By Faith Talamantez
A celebration of Black life in America should reach deeply and broadly into Black history, going beyond a focus on high-achieving “firsts” in the Black community, Humanities and Fine Arts Dean Daina Berry told a UC Santa Barbara audience.
“Black history is every month,” said Berry, at an HFA Speaks event that attracted nearly 60 people.
Dean Berry was speaking at Beyond Tokenism: Celebrating Black Life in America, a discussion to launch Black History Month on campus, hosted by UCSB’s Division Humanities and Fine Arts and its media student intern team.
UCSB Humanities and Fine Arts Dean Daina Berry, left, Film and Media Studies lecturer Wendy Jackson, center, and student moderator Maya Johnson, at “Beyond Tokenism: Celebrating Black Life in America,” an HFA Speaks event. Photo by Sasha Glim
It was moderated by undergraduate Writing & Literature major Maya Johnson, who is a Raab Writing Fellow, and it featured Wendy Eley Jackson, a lecturer in UC Santa Barbara’s Film and Media Studies department, alongside Berry.
Their wide-ranging conversation celebrated the university’s Black faculty and their accomplishments in and out of academia. The two speakers candidly discussed their experiences as Black scholars at a primarily non-Black institution.
“I know a lot about tokenism. I am the only Black female dean here. I think I am the first Black female dean here,” Berry said. “I know that in graduate school I was the only Black student in my Ph.D. program.”
“Beyond Tokenism” Video Excerpt 1
Black History Month has grown and changed from when it officially began in 1976. Now, corporations have co-opted the month, noted moderator Johnson, often advertising their participation in the celebration of Black life in order to gain Black approval or sell more products.
But the panelists said that doesn’t diminish the importance of turning our national focus to Black culture and history during February, as an important step toward raising awareness all year.
“I’ll take those days,” said Jackson. “There are a lot of stories that need to be told and it should not be limited and celebrated in 28 or 29 days.”
“Beyond Tokenism” Video Excerpt 2
Both Berry and Jackson agreed that academic institutions and society at large are still far from moving beyond tokenism. Berry said that until institutions start reflecting more accurate numbers of what our population looks like, they will not be able to move past singling out Black people in those spaces where they are not adequately represented.
“Not until we reflect state statistics will I think we are in a better place,” Berry said.
For her part, Jackson recalled that when she grew up in Atlanta she was in a majority Black community, and so experienced a major culture shock when she first started college at UC Berkeley. Now, she uses her work in film to tell stories of all different kinds of people, especially Black Americans, whose stories should be shared and acknowledged.
“It takes courage to learn the story of someone different than you,” Jackson said.
“Beyond Tokenism” Video Excerpt 3
Berry referred to her research into enslaved people, and especially enslaved women. Often, not even their names were recorded, reducing each to only a number. Berry said her work has reminded her countless times how Black people have suffered throughout America’s history, and she wants her research to document that history, and remember the names of those who were persecuted.
The panel closed with an inspiring conversation about how Black women in academia such Dean Daina Berry and Wendy Jackson are able to keep going, and keep working hard, when the workload – practical and emotional – can be so tiring.
Both said that it is often their students who encourage them to keep working, as they see the real impact they are having on young people who will be able to continue the work that they have started.
“If not me, who? If not now, when?” Berry said.
Faith Talamantez is a third year UCSB student majoring in Writing and Literature. She is a Web and Social Media intern for the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts.