"Mizzou's first black professor wins University's Thomas Jefferson Award."--Table of contents for issue

Again, Carol

English

University of Missouri: MOspace

16~ ARVARH STRICKLAND BRINGS JEFFERSONIAN PRINCIPLES TO THE CLASSROOM By CAROL AGAIN "Enlighten 1 the people generally, and tyranny and oppression of the body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day." THOMAS JEFfEJt~ON MORE THAN 150 YEARS after Thomas ,h·ffrrso n erusal!"d for ]lllblil' education, Arvarh E. Strick lallli began his high -school studi(','i in the heart of Dixie. " I could not prai se the eity fathers and ('il.i~.ens (If lIaUicsiJurg, Miss., for providing a first.·(·lass sc hool ," he says of t he building set. aside for hlack students rimin g t1H~ I [J40s, "They did not intend thaC" Nonetheless, Strick land says he had every advant.age. "We had dedieal.ed and committed teachers who took us and, you might say, demanded that we succeed aecording to t.heir formula for success: to do t.he best we cou ld with what we had. 'l'lwy were always after us t.o do heuer." Today, nearly 40 years lat.er, it.'s obvious Iw learn ed th ese lessons well Thi s spring, St.rickland, a professor uf hi story, received a $1,000 Thomas Jefferson Award, given annually to Uni versity faculty members who best ex-emplify Jeffersonian principles allil ideals "through personal innuence and performance of duty in t.eaching, writing and scho larship, character and innu-encc, devotion and loyalty to the University." Dr. Patricia A. Mc il rath, curator's professor of theater at UMKC, also received a 1985 Jefferson award. Jefferson's original headstone, which he designed, stands on Francis Quadrangle. The marker was given to Missouri because it is the first state university in the Lo uisiana Purchase, which Jefferson negotiated during his presidency. The ep itaph ,Iefferson wrote neglects his two presidential terms, but includes hi s founding of tile first state university in Virginia. " I think there is some relati on to what I would consider to be Jeffersonian principles and my career," Strickland says. " In teaching, 1 like to bring studen ts to see the great people in hi sto ry, not as plaster saints, but as human beings who were able to rise above the common run. "I relate to Jefferson in that cate gory. Even though he was a slave holder, he also saw the dangers in that, and it worri ed him. He was looking for ways to get from the society that was, to the society that ought to be_ When I have played a part in moving any portion of society, I can relate to anyone who thinks in that way as an American." St.rickland arrived on Canll)US in 19G9 t.o become, unwittingly, UMC's first hlad faeulty memher. "I had never thought of the fact that there weren't any other hlack faculty here. It had not dawned nn me that I would he in any way pioneering. " The first black stu-dent.s had arrived more than a decade earli er, most to pu rsue graduat.e or professional degrees. In the role thrust upon him, Strick land became a cata lyst for a ll students, says Dr. N. Gerald Barrier, professor and chairman of the history department. ';lI e professionally has been a role model for minority students, and spends much of his timl' int.enl(;ting wit. h them, giving them hel p and encouragement. "lie's chal lenged non-rninoritystu-dents ili lellectually, and hesides rai sing the normal issues, has fo rced them to look at tilCir values and to look at aspects of the black ex perience a" an American experience they may not have encountered," Barrier says. "I've spoken to several non-minority students who said he opened up new vistas." Strickland began leaching UM C's first Afro-American hist.orycourse at the high point of the civi l rights movement. Ninety percent of his students we re white, a reneetion of low black enroll -ment. "Some were quite di sappointed when lhe course was red uced downjusL to plain, old, dull history. It was the only way to keep it from becoming Rap I and Rap II." Still, he says, "It was an exciting time. Students had <Iuestions and very strong opinions." In the Jeffersonian "In telWhing, I like students to see people in history as human beings, not plaster saints." tradition, Strick tand was, and remains, tolerant. "As a Leacher, I have to be able not only to respect but to deal with and work wilh people of many shades of belief and opinion, peop le who think ciiametricallyopposed to what I thi nk. I ~17 try to get students to examine critically the way they think, not get them to think the same way I think." However, he does not tolerate an idl e mind . "It's mu ch more comfortahle not to think. Students will resist with "I have to be able to resped and work with people of many shades of belief and opinion." all thei r being. So I try to work at it. Any person who counts himselfan educated person mu st be able to think critically." In addition to und ergraduate and graduate classes in Afro-American his-tory, Strick land usually teaches an American history survey course to in· coming freshmen. " It's interesting to see students when they tirst get to Campus, before th ey become so sophis· ticated and collegiate," says Strickland , who was the first history department chairman elected by co ll eagues, serving from 1980 to 1983. " I like