NONPROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE PAIDPERMIT No. 10COLLEGE PARK, MDOffice of the Vice President for Research

2133 Lee BuildingUniversity of MarylandCollege Park, MD 20742-5121

Old Traditions, Modern Stories “African-American theater tells the stories of the post-diaspora experiences of Africans in America,” says Walter Dallas (left), senior artist in residence in the Department of Theatre.

Dallas is a critically acclaimed director and playwright with more than three decades of national and international work to his credit. He was lead writer for the Grammy award-winning

documentary, Standing in the Shadows of Motown, and di-rected the world premiere of August Wilson’s Seven Guitars.

Dallas has come to Maryland to teach and share his experi-ences with students, fellow faculty members and the community

at large. “I want to give my students the skills that allow them to go into the profession and have careers instead of occasional jobs,” he says.

His most recent work, Lazarus, Unstoned, combines traditional African storytell-ing techniques with contemporary media, including hip-hop, spoken word, crunk and postmodern dance.

The opera features traditional African rituals that Dallas observed from his many trips abroad, while also using a potpourri of music that reflects his own roots in African-American gospel, pop and rhythm and blues.

“In order to know fully who we are as a people—and as a culture—it is important that we understand and celebrate all of these stories,” both old and new, Dallas says. m

The African-American

experience is a topic of thoughtful,

earnest exploration in the College of Arts and

Humanities, whether on the page,

on the stage or in the digital world.

To learn how, look inside …

Impact is published by the Office of the Vice President for Research and is mailed to members of the mid-Atlantic research community and others who have an interest in the latest research at the University of Maryland.

Your comments and feedback are welcome; please e-mail your comments to impact@umd.edu or fax them to Anne Geronimo, executive editor, at 301.314.9569.

If for any reason you would not like to receive this publication, contact us using the same information above.

publisherMel BernsteinVice President for Research

executive editorAnne GeronimoDirector for Research Development

managing editorTom Ventsias

creative director and photographerJohn T. Consoli

art directorJeanette J. Nelson

cover photoChristopher Anderson

Harlem Renaissance Revisited What might Langston Hughes, the poet and playwright at the heart of the Harlem Renaissance, say about the election of Barack Obama? Or how would Zora Neale Hurston or W.E.B. DuBois—also major players in the flowering of black artists and intellectuals in 1920s Harlem—respond to today’s hip-hop culture? Students are addressing these questions and more by commu-nicating through Second Life in an online world called Virtual Harlem, a vibrant place where the Cotton Club is in full swing and thoughtful discussions on race, music and poetry abound.

Zita Nunes, associate professor of comparative literature, leads a class of Maryland undergraduates

who communicate online with peers in France and at Central Missouri State University, where the project originated. All are required to thoroughly research the historical figures they represent online, getting to know the person’s work and how he or she might have dealt with social or aesthetic issues. “We wanted to develop new ways to make this material relevant, and were pleasantly surprised to see students quoting ex-tensively from an author’s work in many of their online conversations,” Nunes says. For more information on innovative education, research and scholarship in the arts and humanities at the University of Maryland, visit www.arhu.umd.edu. m

research & education spotlight

Stop, Look and ListenJefferson Pinder produces provocative art, such as “Afro Cosmonaut” (shown at right), a self-portrait that captures the conflict of breaking free. “I consider my art to be passive activism—it’s there for the tak-ing if people are interested in probing deeper,” says Pinder, an assistant professor of art.

He sees his role as an artist as not necessarily defining the African-American experi-ence, but instead using the rich histories and hard-earned knowledge from the African-American community as a muse of inspiration. “My job is to help people ask ques-tions,” Pinder says, “ques-tions not only about the black experience, but also about the human experience.” m

impact profiles

Before he became a senior artist in residence, Walter Dallas was a guest director at Maryland for “The Amen Corner” (below), James Baldwin’s play that examines the role of the church in the African-American family.

ZITA NUNES

Image courtesy of Bryan Carter, developer of Virtual Harlem.

