Ida B. Wells

Ida B. Wells was born in

slavery in 1862 in Holly

Springs, Mississippi. Learn-

ing to read at a young age

and being surrounded by

political activists eventually

propelled her into a career of

journalism. Wells focused

on lynchings, describing that

they were “a systematic at-

tempt to subordinate the

black community was incen-

diary.” After three of her

close black male friends

were lynched for alleged

crimes, she wrote an invig-

orating article that made

both black and white com-

munities take notice. She

created such an uprising

through her writings and

protests around the world

that she was exiled from the

south for over forty years.

She was also active in the

suffrage movement and

members of both the NAACP

and NACW.

Mary McLeod Bethune

Mary McLeod Bethune

was raised in South Carolina

with her sixteen brothers

and sisters. Though origi-

nally planning on becoming

a missionary, she ended up

becoming an educator. She

founded the Daytona Educa-

tional and Industrial School

for Negro Girls which later

merged with another insti-

tute which became the Be-

thune-Cookman College.

Bethune pushed for African

American rights and was a

driving force in seeing that

African Americans received

aid from the federal govern-

ment. She was also the di-

rector of NYA, spoke at vari-

ous conferences on racial

issues, and was the assistant

director of The Women’s

Army Corps during World

War II.

TRIVIA

1. Which college employed civil

rights activist Jo Ann Robinson?

2.What club did Ella Baker found at the Harlem Library?

3. From which institution did

Dorothy Height earn her master’s

degree?

Come to the CME with correct trivia answers to win a

prize!

VOICES

C e n t e r f o r M u l t i c u l t u r a l E d u c a t i o n

January 2014

Promoting Diversity in the University Community and Beyond...

Women in the Civil Rights Movement

Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks, one of the

most famous women in the

Civil Rights Movement, was

born in February of 1913.

Often referred to as “the first

lady of civil rights,” Parks

became well-known when

on December 1, 1955 she

refused to give up her seat in

the colored section of the

bus to a white person. While

her actions were spontane-

ous, her refusal and later her

arrest, started the Mont-

gomery Bus Boycott. A year

later the Supreme Court

ruled that the segregation

law was unconstitutional

and the buses became inte-

grated. Through this Rosa

Parks became an icon of

resistance in racial segrega-

tion and a symbol of hope.

http://www.idabwells.org/

http://www.gwu.edu/~erpapers/

teachinger/glossary/bethune-

mary.cfm

http://www.thehenryford.org/

The Legacy of Mar-tin Luther King, Jr.

2

Tribute to Nelson Mandela

3

Pyramid of Success 5

Crossword Puzzle 6

Voices Preview & Student Worker Piece

7

Event Schedule and Comic

8

Inside this Issue:

particular joy because of my

involvement not only at Wes-

leyan, but also at Yale and

Boston Universities, to de-

mand divestiture and the

freeing of South Africa gener-

ally and of Mandela specifi-

cally. What an honor to be

among the throng as he visit-

ed Boston in June of 1990!

Needless to say, his ascendan-

cy to the presidency of the

The death of Steve Biko in

prison in South Africa cap-

tured many college students

on campuses across the Unit-

ed States. I was one of those

students at Wesleyan Univer-

sity in Middletown, Connecti-

cut, as I was asked to perform

a memorial service for Biko in

the university’s chapel. My

subsequent role as a spokes-

person for the South Africa

Action Group eventually led

me to the likes of Desmond

Tutu and Allan Boesak–

primarily because of my ac-

ceptance of nonviolence as a

tactic and a way of life. At

that time, Martin Luther

King, Jr., was my hero and

there was, admittedly, an ab-

solutism to my devotion to

peacemaking that went far

beyond what King himself held!

The above notwithstanding,

I easily became enamored of a

person I had barely known up

to that point. I had heard snip-

pets about the imprisoned lead-

er of the African National Con-

gress, but I primarily caught

that he believed in the over-

throw of the apartheid regime

through violence. Associated

with him was the phrase that I

had first got wind of from read-

ing and discussing Malcolm X:

“by any means necessary.” I

was not a fan of the pre-1964

Malcolm as a number of my fel-

low black students and multi-

cultural comrades in the divest-

ment movement was. I was a

staunch Kingian; hence, align-

ing Mandela with Malcolm did

not persuade me to lift up the

former as a symbol for our

struggle.

