….Although America is a land of individuality and unique self-expression in search of excellence and in fear of failure...most of us opt to fit in rather than stand out.Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World, Adam Grant