IMPACTVol. 4 No. 1 | Spring 2009

impactoverview

LOCATIONThe university’s location, just outside Washington, D.C., allows fac-ulty researchers and visiting scholars access to a trove of historical resources, including the Library of Congress, the National Archives and the Smithsonian Institution. The area also has a wealth of art galleries and performance venues that stimulate creativity in the college and of-fer internship and research opportunities. Among them are the National Gallery of Art, the National Portrait Gallery, historic Ford’s Theater and the Folger Shakespeare Library/Folger Theatre. m

THE DRISKELL CENTERThe David C. Driskell Center (above) provides an intellectual home for artists and scholars to study the visual arts and culture of African Americans and the African diaspora. The center, the only facil-ity of its kind at an American research university, is named for the distinguished university professor

of art, emeritus, one of the leading authorities on the subject of African-American art and the black artist in American society.

The center provides an interdisciplinary forum for discussions on race, and sponsored a learning community that joined faculty from women’s studies, his-tory, comparative literature, theatre, art, art history and biological anthropol-ogy. This eclectic group created an interdisciplinary curriculum for Maryland students on issues related to race and the mission of the humanities, and other universities across the country later used the course. m

THE CLARICE SMITH CENTERThe Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, one of the larg-est, most advanced performance complexes in the U.S., promotes learning, exploration and growth, reinforced by its commitment to the work of artists from diverse cultures. The

center regularly brings to the community a rich array of art-ists who explore through their work the most profound aspects

of identity, race and shared human experience. “There had been a longstanding neglect on the national level

of African-American theater for the past 25 or 30 years—but the field is now expanding enormously,” says Heather Nathans,

associate dean and associate professor of theatre.A recent issue of the scholarly journal, Theatre Survey, pub-

lished by Cambridge University Press, hailed the University of Maryland for drawing attention to the resurgence of African-American theater. “We have been privileged to bring in people like Faedra Carpenter, Walter Dallas and Scot Reese—some

of the leading voices in African-American theater and scholar-ship,” Nathans says. m

impactoverview

ROBERT LEVINE

BONNIE THORNTON DILL

CARLA PETERSON

Key Projects in the College

IRA BERLIN

research, scholarship & the performing arts

COVER ILLUSTRATION: A member of the Maryland Dance Ensemble performs in “How Long, Brethren,” choreogra-pher Helen Tamiris’ 1937 classic that depicts the despair of unemployed Southern blacks during the Depression.

OPPOSITE PAGE: People and events that help define the African-American experience include (clockwise from top right) Frederick Douglass, Reconstruction, historically black colleges like Howard University, a Tuskegee Airman, Martin Delany, the Greensboro, N.C., lunch counter sit-ins, Rosa Parks in Birmingham, Ala., the 1920s Harlem Renaissance and the 2008 election of Barack Obama.

The origins of modern jazz can be traced to early 20th century African-American communities in the southern United States. Today’s notable jazz artists include saxophonist Wayne Shorter, who performed at the Clarice Smith Center in 2008.

Race Matters From a historical perspective, says Ira Berlin, renowned scholar of 19th-century African-American life, the national debate over race started with a critical phrase in the Declaration

of Independence: “All men are created equal.” That debate continues today as the first African-

American president settles into the White House—a structure built by slaves. As Barack Obama redefines the roles African Americans can aspire to, questions persist regarding blacks’ unequal access to education, health care and housing.

Through individual projects, interdisciplinary col-laborations and live performances, faculty and students in the university’s College of Arts and Humanities are advancing a broad conversation on race, diversity and the African-American experience.

“We are home to a vast range of research activity that transforms our national conversation about difference,” says James Harris, dean of the college. “One of our real strengths is that we can look at these questions in so many ways—literature, history, the visual and perform-ing arts, to name but a few.”

Berlin’s research on the diverse everyday lives of slaves on American soil is considered the seminal work on this topic. A distinguished university professor of history, Berlin says that slavery is welded to American society; after all, much of the nation’s prosperity was built on it. He teaches an undergraduate course that explores the university’s relation to slavery, which students research using historical documents.

