everly Tatum, president of Spelman College since 2002 and author of Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?, will speak at 4 p.m. Feb. 27 at New Garden Friends Meeting about racial identity in the United States. Admission is free.
“Tatum is a nationally recognized authority on racial issues in America,” Ty Buckner, Director of College Relations, said in the Feb. 13 Guilford Beacon. “Her research includes the study of racial identity development in teens, the impact of race on classroom dynamics and the experiences of African American families in white communities.”
Tatum earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Wesleyan University, master’s and doctoral degrees in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan, and a master’s in religious studies from Hartford Seminary in Connecticut.
She was an administrator and faculty member at Mount Holyoke College for 13 years. Eventually, she became a dean of that college.
Santes Beatty, Director of African American Affairs & Multicultural Service, says Tatum is “eye-opening, revolutionary, and helpful in every facet of education.”
Beatty and Judy Harvey, Director of Multicultural Education, use Tatum’s book in their Anti-racism Seminar, and Harvey says other faculty members have used it in their classes as well.
“I encourage everyone to read her book,” Harvey said. “It is very readable, with lots of quotes from students in her own classes.”
Harvey said the Steering Committee of the Anti-racism Team wanted Tatum to come to the college.
College President Kent Chabotar and Tatum have agreed to trade time at each other’s colleges. Chabotar will meet with Spelman College’s administrators and trustees and give a presentation on finance in higher education.
“I’m very happy that Kent has these skills to trade and that the exchanges are bringing us such outstanding speakers,” Harvey said. “It’s a real gift to the college.”
Beatty hopes that Tatum’s speech will raise consciousness and force people to “engage in deep thought of how we classify ourselves.”
“Racism and the development of racial identity are so complex,” Harvey said. “We’re hoping that Dr. Tatum’s talk will give the Guilford community another entry point into thinking about how race as a concept and racism as a practice work in the U.S., in Greensboro, and at Guilford.