Eventually, I convinced my-

self to invest igate the

man. Although I understood

the deep pain he must have felt

observing the cowardly massa-

cre of demonstrators, including

defenseless children, at Sharpe-

ville in 1960, my comprehen-

sion of his pathos did not con-

vince me of the path he had

chosen.

I found, however, there

was, indeed, something spe-

cial about the man. I learned

how impassioned he was over

the struggle for the freedom of

his people–so much so that he

was willing to do whatever it

took. Here was a man who

lived according to King’s oft-

quoted saying: “If a man has-

n’t found something to die for,

he isn’t fit to live.” The suffer-

ing that Mandela was under-

going and the sacrifice he

made by not renouncing vio-

lence in the struggle testified

to those words of the man

martyred in 1968 and exem-

plified in 1977 by Biko’s de-

mise at the hands of prison

guards. Slowly, but surely, I

acquired a respect for Man-

dela’s persistence and his re-

fusal to relinquish hope in a

brighter tomorrow.

To see Mandela march tri-

umphant after twenty-seven

years was remarkable! I felt

Page 2

By: Dr. Michael D. Blackwell

particular joy because of my

involvement not only at Wes-

leyan, but also at Yale and

Boston Universities, to de-

mand divestiture and the

freeing of South Africa gener-

ally and of Mandela specifi-

cally. What an honor to be

among the throng as he visit-

ed Boston in June of 1990!

Needless to say, his as-

cendancy to the presidency of

the democratic Republic of

South Africa, the winner of

the Nobel Prize for Peace was

simply genuine ecstasy–one

of the greatest events of the

twentieth century! Without

any visible signs of anger or

vengefulness, Mandela, in his

late seventies and early eight-

ies, became a powerful voice

for speaking the truth and

reaching for real reconcilia-

tion. Such goodness–nay,

greatness!–is a rare sight in

“Mandela leaves a rich

legacy for all nations to find

a way to persevere in

seeking constructive and

lasting resolution of

conflict.”

~Dr. Michael D. Blackwell

Page 3

public life. His desire to fash-

ion a truly integrated and plu-

ralistic society at home and

abroad is matchless.

Mandela leaves a rich legacy

for all nations to find a way to

persevere in seeking construc-

tive and lasting resolution of

conflict. The world is rife with

crises that ostensibly warrant

the use of weapons of mass de-

struction. Mandela’s life urges

upon us the will not to react

with revenge, bitterness, and

hate, but to seek justice and to

forge pathways to inclusion

through conversation, compro-

mise, and cooperation.

Hopefully, as the moving

finger of time continues to

write, we will not be subject to

the typical amnesia that histori-

cally befalls us when such a

great figure dies. Let us not re-

duce ourselves to the cynicism

that business as usual appar-

ently inevitably produc-

es. Rather, let the amazing

oeuvre and symbolism of this

individual be an ever fixed

mark and guidepost as our and

our children’s memory chords

shall lengthen!

http://www.biography.com/people/

nelson-mandela-9397017

According to USA Today,

the following are some of

Nelson Mandela’s best

quotes:

“It always seems impossible

until it’s done.”

“Difficulties break some men

but make others. No axe is

sharp enough to cut the soul

of a sinner who keeps on

trying, one armed with the

hope that he will rise

even in the end.”

“If I had my time over I

would do the same again. So

would any man who dares

call himself a man.”

“I like friends who have

independent minds because

they tend to make you see

problems from all angles.”

Article taken from Dr. Blackwell’s

blog http://mdbwell.com/

category/social-ethics/

Page 4

The Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.

The classic period of the civil rights

movement is framed by the public career of

Martin Luther King Jr.: from December 5,

1955 to April 4, 1968. During this period,

King was the undisputed, symbolic, and

actual leader of the nonviolent direct action

campaigns primarily targeting Jim Crow

segregation in the South. There are several

aspects of his leadership that are the major

constitutive elemests of his enduring lega-

cy. Herin, we identify eight of them.

First, there is the principle of dissent.