“We know that the current generation [of students] has a great interest in unsolved questions concerning race,” he says. “This generation—the post-civil rights generation—has discovered that many things that we thought were solved with the civil rights movement are actually not.”

Robert Levine, professor of English, also examines the past to offer insight into the future. Levine has writ-ten numerous books, including a detailed study of two of the most significant African-American leaders of the 19th century, Martin Delany and Frederick Douglass. “I am very interested in addressing questions of race in literature and culture. Race is not a biological category,” he says. “It is ideological.”

Levine also serves as editor of The Norton Anthology of American Literature, required reading for tens of thou-sands of undergraduates each year. He has introduced

a new section to the anthology called “Slavery, Race and the Making of American Literature,” as well as new selections from women journalists interested in social class, effectively rewriting American literary history.

The anthology gets students to think more about race and class, Levine says. “We often focus too exclusively on race, and we need to think more about connections among racial and class histories.”

The Diversity of ResearchThe university stands at the forefront of diversity education and commitment, with its Diversity Initiative recognized by the White House as a national model. The English Department’s study of African-American litera-ture is ranked in the top 10 by U.S. News & World Report.

Among the key areas of research in the college, Bonnie Thornton Dill, professor and chair of the Department of Women’s Studies, is founding director of the uni-versity’s Consortium on Race, Gender and Ethnicity. It explores the intersections of inequality as they shape the construction and representation of identities, behavior and complex social relations.

The Freedmen and Southern Society Project, directed by Leslie Rowland, asso-

ciate professor of history, is considered one of the most important resources in the U.S. for the study of Recon-struction. Funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the project has created a history of the emancipation of slaves in the United States from 1861 to 1867, using first-person narratives drawn from the National Archives.

Professor Carla Peterson studies 19th-century black women, particularly in the North, who pushed to have their voices heard, whether through the written word or public speaking. A noted author, she is working on a book about black New Yorkers in the 19th century that combines family biography with social history.

Peterson says current author Toni Morrison, a mainstay in English classrooms, illustrates the value of the arts and humanities in discussing race. When Mor-rison was unable to find a definitive narrative about the interior lives of slaves—what they did besides toil in the fields from sunup to sundown—she created a fictional account. The result was the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Beloved.

“The use of imagination in the creative arts,” Peter-son says, “invites people to challenge their own assump-tions and sense of complacency.”

We know that the current generation [of students] has a great interest in unsolved ques-tions concerning race.” —Ira Berlin

MARYLAND FACULTY AT THE FOREFRONT OF A TIMELY, RELEVANT DISCUSSION

Photo by Paul Slaughter

impactoverview

LOCATIONThe university’s location, just outside Washington, D.C., allows fac-ulty researchers and visiting scholars access to a trove of historical resources, including the Library of Congress, the National Archives and the Smithsonian Institution. The area also has a wealth of art galleries and performance venues that stimulate creativity in the college and of-fer internship and research opportunities. Among them are the National Gallery of Art, the National Portrait Gallery, historic Ford’s Theater and the Folger Shakespeare Library/Folger Theatre. m

THE DRISKELL CENTERThe David C. Driskell Center (above) provides an intellectual home for artists and scholars to study the visual arts and culture of African Americans and the African diaspora. The center, the only facil-ity of its kind at an American research university, is named for the distinguished university professor

of art, emeritus, one of the leading authorities on the subject of African-American art and the black artist in American society.

