Spring 2012 - Clarion University

ReLying
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T
ight &
on the
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Kathryn graham
retired Faculty, english
Chair, ws Founding Committee and advisory Council
One of our first endeavors to carry out the mission of WS was to write a grant, Deborah and I, which we entitled
“minority Women scholars: toward 2000.” awarded by the state system, this substantial grant allowed us to bring in four
noted women scholars to promote diversity through a series of activities focusing on their specialties. the scholars stayed
with us a couple of days, visiting classes, meeting with students and faculty in the Ws center, and delivering an evening
talk in the Hart chapel. one scholar in particular stands out in my memory, the african american literature scholar, mae
Fergerson. that year was the 10th anniversary of alice Walker’s masterpiece, “the color Purple”
so we followed up Mae’s talk with a showing of Spielberg’s beautiful film version. My students had just read the novel and
were a captive audience of the film and Mae’s presentation as were many others. The Chapel was filled.
afterwards, at a reception in the Ws center, i felt a profound sense of satisfaction and joy as i saw in people’s faces
and heard in their conversations the impact of this unique learning experience made possible by the grant. deb and i were
floating for weeks after Mae’s visit and couldn’t stop playing “The Color Purple” soundtrack. Unique bonds of sisterhood were
recognized or forged anew throughout the entire Ws community that spring. to this day, deb and i sing a few bars of shug’s
song “sistah…” to evoke the strong sense of sisterhood we all felt during our wonderful experience with mae Fergerson, alice
Walker, and “the color Purple”.
The newly formed WS Program was off to a running start in those first couple of years. Soon, we had to make some
serious plans for our first offering of the capstone course. Our first minors were completing their course requirements in 1994