One of the essential tenets of any demo-

cratic republic where freedom and respon-

sibility are tandem features is the right to

dissent. The first day of the Montgomery

busy boycott, King asserted his belief not

only in the “teachings of Jesus,” but also in

the “weapon of protest.” In January 1956,

King reiterated his support of dissent by

declaring American democracy’s “right to

protest for right.” On April 3, 1968, the

day before he was assassinated, King af-

firmed the greatness of America, in part as

“the right to protest for right.” In his fa-

mous “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” King

states: “I submit that an individual who

breaks a law that conscience tells him is

unjust, and who willingly accepts the penal-

ty of imprisonment in order to arouse the

conscience of the community over its injus-

tice, is in reality expressing the highest re-

spect for law.”

Second, based on this respect for law,

King believed in the following one’s convic-

tions despite the consequences or ramifica-

tions of one’s actions. He was disposed to

say, if a person has not found something to

die for, that person is not fit to life—a re-

mark made in the wake of the murder of

the civil rights leader Medgar Evers. In

essence, physical death under such circum-

stances of conscience is “redemptive.”

When he broke his silence over the Vi-

etnam War in 1967, King stressed the im-

portance of listening to and acting upon

one’s moral conscience.

Third, King articulated hopefulness

found in the belief that the universe is on

the side of justice. Nevertheless, he was not

simply an eternal optimist.

King’s utilization of the Hegelian dia-

lectical process to reach a fuller under-

standing of choices and the cratino of the

best possible society, therefore, constitutes

a fourth component of his legacy. For ex-

ample, his choice of socialistic perspective

was the result of canceling out the extreme

positions of capitalism and communism.

Another instance is his belief that commu-

nity and justice are mutually necessary:

that we must avoid the extreme of having

community without justice (i.e.

“colonialism”), which is hollow, on the one

hand, and the extreme of having justice

without community (i.e., “paternalism”),

which is blind, on the other hand. Strongly

attached to his profession from thesis to

antithesis to synthesis, King was compelled

to reject extremism in favor of “mediation

and conciliation” as well as “education and

legislation.”

Fifth, King broadened his horizons,

that is, he evolved. King’s emphasis on the

obligation to love during the early stages of

the Montgomery bus boycott grew into the

application of Gandhian philosophy and

nonviolent method to segregation in the

South. After the passage of the Civil Rights

Act in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of

1965 and his being awarded the 1694 No-

bel Peace Prize, King enlarged his focus

from the concerns such as integration in

public accommodations to more intricately

systematic issues such as the elimination of

ghettoized communities, economic justice,

increased military spending, U.S. participa-

tion in the Vietnam War, and white privi-

lege.

Sixth, King had strong affinity to the

biblical witness. Prophets such as Amos,

Micah, and Isaiah stressed the importance

of doing right, effecting justice in the land,

and redressing the concerns of the poor

and the oppressed. King also found in the

words of Jesus confirmation in relieving

the burdens of “the least of

these” (Matthew 25:31-46) as well as recon-

ciliation with one’s enemies.

Seventh, King had pride in his cultural

heritage. Many of King’s speeches were

peppered with references to diverse heroes

and heroines, such as Frederick Douglass,

Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Willie Mays, Rosa

Parks, Langston Hughes, Roland Hayes,

Payl Robeson, Marian Anderson, and Mary

McLeod Bethune. He was very much con-

cerned with the oppression of apartheid in

South Africa and imperialist plundering by

Western countries on that continent. As he

became more involved in addressing eco-

nomic conditions in the U.S. foreign policy,

King broadened his concern to all in the

African Dispora as well as people of color

around the world and eventually, to the

empowerment of all of humanity.

Finally, King believed in nonviolence

not simply as a method of protest, but also

as a way of life. Nonviolent direct action

could serve to deal with the tensions in the

body politic in creative ways, and it could

also help to address tensions in one’s per-

sonal life with a strong inclination towards

peace ad reconciliation. Nonviolence was

the way in which King devoted himself to

the hoped-for realization of the beloved

community.

Excerpted from Dr. Michael D. Blackwell’s

chapter in the book Gender and the Social

Gospel

By: Dr. Michael D. Blackwell

http://seattletimes.com/special/mlk/

Page 5

Coach Dr. John Wooden, also

known as the “Wizard of West-

wood,” is one of the most successful

basketball coaches and players in

the history of sports.

As a player, Wooden was the

first to be named a basketball All-

American three times, won a Helms

Athletic Foundation National

Championship at Purdue, and is a

member of the Basketball Hall of

Fame.