The center provides an interdisciplinary forum for discussions on race, and sponsored a learning community that joined faculty from women’s studies, his-tory, comparative literature, theatre, art, art history and biological anthropol-ogy. This eclectic group created an interdisciplinary curriculum for Maryland students on issues related to race and the mission of the humanities, and other universities across the country later used the course. m

THE CLARICE SMITH CENTERThe Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, one of the larg-est, most advanced performance complexes in the U.S., promotes learning, exploration and growth, reinforced by its commitment to the work of artists from diverse cultures. The

center regularly brings to the community a rich array of art-ists who explore through their work the most profound aspects

of identity, race and shared human experience. “There had been a longstanding neglect on the national level

of African-American theater for the past 25 or 30 years—but the field is now expanding enormously,” says Heather Nathans,

associate dean and associate professor of theatre.A recent issue of the scholarly journal, Theatre Survey, pub-

lished by Cambridge University Press, hailed the University of Maryland for drawing attention to the resurgence of African-American theater. “We have been privileged to bring in people like Faedra Carpenter, Walter Dallas and Scot Reese—some

of the leading voices in African-American theater and scholar-ship,” Nathans says. m

impactoverview

ROBERT LEVINE

BONNIE THORNTON DILL

CARLA PETERSON

Key Projects in the College

IRA BERLIN

research, scholarship & the performing arts

COVER ILLUSTRATION: A member of the Maryland Dance Ensemble performs in “How Long, Brethren,” choreogra-pher Helen Tamiris’ 1937 classic that depicts the despair of unemployed Southern blacks during the Depression.

OPPOSITE PAGE: People and events that help define the African-American experience include (clockwise from top right) Frederick Douglass, Reconstruction, historically black colleges like Howard University, a Tuskegee Airman, Martin Delany, the Greensboro, N.C., lunch counter sit-ins, Rosa Parks in Birmingham, Ala., the 1920s Harlem Renaissance and the 2008 election of Barack Obama.

The origins of modern jazz can be traced to early 20th century African-American communities in the southern United States. Today’s notable jazz artists include saxophonist Wayne Shorter, who performed at the Clarice Smith Center in 2008.

Race Matters From a historical perspective, says Ira Berlin, renowned scholar of 19th-century African-American life, the national debate over race started with a critical phrase in the Declaration

of Independence: “All men are created equal.” That debate continues today as the first African-

American president settles into the White House—a structure built by slaves. As Barack Obama redefines the roles African Americans can aspire to, questions persist regarding blacks’ unequal access to education, health care and housing.

Through individual projects, interdisciplinary col-laborations and live performances, faculty and students in the university’s College of Arts and Humanities are advancing a broad conversation on race, diversity and the African-American experience.

“We are home to a vast range of research activity that transforms our national conversation about difference,” says James Harris, dean of the college. “One of our real strengths is that we can look at these questions in so many ways—literature, history, the visual and perform-ing arts, to name but a few.”

Berlin’s research on the diverse everyday lives of slaves on American soil is considered the seminal work on this topic. A distinguished university professor of history, Berlin says that slavery is welded to American society; after all, much of the nation’s prosperity was built on it. He teaches an undergraduate course that explores the university’s relation to slavery, which students research using historical documents.

“We know that the current generation [of students] has a great interest in unsolved questions concerning race,” he says. “This generation—the post-civil rights generation—has discovered that many things that we thought were solved with the civil rights movement are actually not.”

Robert Levine, professor of English, also examines the past to offer insight into the future. Levine has writ-ten numerous books, including a detailed study of two of the most significant African-American leaders of the 19th century, Martin Delany and Frederick Douglass. “I am very interested in addressing questions of race in literature and culture. Race is not a biological category,” he says. “It is ideological.”

Levine also serves as editor of The Norton Anthology of American Literature, required reading for tens of thou-sands of undergraduates each year. He has introduced

a new section to the anthology called “Slavery, Race and the Making of American Literature,” as well as new selections from women journalists interested in social class, effectively rewriting American literary history.

The anthology gets students to think more about race and class, Levine says. “We often focus too exclusively on race, and we need to think more about connections among racial and class histories.”

The Diversity of ResearchThe university stands at the forefront of diversity education and commitment, with its Diversity Initiative recognized by the White House as a national model. The English Department’s study of African-American litera-ture is ranked in the top 10 by U.S. News & World Report.

