Connecting People, Cultures and Ideas
Delaware Humanities Forum January 2011 Newsletter
In This Issue
Humanities Opportunities
Bringing the Humanities to Your Door
Hard at Work Book Talk
Quick Links
 
Chairman Leach at the DCCA

Note: these photos, published in our December newsletter, are courtesy of Anteia Consorto
Greetings!

As you know, DHF recently turned its attention to Civic Discourse, a theme which runs through much of our 2010 and 2011 programming. And no conversation about civic discourse can be complete without a look at civil disobedience. This time of year such conversation is very timely as we honor the memory of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on his birthday each January and we reflect on black history and women's history in February and March. Talk turns to "disobedient" heroes such as Rosa Parks, Thurgood Marshall and Susan B. Anthony, and more controversial figures such as Malcolm X, the Black Panthers, Patty Cannon and Mattel's Barbie™. (For a good and timely read, pick up a copy of Moses and the Monster and Miss Anne by Carole Marks.)

We talk a lot about civility and civic discourse in terms of politeness toward people with opposing viewpoints. In the last century, Dr. King, opposing segregationist thinkers, and Mohandas Ghandi, resisting British colonial dominance, each spoke to the masses about peace, understanding and service to one another, so it's no wonder that today's citizens most often associate the word civil with politeness and positivity. But that is only one of the meanings of civil, a word so deeply intertwined with the word "civic." (As it happens, an archaic definition of the word "civic" is "training in the humanities," according to Webster.) Another meaning of "civil" is "issues that relate to the general public's needs," which implies that civility might just lead someone down the path toward disobedience, if there is a public need that is not being addressed through civic discourse. Civil disobedience would seem to be an oxymoron, but, really, it's not.

Why Black History Month or Women's History Month as opposed to just "History Month"? The answer is: civility. A century ago, history recognized almost exclusively the canon of European history, but it was civic discourse which made it apparent that others' history was something that the general public needed (for more on this topic, refer to Carter G. Woodson's 1933 The Mis-education of the Negro and its 1915 predecessor The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861). A little civil disobedience in written form helped to nudge civility right along, and "Negro History Week" was first observed in 1926. Civility--in its public interest definition--requires that individual citizens' needs be met, even when that need causes the dialogue to be disputatious.

What are the new frontiers for civility in our communities? Today they seem to be taxation and same-sex marriage. And citizenship...again. It will be interesting to see how history portrays these issues. Will there be a 21st century Rosa Parks who will be remembered a hundred years later in history books? Will Stonewall be labeled domestic terrorism by revisionist history? How will Westboro Baptist Church be remembered? Will the stories be feel-good ones? Righteous stories? Tragic tales? Or will these issues still linger? Time will tell.

Sincerely,
Marilyn signature 
Marilyn P. Whittington
Executive Director
MLK

Library of Congress, New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection, 1964, Dick DeMarsico, World Telegram staff photographer

Humanities Enrichment Opportunities

Although DHF isn't offering any direct programming in January, we hope you will pick up some of our reading suggestions and check out some of the timely topical programs our humanities colleagues are offering in the next several weeks:
  • Friday, January 14, 2011-7 p.m., Music School of Delaware Wilmington Branch. Cultural Crossroads: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. & Black History Tribute. Concert, with storytelling, and performances by the Christina Cultural Arts Center and art by students from the EastSide Charter School.  $5. Click here for more info.
     
  • Saturday, January 15, 2011-1 p.m., Bear Library. Nancy E. Lynch will present Vietnam Mailbag. Contact Owen Thorne for more information: (302) 838-3300. Free.
     
  • Tuesday, January 18, 2011-6:30 p.m., Bridgeville Historical Society. Michael Dixon will present The Mason-Dixon Line: The Story Behind the Boundary. Contact Howard Hardesty for more information: (302) 745-8733. Free.

Bringing the Humanities to Your Door

 
Are you affiliated with a non-profit organization, a school or even a for-profit business that would benefit from humanities programming? DHF can bring the humanities right to your door.

  • Through our Speakers Bureau program, DHF offers more than 60 lectures and discussions to non-profit organizations statewide for a nominal fee.
     
  • We also offer these lectures to for-profit organizations for an additional fee. Speakers Bureau presentations make a great addition to diversity and sensitivity workshops. Consider a presentation on Islam by Dr. Adly Goraffa, on Etiquette and Cultural Interpretations by Lisa Strong Chase, or learn about One Woman's Journey in "This Man's Army" with Col. Eugenia Thornton.
     
