Legacy Dance Team
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2nd Annual Black History Month Showcase
Thursday, February 25, 2016
7:00 PM
Sibert Th eatre
McG aw Fine Arts Center
Illino is Co llege
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This performance contains graphic content and adult language.
Adwoa Anima Addo
Alyssa Copeland
Terranika Davis
Teeya Jones
Titiana Jordan
Keshaunna Moon
Samantha Posley
Darius Redmond
Kenshunna Tolliver
Shavaughn Wallace
Taylor Wallace
Shakora Winkfield
Advisors:
Ms. Joyce Mann, Coordinator of Diversity and Inclusion
Dr. Daleah Goodwin, Visiting Assistant Professor of History
Outcomes Report prepared and submitted by
Dr. Daleah B. Goodwin, Visiting Assistant Professor History
[email protected]
Convocation Student Attendance: 226
Students Involved in the Production (performers and stage crew): 26
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Legacy Dance Team’s 2nd Annual Black History Month Showcase offered meaningful insight and
inspired productive conversations about the African American experience at Illinois College, in
Jacksonville, and race relations in America. Through dance, spoken word, and music, Legacy Dance
Team represented and honored multiple aspects of African American history and culture from the
perspective of African American lives. Skits such as “The Salon” and spoken word renderings such as
“What if I am a Black Woman?” demonstrated the spectrum of African American experiences and
paid special attention to that of African American women. Guiding the students on the historical and
cultural journey were Ms. Joyce Mann, Coordinator of Diversity and Inclusion and Dr. Daleah
Goodwin, Visiting Assistant Professor of History. Ms. Mann and Dr. Goodwin contextualized each
scene for the audience and situated African American history and culture as both an integral part of
American history, and as a unique subject of historical investigation.
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The Showcase drew on course material taught in the following disciplines/programs: History,
Political Science, Gender and Women's Studies, Psychology, Sociology, English, Music, Philosophy,
Religion, and Theatre and reflected the following components integral to THE BLUEPrint:
• Writing: The performance featured original works by IC students.
• Speaking: The performance contained monologues and skits.
• US Diversity/Global Awareness and Cultures/Worldview: The performance
highlighted the experiences of African Americans, as well as Africans throughout the diaspora.
Examples-“The Motherland” was a collaborative production between African American and
Nigerian students. “Rhythm of Africa” a poem by Edward Kofi Louis drew connections between
stepping, West African culture and African American culture.
• Creative Expressions: All dance and theatrical performances are original works created by
members of Legacy Dance Team.
• Social Issues: The performance addressed pressing social issues such as black sexuality,
police brutality against black bodies, race relations, constructions of beauty, inequality in the
education system, and social movements such as “Black Lives Matter” and “Care Free Black
Girls.”
Following the Showcase Dr. Goodwin sent 226 students a link to a Google Survey about the
convocation. 76 students responded.
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When asked to describe how African American history was taught in their elementary and high
school, several students wrote statements such as “African American history was taught the basic
way” or “it was the standard history.” Most students noted that their elementary and secondary school
summed African American history into three categories: slavery, the Civil Rights Movement, and
famous/important people (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and Harriet Tubman). It is
obvious that programs like Legacy’s Showcase are necessary to expose IC students to the myriad of
American experiences, as well as expand, challenge, and complicate master narratives (or “the basic
way” or “standard history”) of African American history.
Students reported the strongest connections between the Showcase content and courses in the
History, Sociology, Modern Languages (French), Theatre, and Communication and Rhetorical Studies
Departments.
Students identified the poem “Angry Black Woman” by Porsha O (performed by Deja Washington),
the scene “Black Vaginas” in which Kenshaunna Tolliver performed an original solo dance piece while
Dr. Goodwin read the monologue “Respect” by Kimberle Crenshaw, and the group performance of
“What if I am a Black Woman?” by Unknown as the selections that resonated with them the most.
These three pieces highlight the general frustration amongst black women of not only not being
heard, but of being silenced. Overarching themes from the selections include: policing black women’s
bodies, black female sexuality, sexual exploitation, sexual objectification and commodification, selfesteem, and self-care for black women.
While most students listed their need for Convo Credit as a factor that prompted them to attend the
Showcase, students equally noted that they attended the Showcase because they had friends
performing in the Showcase and that they were interested in Black History. We can conclude that IC
students enjoy the opportunity to support their classmates and appreciate venues for learning about
Black History in meaningful ways.
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The documents that follow contain the Showcase program and the results from the Google Survey
about the convocation.