Among the key areas of research in the college, Bonnie Thornton Dill, professor and chair of the Department of Women’s Studies, is founding director of the uni-versity’s Consortium on Race, Gender and Ethnicity. It explores the intersections of inequality as they shape the construction and representation of identities, behavior and complex social relations.

The Freedmen and Southern Society Project, directed by Leslie Rowland, asso-

ciate professor of history, is considered one of the most important resources in the U.S. for the study of Recon-struction. Funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the project has created a history of the emancipation of slaves in the United States from 1861 to 1867, using first-person narratives drawn from the National Archives.

Professor Carla Peterson studies 19th-century black women, particularly in the North, who pushed to have their voices heard, whether through the written word or public speaking. A noted author, she is working on a book about black New Yorkers in the 19th century that combines family biography with social history.

Peterson says current author Toni Morrison, a mainstay in English classrooms, illustrates the value of the arts and humanities in discussing race. When Mor-rison was unable to find a definitive narrative about the interior lives of slaves—what they did besides toil in the fields from sunup to sundown—she created a fictional account. The result was the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Beloved.

“The use of imagination in the creative arts,” Peter-son says, “invites people to challenge their own assump-tions and sense of complacency.”

We know that the current generation [of students] has a great interest in unsolved ques-tions concerning race.” —Ira Berlin

MARYLAND FACULTY AT THE FOREFRONT OF A TIMELY, RELEVANT DISCUSSION

Photo by Paul Slaughter

impactoverview

LOCATIONThe university’s location, just outside Washington, D.C., allows fac-ulty researchers and visiting scholars access to a trove of historical resources, including the Library of Congress, the National Archives and the Smithsonian Institution. The area also has a wealth of art galleries and performance venues that stimulate creativity in the college and of-fer internship and research opportunities. Among them are the National Gallery of Art, the National Portrait Gallery, historic Ford’s Theater and the Folger Shakespeare Library/Folger Theatre. m

THE DRISKELL CENTERThe David C. Driskell Center (above) provides an intellectual home for artists and scholars to study the visual arts and culture of African Americans and the African diaspora. The center, the only facil-ity of its kind at an American research university, is named for the distinguished university professor

of art, emeritus, one of the leading authorities on the subject of African-American art and the black artist in American society.

The center provides an interdisciplinary forum for discussions on race, and sponsored a learning community that joined faculty from women’s studies, his-tory, comparative literature, theatre, art, art history and biological anthropol-ogy. This eclectic group created an interdisciplinary curriculum for Maryland students on issues related to race and the mission of the humanities, and other universities across the country later used the course. m

THE CLARICE SMITH CENTERThe Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, one of the larg-est, most advanced performance complexes in the U.S., promotes learning, exploration and growth, reinforced by its commitment to the work of artists from diverse cultures. The

center regularly brings to the community a rich array of art-ists who explore through their work the most profound aspects

of identity, race and shared human experience. “There had been a longstanding neglect on the national level

of African-American theater for the past 25 or 30 years—but the field is now expanding enormously,” says Heather Nathans,

associate dean and associate professor of theatre.A recent issue of the scholarly journal, Theatre Survey, pub-

lished by Cambridge University Press, hailed the University of Maryland for drawing attention to the resurgence of African-American theater. “We have been privileged to bring in people like Faedra Carpenter, Walter Dallas and Scot Reese—some

of the leading voices in African-American theater and scholar-ship,” Nathans says. m

impactoverview

ROBERT LEVINE

BONNIE THORNTON DILL

CARLA PETERSON

Key Projects in the College

IRA BERLIN

research, scholarship & the performing arts

COVER ILLUSTRATION: A member of the Maryland Dance Ensemble performs in “How Long, Brethren,” choreogra-pher Helen Tamiris’ 1937 classic that depicts the despair of unemployed Southern blacks during the Depression.

OPPOSITE PAGE: People and events that help define the African-American experience include (clockwise from top right) Frederick Douglass, Reconstruction, historically black colleges like Howard University, a Tuskegee Airman, Martin Delany, the Greensboro, N.C., lunch counter sit-ins, Rosa Parks in Birmingham, Ala., the 1920s Harlem Renaissance and the 2008 election of Barack Obama.

