I was responsible for researching WW2 in my group.  The most significant information I found was when I visited the Archives and went through the Nancy Thompson Letter Collection.  This collection was started by Nancy Thompson and the purpose of it was to keep in contact with soldiers who had connections to the University.  Later the letters were all put together and can now be found in the archives.  The collections is massive.  Although there were many letters in the collection, most of the entries were written by white soldiers.  However, there was one black soldier I was able to find.  Erin informed me that although there were many other black soldiers in the war that had relations with the University, only one wrote back.  His name was Adelbert  Berry.  Before the war he was a student at Kean but then was drafted.  After the war he returned to Kean where I believe he graduated.  Berry was extremely active on campus.  He took part in many school functions including school dances.  He is also on the cover of an issue of the school’s news paper, “The Reflector”.  In another article a poem by Berry can be found.  During his service he traveled all around the globe.  He went to Arizona, Fort Dix and Morocco.  He was even able to move up in the ranks of the military.  In his early letters he ends them with “sincerely Dell Berry”.  Later letters he writes “sincerely Pvt. Dell Berry.

 

We have been discussing these past two weeks the research process that we have all been experiencing. We are finding information but very little, when we open a window into the information doors are being closed. I have been lucky that my topic at Liberty Hall and the early Kean family is recently being highlighted by professors but I’m still finding very little information. I am not claiming that we are being actively turned away, but considering this has always been a touchy subject I feel that the documents we need to gather our information is just not there for us.

I know a lot of documents from the past have not even been cataloged yet. I am hoping that us as a class coming and asking for this information is going to help get staff and interns to find it and make it available to future students. However our connection to the archives has gone above and beyond to help our class, it is exciting that she is all for this project and helping us find our information. This is my opinion so far on our class presentations of where we are in our individual research process.

My experience as I mentioned earlier is easy accessible right now, however I am still finding some road blocks myself. Not because of anyone in particular but just due to the fact that there are no available answers to my questions. I have found out about Susan Livingston Kean’s family background in slave trading, that the Kean family did not release their slaves out of the kindness of their hearts. It is all very muddled. I know John Kean’s correspondences have played a major part in my research process. I had all this information on slaves he had a fondness for and mentioned often. Then I come to find out John Kean never even lived in Liberty Hall.

So I must scrap what I have found and dive more into Susan Livingston Kean. I know she was an independent woman for the time period she lived in and I know slavery was one of the things that helped her maintain her independence from her second husband. I now know she moved into the property in 1811, seven years after New Jersey set their laws on abolishing slavery. I was so focused on John Kean that I completely over looked Susan. Let the research process start again.

Over the past month the research I’ve done solely on my own  has unfortunately  been quite inconclusive or otherwise leading me to dead ends. It would seem that, at least to that although there are accurate records of students who have attended Kean University, I simply can’t just click their name and get information about their nationality and ethnicity, I can at least take a guess at what it might be, but that method is largely inaccurate on many levels particularly when it comes to native African surnames.

With that being said, the broader aspect of my research (which would be finding notable black alumni who have attended Kean University (or it’s previous incarnation of Newark State College) has been slightly more fruitful. Although not an Alumni of the college, Vera King Farris was indeed a notable African – American at Kean University who had a the distinction of being the first African American Female president of a New Jersey University, her term of service being held at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.

I have not given up however. I had the great privilege of hearing a guest lecture from Dr. James Conyers, a professor of Africana Studies at Kean University at the special meeting of the Beta Kappa Psi Black and Latino Fraternity and the Omega Phi Chi Black and Latina Sorority  here at Kean and I plan on doing an extensive interview with him and try to acquire as much knowledge as I can  concerning his observations and thoughts on the relationship between African American Students at Kean and 1st generation African Students. I also managed to get a few short but detailed interviews with several members of the Fraternity and I plan on conducting more in the coming weeks. I have a strong feeling that this endeavor will prove to be very beneficial for the tour when it is completed.

Monday, March 28 2016

“I don’t really have a distinct feeling as to how my research is going. On one hand, I’m getting some really cool and interesting information, but on the other, I’m not really getting the answer to what I am looking for in regards to the role the black community at Kean played in Student government. I feel as though whenever the topic of race is being discussed, the general assumption is that it has to be negative. It’s like an eerie aura that brings back dark memories of the past saturates the atmosphere. Most of my research was done via one on one interviews, and so far they haven’t been of too much help. I get the strange impression that people are withholding information; It’s either that, or they sincerely don’t have answers.The little information that I did manage to obtain is quite enlightening, and ironically enough, not negative at all. For instance, I had know idea that in today’s Student Government nearly all the student board members are black, but when they first started out back in 1941 most of the members were white. This is a sign of improvement for the black community here at Kean and is surely uplifting. I truly want to tell a good story for this tour, but, if what I come up with isn’t filled with a bunch a drama and controversy, well, that is fine by me. I strongly believe that the topic of black lives shouldn’t always be about racial injustice that creates tension among the general public, but should also be about our accomplishments, and growth. Anyways, still have a lot of work to be done. Until next time”!

Sincerely yours,

Patrick Dankyi

Ever since I was young I never understood why people were racist and had problems with others who don’t exactly look like them. The color of someone’s skin should not define who that person is and what they stand for.  With this project I am looking forward to learning how the class puts all of its parts together in order to make this a success. The incident that occurred last semester shows that there is still a problem with race and its not only the older generations but people of the younger generation also. I hope with this tour that we are going to give it sheds light on the history of African-Ameericans at the schools and helps those who do not understand not only the importance of African-Americans but sheds light on how we all are equal.