  • Tell a teacher, librarian or school administrator about our Visiting Scholars Program. It provides free lectures given by local scholars to thousands of Delaware elementary and secondary school children, grades 1-12.
Black History Month and Women's History Month are great times to arrange for humanities lectures and presentations. We have special sections for these topics in our Speaker's Bureau catalog--scroll to page 37 for programs about the African-American experience and page 46 for programs about women's lives. 
  • Dr. Charles Albert Tindley: Delaware Hymnist Extraordinaire
  • Delaware Black History: Past and Present
  • A Dream Deferred: Issues and Answers, the Events Surrounding the 1968 Wilmington Riots
  • From Africa to the Americas via Music, Song, Dance & Stories
  • Let's Bookmark Brown
  • Private James H. Elbert
  • George Washington Carver: Telling His Legacy
  • Black Delaware Participation in the Civil War
  • History of the Negro Baseball Leagues
  • The Lady Was a Spy: Female Operatives in World War II and Wayward Women Travelers
  • Tempest in a Teapot
  • The Under the Skirt Tour of the Civil War
  • Bessie Coleman: Aviator
  • Famous Women. Choose from: Beatrix Potter, Susannah Wesley, Sophie du Pont, Jenny Lind, Mary Todd Lincoln, Mary Norris Dickinson, Anna Leonowens, Maria von Trapp, Emily Dickinson, Kay Swift, Mary Martin, or Martha Washington
  • One Woman's Journey in "This Man's Army"
  • Dancing on the Boundary: American Women Artists Negotiate Two Worlds
The following topics are listed in our Visiting Scholars catalog:
  • ABC's of Black History
  • African American Art
  • Martin Luther King
  • The Underground Railroad
  • Black Americans in Delaware History
  • Contemporary Issues from the Perspectives of African Americans
  • The Education of Black Americans
  • A Dream Deferred: Issues and Answers, the Events Surrounding the 1968 Wilmington Riots 
  • Black Delaware Participation in the Civil War
  • History of the Negro Baseball Leagues
  • Women in Literature
  • Dancing on the Boundary: American Women Artists Negotiate Two Worlds
For more information, call 302.657.0650, visit dhf.org or email info@dhf.org.
Photo: Apple picking ladders , W.L. Smith Orchard, CheswoldBook Discussions

  

DHF plans to present its "Hard at Work" book discussion program in New Castle County starting next month. This monthly reading and discussion series will take place on three Sundays from 2-4 p.m. at Union City Grille in Wilmington. If you'd like to get started on the reading, here's what we plan to discuss:

  • February 27th: Song Yet Sung, by James McBride
  • March 20th: In the Beauty of the Lilies, by John Updike
  • April 10th: Empire Falls, by Richard Russo

 Further details to follow.




Did

You

Know? 


 
In 1950, Miss Ruth Brown was dismissed from her job as librarian at the Bartlesville (Oklahoma) Public Library, a position she had held for 30 years. The reason given for her dismissal: she had circulated The Nation, New Republic and Soviet Russia Today, considered subversive materials in Cold War America. But many believed the real reason for her firing was due to her activity in a group affiliated with the Congress of Racial Equality.

Censorship has long been a tool used to squash those who would challenge the status quo. Today, censorship has evolved, yet remains the same. The great Smithsonian Institution was recently subjected to censorship based on religious objection to some art. Well-intended publishers are removing "the N word" from the newest edition of Huck Finn, an act that shines a spotlight on the irony of political correctness. Even author-playwright-comedian-actor Steve Martin, known for his brilliance in comedy due to his command of nuances and philosopher's mind, was censored in person for discussing the serious business of art in a lecture, rather than sharing his antics as a "wild and crazy guy."
 
Click here for a list of banned books and here to read the First Amendment for yourself.
The Delaware Humanities Forum has offered programs that connect people, cultures and ideas for over 35 years.  Through literature, art history, material culture, philosophy, civic discourse and other humanities disciplines, DHF helps citizens, scholars and nonprofit organizations accumulate a balanced body of knowledge about Delaware, making it available to the public now and in perpetuity. In 2011 we are pleased to continue our focus on Delaware's industrial history, to safeguard the history of the workers, structures and products that are critical to understanding the culture of the First State.
 
Please consider becoming a Friend of the Forum today by contributing to our Annual Fund. Friends of the Forum are the first to find out about opportunities, such as our Humanities Salons, and through the generous support of our Friends, the Forum offers nearly all of our programs free of charge to the citizens of Delaware.

Your donation in any amount will be most appreciated and wisely used. Click here to make a donation online today.
About the Delaware Humanities Forum
 
The humanities-subjects which include literature, ethics, political science and history-help people make a connection between their own lives and other people, cultures, and ideas. Through grants and public program offerings, the Delaware Humanities Forum builds bridges to connect the daily life and work of people to the universe of human experience, thought, and imagination. The Forum brings the public together with cultural, educational, and civic institutions statewide, and focuses on issues of public interest and concern.
 
As a state division of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Delaware Humanities Forum supports organizations by awarding grants and implementing project initiatives such as lectures, symposia, exhibitions, classroom programs, and media projects. Your non-profit organization, school, library, or government agency may qualify for funding from the Forum and can obtain subject matter experts for lectures and presentations. To learn more about funding opportunities and the other resources available through the Delaware Humanities Forum, visit our website at http://www.dhf.org or call 302.657.0650 or toll free 800.752.2060.