The origins of modern jazz can be traced to early 20th century African-American communities in the southern United States. Today’s notable jazz artists include saxophonist Wayne Shorter, who performed at the Clarice Smith Center in 2008.

Race Matters From a historical perspective, says Ira Berlin, renowned scholar of 19th-century African-American life, the national debate over race started with a critical phrase in the Declaration

of Independence: “All men are created equal.” That debate continues today as the first African-

American president settles into the White House—a structure built by slaves. As Barack Obama redefines the roles African Americans can aspire to, questions persist regarding blacks’ unequal access to education, health care and housing.

Through individual projects, interdisciplinary col-laborations and live performances, faculty and students in the university’s College of Arts and Humanities are advancing a broad conversation on race, diversity and the African-American experience.

“We are home to a vast range of research activity that transforms our national conversation about difference,” says James Harris, dean of the college. “One of our real strengths is that we can look at these questions in so many ways—literature, history, the visual and perform-ing arts, to name but a few.”

Berlin’s research on the diverse everyday lives of slaves on American soil is considered the seminal work on this topic. A distinguished university professor of history, Berlin says that slavery is welded to American society; after all, much of the nation’s prosperity was built on it. He teaches an undergraduate course that explores the university’s relation to slavery, which students research using historical documents.

“We know that the current generation [of students] has a great interest in unsolved questions concerning race,” he says. “This generation—the post-civil rights generation—has discovered that many things that we thought were solved with the civil rights movement are actually not.”

Robert Levine, professor of English, also examines the past to offer insight into the future. Levine has writ-ten numerous books, including a detailed study of two of the most significant African-American leaders of the 19th century, Martin Delany and Frederick Douglass. “I am very interested in addressing questions of race in literature and culture. Race is not a biological category,” he says. “It is ideological.”

Levine also serves as editor of The Norton Anthology of American Literature, required reading for tens of thou-sands of undergraduates each year. He has introduced

a new section to the anthology called “Slavery, Race and the Making of American Literature,” as well as new selections from women journalists interested in social class, effectively rewriting American literary history.

The anthology gets students to think more about race and class, Levine says. “We often focus too exclusively on race, and we need to think more about connections among racial and class histories.”

The Diversity of ResearchThe university stands at the forefront of diversity education and commitment, with its Diversity Initiative recognized by the White House as a national model. The English Department’s study of African-American litera-ture is ranked in the top 10 by U.S. News & World Report.

Among the key areas of research in the college, Bonnie Thornton Dill, professor and chair of the Department of Women’s Studies, is founding director of the uni-versity’s Consortium on Race, Gender and Ethnicity. It explores the intersections of inequality as they shape the construction and representation of identities, behavior and complex social relations.

The Freedmen and Southern Society Project, directed by Leslie Rowland, asso-

ciate professor of history, is considered one of the most important resources in the U.S. for the study of Recon-struction. Funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the project has created a history of the emancipation of slaves in the United States from 1861 to 1867, using first-person narratives drawn from the National Archives.

Professor Carla Peterson studies 19th-century black women, particularly in the North, who pushed to have their voices heard, whether through the written word or public speaking. A noted author, she is working on a book about black New Yorkers in the 19th century that combines family biography with social history.

Peterson says current author Toni Morrison, a mainstay in English classrooms, illustrates the value of the arts and humanities in discussing race. When Mor-rison was unable to find a definitive narrative about the interior lives of slaves—what they did besides toil in the fields from sunup to sundown—she created a fictional account. The result was the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Beloved.

“The use of imagination in the creative arts,” Peter-son says, “invites people to challenge their own assump-tions and sense of complacency.”

