Donors Fund New Fellowships
The C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience
has launched a new program to support work in African-American
studies and related areas, and has named the two inaugural Frederick
Douglass Fellows—Paula Potter ’06 and Alyse Shelton
’06—each of whom will receive a grant of $1,000
to pursue their  projects
this semester.
The Frederick Douglass Fellowships were established through
a gift from Maurice Meslans and Margaret Holyfield of St. Louis,
in honor of C.V. Starr Scholar Adam Goodheart. They will fund
grants to students who are working on projects related to African-American
history, literature and culture—or, in the words of the
donors, other “minority American” fields (gay and
lesbian studies, Latino studies, etc.).
Potter, a junior American studies major pursuing her elementary
education certification, will use her fellowship to develop
a teaching unit for fifth graders that will educate them about
the Civil Rights Movement and segregation, using primary-source
materials such as photographs, music and speeches. Her faculty
mentor for the project is Peggy Donnelly, assistant professor
of education.
“I really love history and want to make it interesting
for students,” she says. She is completing her clinical
field work at Garnett Elementary School this semester.
Shelton, a junior sociology major, will study the impact—negative
as well as positive—on Chestertown’s African-American
community of the move to integrate public schools in 1968. She
will conduct interviews as well as documentary research. Her
faculty mentor is Steven Cades, professor of sociology.
“I became interested in this topic during the Brown vs.
Board of Education 50th anniversary celebration, when I volunteered
with Karen Somerville, the chair of the African-American Heritage
Council,” says Shelton. “We were interviewing old
teachers from that era, and I heard one woman say she didn’t
support that decision. That surprised me; it was the first time
I had heard an African-American person say that. But some believe
that with that decision came a moral breakdown within the African-American
community.”
In addition, the fellowships will fund short residencies at
the Starr Center by scholars and artists in the field who will
teach and lecture during their stay. The first of these “Senior
Fellows,” in residence March 12-19, was musician and teacher
Marlon Saunders. A Kent County native who now lives in New York
City, Saunders has toured internationally and recorded with
such artists as Sting, Bobby McFerrin and Dianne Reeves; his
solo debut album, Enter My Mind, was released in 2003 and rated
“exceptional” by Vibe magazine. His music blends
soul, gospel, and jazz traditions with the rhythms of hip-hop.
Saunders, who is also a professor of voice at Berklee College
of Music in Boston, is currently at work composing a three-part
suite that will evoke, through music and words, the African-American
heritage of Kent County.
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