As a coach, Wooden won ten

NCAA national championships at

UCLA in a twelve year period , sev-

en in a row, and was inducted into

the Basketball Hall of Fame as a

coach as well.

Furthermore, Wooden was an

inspirational leader to his players,

including Bill Walton and Kareem

Abdul-Jabbar. Well known for his

inspirational quotes and guidance,

Wooden developed Wooden’s

“Pyramid of Success.”

The pyramid features fifteen

keys to success, and twelve lessons

in leadership, which can be utilized

on and off the Basketball court.

A basketball coach gave me

Wooden’s pyramid in high school.

On the court, it was a great tool to

use as a basketball captain and a

leader for other players.

Furthermore, I now utilize

Wooden’s pyramid off the court as

a graduate student and graduate

assistant. Specifically, I concen-

trate on performing my best in the

classroom and at work everyday.

Additionally, it is very im-

portant to take initiative in my pro-

fessional life and personal life, get-

ting involved in campus activities

and professional development op-

portunities.

I highly recommend students,

staff, and faculty utilize Wooden’s

Pyramid of Success as a tool for

success in the new year! Wooden

also has a very interactive webpage,

http://www.coachwooden.com/

index2.html, for individuals who

are looking for more information

about Coach Wooden and how to

utilize the pyramid in your every

day life!

By: Lauren Wypiszynski

Page 6

Use the articles in the newsletter to help you complete this fun puzzle!

Page 7

Zach Owens is a senior at UNI and this is

his first semester working at the CME. His

favorite part about working at the CME is

meeting new people and giving Dr. Blackwell

a hard time. Zach is from Cedar Rapids, Io-

wa and went to Kennedy High School. Zach

is very family oriented and appreciates the

support his family provides him

Zach’s major is Textiles and Apparel. He

chose to attend UNI because the school is

close to home, the size of the campus is man-

ageable, and the people are very friendly.

One of Zach’s favorite UNI memories was

celebrating Homecoming his freshman year,

and traveling abroad for his internship. After

graduation Zach plans on finding a job in the

fashion industry with hopes to someday own

his own brand including clothes, shoes, and

accessories.

Some of Zach’s Favorite Things!

Color: Orange Food: All except vegetables.

Pets: Dogs Movie: ATL

Store: Pac Sun or Zara Class: None, lol!

TV Show: Too many to choose from, mostly all 1990’s shows.

Hobby: Customizing jean jackets.

3 Featured Female Civil

Rights Leaders

Jo Ann Robinson: Teacher at Alabama State College and

Civil Rights activist.

Ella Baker: Leader of the SCLC and helped the

efforts SNCC!

Dorothy Height: Civil Rights and Women’s Rights

activist focusing on issues of unem-

ployment, illiteracy, and voter

awareness.

In February, the answer

key to the CME crossword

puzzle featured in the

January Voices will be

available! Additionally,

more trivia questions and

prizes will be awarded for

correct trivia answers!

Overview of Black History

Month Including :

Preview of events to cele-

brate Black History

Month.

Articles highlighting the

importance of Black

History Month.

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=276

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter

Center for Multicultural Education

109 Maucker Union

Cedar Falls, Iowa 50614-0165

Phone: 319-273-2250

Email: cme@uni.edu

Website: www.uni.edu/cme

Our Mission:

We foster success in racial and ethnic minority students, contribute to the cultural competence of all

students, and promote an appreciation of diversity in the University Community.

Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Michael D. Blackwell

Co-Editors: Lauren Wypiszynski, Brittni Haag and Diane Ihimbazwe

Page 8

February 20

CME Book Club

Black Woman Re-

defined: Dispelling

Myths and Discov-

ering Fulfillment

in the Age of

Michelle Obama

By: Sophia Nelson

3:30 pm

CME

February 10

Reaching for High-

er Ground Film

Series

Soul Food Junkies

7:00 pm

Lang Hall

Auditorium

Discussion to

follow film

February

Celebrate

Black History

Month by attend-

ing numerous on

campus events at

UNI!

January 20

Continued

Dr. Marcia Riggs

Lecture

7:00 pm

CME

Reception to follow

January 20,

2014

Martin Luther

King, Jr. Day of

Service

Book Club

3:30 pm

CME

Through It All:

Reflections on My

Life, My Family,

and My Faith

Christine King Farris