We know that the current generation [of students] has a great interest in unsolved ques-tions concerning race.” —Ira Berlin

MARYLAND FACULTY AT THE FOREFRONT OF A TIMELY, RELEVANT DISCUSSION

Photo by Paul Slaughter

NONPROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE PAIDPERMIT No. 10COLLEGE PARK, MDOffice of the Vice President for Research

2133 Lee BuildingUniversity of MarylandCollege Park, MD 20742-5121

Old Traditions, Modern Stories “African-American theater tells the stories of the post-diaspora experiences of Africans in America,” says Walter Dallas (left), senior artist in residence in the Department of Theatre.

Dallas is a critically acclaimed director and playwright with more than three decades of national and international work to his credit. He was lead writer for the Grammy award-winning

documentary, Standing in the Shadows of Motown, and di-rected the world premiere of August Wilson’s Seven Guitars.

Dallas has come to Maryland to teach and share his experi-ences with students, fellow faculty members and the community

at large. “I want to give my students the skills that allow them to go into the profession and have careers instead of occasional jobs,” he says.

His most recent work, Lazarus, Unstoned, combines traditional African storytell-ing techniques with contemporary media, including hip-hop, spoken word, crunk and postmodern dance.

The opera features traditional African rituals that Dallas observed from his many trips abroad, while also using a potpourri of music that reflects his own roots in African-American gospel, pop and rhythm and blues.

“In order to know fully who we are as a people—and as a culture—it is important that we understand and celebrate all of these stories,” both old and new, Dallas says. m

The African-American

experience is a topic of thoughtful,

earnest exploration in the College of Arts and

Humanities, whether on the page,

on the stage or in the digital world.

To learn how, look inside …

Impact is published by the Office of the Vice President for Research and is mailed to members of the mid-Atlantic research community and others who have an interest in the latest research at the University of Maryland.

Your comments and feedback are welcome; please e-mail your comments to impact@umd.edu or fax them to Anne Geronimo, executive editor, at 301.314.9569.

If for any reason you would not like to receive this publication, contact us using the same information above.

publisherMel BernsteinVice President for Research

executive editorAnne GeronimoDirector for Research Development

managing editorTom Ventsias

creative director and photographerJohn T. Consoli

art directorJeanette J. Nelson

cover photoChristopher Anderson

Harlem Renaissance Revisited What might Langston Hughes, the poet and playwright at the heart of the Harlem Renaissance, say about the election of Barack Obama? Or how would Zora Neale Hurston or W.E.B. DuBois—also major players in the flowering of black artists and intellectuals in 1920s Harlem—respond to today’s hip-hop culture? Students are addressing these questions and more by commu-nicating through Second Life in an online world called Virtual Harlem, a vibrant place where the Cotton Club is in full swing and thoughtful discussions on race, music and poetry abound.

Zita Nunes, associate professor of comparative literature, leads a class of Maryland undergraduates

who communicate online with peers in France and at Central Missouri State University, where the project originated. All are required to thoroughly research the historical figures they represent online, getting to know the person’s work and how he or she might have dealt with social or aesthetic issues. “We wanted to develop new ways to make this material relevant, and were pleasantly surprised to see students quoting ex-tensively from an author’s work in many of their online conversations,” Nunes says. For more information on innovative education, research and scholarship in the arts and humanities at the University of Maryland, visit www.arhu.umd.edu. m

research & education spotlight

Stop, Look and ListenJefferson Pinder produces provocative art, such as “Afro Cosmonaut” (shown at right), a self-portrait that captures the conflict of breaking free. “I consider my art to be passive activism—it’s there for the tak-ing if people are interested in probing deeper,” says Pinder, an assistant professor of art.

He sees his role as an artist as not necessarily defining the African-American experi-ence, but instead using the rich histories and hard-earned knowledge from the African-American community as a muse of inspiration. “My job is to help people ask ques-tions,” Pinder says, “ques-tions not only about the black experience, but also about the human experience.” m

impact profiles

Before he became a senior artist in residence, Walter Dallas was a guest director at Maryland for “The Amen Corner” (below), James Baldwin’s play that examines the role of the church in the African-American family.