So far the research I have done has been somewhat discouraging. My group is in charge of finding the history about the dorms and student government. As stated by my other classmates my group as well has delegated responsibilities for each section, mine being the dorms. The first thing that came to my mind was going through the yearbooks provided to us through the archive and Kean website to see if I could find any information about the dorms through those resources, but I have yet to go through them to the extent that is needed. I started by going to the dorms and speaking with Jennifer Van Dyk who runs the dorms at Kean. I originally went to her to see if there was any sort of record of who might have been an RA or RD over the years to, which I was disappointed to find that there is no such record. The meeting was not a total disappointment as she was able to give me a list of people around campus that might be able to further help me in my research. The second person I spoke with was Stella Maher who is in charge of Alumni relations. This meeting went a little bit better as she informed me that she could put me in direct contact with former students that are apart of the Alumni Association, which gave me a brighter outlook on how this project will unfold. The next step in finding out a broader history of how the dorms were throughout the years is to dig through the yearbooks and try to get in contact with former students which I look forward to doing in the upcoming weeks.

To be honest I am really excited about the Tour my classmates and I will be responsible for creating.  Throughout my college career here at Kean I have always been exposed to the University’s rich history leading back to revolutionary times.  However, most people including myself have only seen one perspective of that history.  That is the perspective of the Kean family which was a family that was extremely wealthy, successful and most importantly, white.  The idea of this tour is to explore ideas and concepts about the University’s history that aren’t so well known or possibly not known.  This is exciting for me because I will be a part of something that has never been done before at Kean and it will hopefully make a significant mark on campus.

In terms of my research, I am grouped with Alix, Marco and Shalanda.  Like Shalanda said earlier in the blog, we decided to break the work up evenly amongst the four of us.  I am responsible for researching all that I can about the Nancy Thompson Letter Collection.  From what I have learned so far about it, the collection is essentially a huge selection of letters all dating back to WW2.  Nancy Thompson was able to write to as well as receive letters from our brave men and women fighting in the war.  I have not gotten to look through the collection yet but I am eager to do so.  I look forward to finding out all that the collection has to offer including any details pertaining to the war as well as any significance the letters have to our class tour as well.

In piecing together the story of the history of the relationship between black immigrants and black Americans my group members and I have decided to divide the work among ourselves using several resources. Each member will do a different part of the project relating to the issue using resources such as books, digital magazines, and journals. Two particular books used as a resource are, From a Normal Beginning: The Origins of Kean College NJ and At the Center of the Storm: Reflections a State College President. In reading the From a Normal Beginning: The Origins of Kean College NJ so far their main focus is on the location of the school and its movement throughout the years as in relation to relationship between faculty and students. This is not what I am looking for, therefore I will not use this source, however, the book, At the Center of the Storm: Reflections a State College President it was stated that a President of Kean University when Kean was known as Newark State sought to make Kean a multiracial, multiethnic, and multireligious society. It is my goal to continue reading to see how successful he was. Especially learning about the students’ relationships that were admitted. Furthermore, I plan to do further research using digital magazines because students were the authors and it will shine light and on their thoughts and reactions to each other.

Ever since elementary school, I have had strong interest in the Civil Rights movement along with many other aspects of the Black Liberation struggle in particular the one which took place during the rebellious time period of the 1960s and 1970s. From this early interest in history in particular surrounding this era came a principled motivation in taking this course on Black History in America. And although my initial impression of the class was that it would be a traditional course on Black History, meaning based on tests and assignments, I was surprised to learn on the first day of class that the course would in a sense vicarious and based on investigative research regarding primary historical sources, while the final goal being the construction of a real-world historical project which is the creation of an informative tour. In the creation of this tour I personally expect to learn much about a little known and overlooked past in regards to a historically marginalized group in the United States who’s experience challenges the very values that the country perceives itself as a shinning beacon of, while simultaneously helping others to be informed about the same plight. Also, I hope to contribute through this project to the understanding of how the Black community has overcome in particular to Kean University in regards to its oppression and marginalization. While personally learning, and informing others of the trials, and progress the Black community on Kean University I hope to also create a connection between the the issues of the past and those of the present. In doing so I hope to not only highlight the progress that the Black community has achieved in Kean University but to also highlight the issues that are still present today as a result of this ongoing legacy. In essence this project to me is a way of understanding how the past is prologue to the present, and how the present is an opportunity to create a better future, one that is need specially when it comes to racial injustice and racial issues both in regards to Kean University and throughout the United States.

When I first enrolled in Kean University I was completely oblivious to the history of the school, I was simply just a high school graduate seeking after acceptance from any institution. However, being involved in the Blackeaning Tour has really opened my eyes to the history of kean especially in regards to the black community here at the institution.  

Since its inception in 1855, Kean University has been a beacon of hope and service to its community. Over the past 160 years, Kean has seen an exponential growth and development. She now reaches beyond her community and empowers students from all around the world with knowledge and education. However, these developments did not just occur. There are men and women who have sacrificed a lot to bring Kean to where it is today and even now, there are still people who are working tirelessly behind the scenes to make Kean the “world class institution” it is today. In this Blackeaning Tour, it is my aim to dig deeper to find out who these men and women are, focusing on the African Americans who have done their quota in the building of this school.

Kean University was established in a time where extreme racism and segregation existed. How did Kean overcome this obstacle to become one of the most diverse schools in the country? Who were the first black students at Kean and how did they make their voices heard?  Did they go through the same ordeal that Ernest Greene and his seven other counterparts had to endure as the first black students at an all-white school?  Fast forwarding to present day Kean, are there any obstacles that leaders of black student organizations face or have faced which may be a “flash from the past”?

Kean University has been around for over a century, hence it’s engulfed with rich intriguing history and just like the United States of America, this history is never complete without the African American.