helping th em in the fi rst few months on Cam pus." As an undergraduate at Tougaloo College in Mississippi in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Strickland remembers, "I was expec ted to succeed from the day I wa lked on campus. Everything th e re seemed prog ramm ed on the assumpti on that I would succeed. " Strickland graduated summa cum laude with a bache lor's degree in history and Engli s h and we nt on to co mpl ete master's and doctoral degrees at the University of Illinois. " I often get the idea, parti cularly with minority students, that at UMC sometimes we give them the fee ling that we ex pect them to fail. Many who could succeed don 't because, as human nature, we live up to the expectation people have of us, especially those in auth ority. "Many of us have been trying to change that kind of image and feeling. I think in many ways in some areas we have been s uccessful. In a large place it takes longer. Th en there's the hi story (of segregation), too." 18~ Memori es of that era boiled two years ago when arts ami sci ence facu lty considered a Ilroposal to increase the standardized·test score re(luired for ad-mission to Mizzou. Supporters quot.ed stati stics relating test scores to aca-demic success; opponents showed that the proposed score would have excluded 40.3 percent of black freshm en admitted in fall of 1981. Faculty sq uelched the proposal after hearing an impassioned speec h by Strickland: "We ca n do more with our pseudo· intellectual data here at the University than a hundred Klan members wearin g hedsheet.s and th rowing stones, beca use the only hope for striving for· ward is to come here and get an education." In retrospect, he says, " I don' t think an activist needs to be out ye lling. I would rather have had a group of intell igent acad emicians see this as di scriminatory, rather than one of us having to get up and rant and rave and call them racist to make them wak e up. I would prefer rational methods." For minoriti es, Strickland says, standardized tests are no more than barriers. "You cannot tak e one of these tests and accurate ly gauge the potential of the minority population. It does not predict for certain groups of whi tes, either." Potential financial barri ers also ca use co nce rn. "We all understand th e necessity for continuing increases in student fees, but I would hope that the Legislature would come through in ways that thi s trend will not have to continue. "I feel a great IWcomplishment in seeing stndents' eyes light up with new nnderstanding." If we are becoming more attractive to minority students, we must find some ways to help them support their edu· cation financially. It won't help if we become a place where they feel welcome, and then put up financial barriers so they can't. attend." Also important is hiring black professors, says Strick land, who in 1972 served as special assistant to the chan. ce llar to help recruit minority facul ty. "This University has a lot to offer. Many of the things that make thi s UniverSity attractive to white faculty make it attractive to black faculty, too." The national reputation of UMC's history department lured Strickland from Chicago State Co llege 15 years ago. Another attraction was the Columbia community. "I felt it would be an ideal place for rearing children. " One of his sons, Bruce, will be a se nior at Mir.zou next fa ll. Duane, a graduate of Syracuse University, is a ca)ltain in the U.S. Army. Th e prospect of teaching at a major public university also affected Stri ckland's deci sion in 1969. "I deler-mined that I needed to either go to a predominantly black institution and work with black st ud ents, or go to a PhD·granting instilution and work with all s tud ents and have the opportunity to train some black rhDs in history who would, I hoped, teach in predominantly black schools." Strick land's first PhD student, who was white, chose a teaching career at a predominantly black college in Georgia. His othe r three PhD students were black; two teach at predominamly black schools, one at a predominantly white university. "They have assisted very much in the recruiting process through the ir loyalty to UMC." Working with doctoral candidates has been the greatest satisfaction of his career, says Strickland, author of three books and winner of numerous honors, including a 1983 Facu lty-Alumni Award. "It's my way of paying some dues, and he lping the University to pay some dues. We can't sit around and talk about needing black faculLY if we're not pro· dueing any." Other accomplishm ents, he says, are more diffuse. " I could say that I am proud of being involved in creating the Black Studies program, but as a teacher, I feel a greater accomplishment in seeing students' eyes light up with understanding something they didn't before, or coming up with some kind of formula they didn't thi nk they were capable of. I fee l good every time a student says to me, 'I got something from having this class with you that has made me a better person.' " 0 

Arvarh Strickland brings Jeffersonian principles to the classroom

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Arvarh Strickland brings Jeffersonian principles to the classroom

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