ZITA NUNES

Image courtesy of Bryan Carter, developer of Virtual Harlem.

IMPACTVol. 4 No. 1 | Spring 2009

NONPROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE PAIDPERMIT No. 10COLLEGE PARK, MDOffice of the Vice President for Research

2133 Lee BuildingUniversity of MarylandCollege Park, MD 20742-5121

Old Traditions, Modern Stories “African-American theater tells the stories of the post-diaspora experiences of Africans in America,” says Walter Dallas (left), senior artist in residence in the Department of Theatre.

Dallas is a critically acclaimed director and playwright with more than three decades of national and international work to his credit. He was lead writer for the Grammy award-winning

documentary, Standing in the Shadows of Motown, and di-rected the world premiere of August Wilson’s Seven Guitars.

Dallas has come to Maryland to teach and share his experi-ences with students, fellow faculty members and the community

at large. “I want to give my students the skills that allow them to go into the profession and have careers instead of occasional jobs,” he says.

His most recent work, Lazarus, Unstoned, combines traditional African storytell-ing techniques with contemporary media, including hip-hop, spoken word, crunk and postmodern dance.

The opera features traditional African rituals that Dallas observed from his many trips abroad, while also using a potpourri of music that reflects his own roots in African-American gospel, pop and rhythm and blues.

“In order to know fully who we are as a people—and as a culture—it is important that we understand and celebrate all of these stories,” both old and new, Dallas says. m

The African-American

experience is a topic of thoughtful,

earnest exploration in the College of Arts and

Humanities, whether on the page,

on the stage or in the digital world.

To learn how, look inside …

Impact is published by the Office of the Vice President for Research and is mailed to members of the mid-Atlantic research community and others who have an interest in the latest research at the University of Maryland.

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publisherMel BernsteinVice President for Research

executive editorAnne GeronimoDirector for Research Development

managing editorTom Ventsias

creative director and photographerJohn T. Consoli

art directorJeanette J. Nelson

cover photoChristopher Anderson

Harlem Renaissance Revisited What might Langston Hughes, the poet and playwright at the heart of the Harlem Renaissance, say about the election of Barack Obama? Or how would Zora Neale Hurston or W.E.B. DuBois—also major players in the flowering of black artists and intellectuals in 1920s Harlem—respond to today’s hip-hop culture? Students are addressing these questions and more by commu-nicating through Second Life in an online world called Virtual Harlem, a vibrant place where the Cotton Club is in full swing and thoughtful discussions on race, music and poetry abound.

Zita Nunes, associate professor of comparative literature, leads a class of Maryland undergraduates

who communicate online with peers in France and at Central Missouri State University, where the project originated. All are required to thoroughly research the historical figures they represent online, getting to know the person’s work and how he or she might have dealt with social or aesthetic issues. “We wanted to develop new ways to make this material relevant, and were pleasantly surprised to see students quoting ex-tensively from an author’s work in many of their online conversations,” Nunes says. For more information on innovative education, research and scholarship in the arts and humanities at the University of Maryland, visit www.arhu.umd.edu. m

research & education spotlight

Stop, Look and ListenJefferson Pinder produces provocative art, such as “Afro Cosmonaut” (shown at right), a self-portrait that captures the conflict of breaking free. “I consider my art to be passive activism—it’s there for the tak-ing if people are interested in probing deeper,” says Pinder, an assistant professor of art.

He sees his role as an artist as not necessarily defining the African-American experi-ence, but instead using the rich histories and hard-earned knowledge from the African-American community as a muse of inspiration. “My job is to help people ask ques-tions,” Pinder says, “ques-tions not only about the black experience, but also about the human experience.” m

impact profiles

Before he became a senior artist in residence, Walter Dallas was a guest director at Maryland for “The Amen Corner” (below), James Baldwin’s play that examines the role of the church in the African-American family.

ZITA NUNES

Image courtesy of Bryan Carter, developer of Virtual Harlem.

IMPACTVol. 4 No. 1 | Spring 2009