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Legacy Dance Team 2nd Annual Black History Month Showcase Program
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“What if I am a Black Woman?” by Unknown
Legacy Dance Team
The Motherland
Adwoa Anima Addo, Terranika Davis, Samantha Posley, Kenshunna Tolliver, and Shavaughn Wallace
Rhythm of Africa by Edward Kofi Louis
Teeya Jones
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Step!
Ka-La Harris, Titiana Jordan, and Shavaughn Wallace
Let the Church Say “Amen!”
Terranika Davis, Teeya Jones, Titiana Jordan, Keshaunna Moon, Samantha Posley,
Shavaughn Wallace, Taylor Wallace, and Shakora Winkfield
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Black Vaginas
Kenshunna Tolliver
“Untitled” by Darius Redmond
The Salon
Legacy Dance Team
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#CareFreeBlackGirl
Legacy Dance Team
Let’s talk about Freedom
Legacy Dance Team
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Powerful
Legacy Dance Team featuring Keshaunna Moon
“Angry Black Woman” by Porsha O
Deja Washington
“Pronounced” by Dr. Daleah Goodwin
Legacy Dance Team
Unapologetic Blackness
Samantha Posley and Shakora Winkfield
Formation
Alyssa Copeland, Terranika Davis, Teeya Jones, Titiana Jordan, Keshaunna Moon, Samantha Posley,
Kenshunna Tolliver, Taylor Wallace, and Shakora Winkfield
“Phenomenal Woman” by Maya Angelou
Legacy Dance Team
Question 1:
Have you taken (or are you currently taking) HI 197/HI 198: The African American
Experience at Illinois College?
Answer:
Yes – 10
No – 66
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No
Yes
Yes – 13
No – 63
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Answer:
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Question 2: Have you taken an African American history course at any school (Jr. High/High
School/College)?
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50
40
30
20
10
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No
Yes
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Question 3: In 100 words or less, please describe how African American history was taught in your
elementary and high school.
A sample from the student responses are listed below.
Mostly from a textbook and it was only talked about through February.
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It was just the standard history.
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Mostly talked about slavery and how African Americans fought for equal rights in
America
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I can't actually recall being taught specifically African American history.
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I only remember being taught about famous African Americans here and there.
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It really wasn't taught aside from the Civil Rights Movement.
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We were not really taught about African American history. My school was a very
small (175 people) high school that was all white. I wish there would have been
opportunities to take more courses.
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Briefly went over the slave trade, but focused more on slavery and the Civil War.
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We only every talked about Slaves then we talked about the Civil Rights movement
and all the documentaries to the court cases.
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There were some units in my American history class regarding slavery and later the
Civil Rights movement, but we never went very in-depth.
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The history of African Americans was talked about more in passing than anything.
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Answer:
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They taught us for the most part the basics, primarily Martin Luther King Jr.
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During Black History Month teachers would incorporate African American figures in
a play that would be presented to the elementary as reenactment that was significant
to shaping African American life. We would have a lesson to teach us on the history
before students acted out the play.
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My history classes in high school consisted of going over the different wars briefly.
We never went in depth into any part of history except how the wars was fought. We
were not taught much about African American history.
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We talked about it in US History courses: mostly slavery and the Civil Rights
movement. We did touch upon it at the Chicago World Fair and in the 1920's.
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I think in grade school I just learned the basics like MLK, Rosa Parks. In high school
I learned a lot about it. We watched educational movies like The Butler and we did
various projects.
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It was taught in the basic way that it's supposed to specifically during African
American History Month.
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It wasn't taught at all in my lower income elementary school I first went to. It was
also in a more dominantly Hispanic and white community. However, in the more
diverse and higher income community I moved to, it was taught during February.
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Basically African American history was taught as slave history, with more emphasis
on African American history during the 60's as well.
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I do not believe I was really taught much about African American history in
elementary or high school. I was taught about specific African American leaders who
had an impact not the United States and World.
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I felt as though I was taught through the book. So whatever was in the book, that is
what I needed to know, but I feel that it goes beyond that. There is so much more to
learn and everything has a deeper meaning, but since I learned it through the book, I
was taught things such as, African Americans were mistreated from Caucasians., etc.
There is way more deeper meaning behind those words and people don't realize it.
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In most of my elementary and high school years, African American history was
taught through the slave experience and how they overcame this and gained their
rights. Other than that I learned how African Americans got the right to vote, the
segregation, right to education and so on and so forth.
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It isn't taught they try to hide and during the month of February the only talk about
MLK for example and all of our African Americans greats. They don't teach what
really happened or what happens behind closed doors to black people. They don't
teach you in elementary that if you black you will be treated a certain way for the rest
of your life. Basically they try to hide slavery instead of educating us about it.
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To be honest, I don't really remember much about it. I know slavery was covered
very briefly as a terrible institution. The psychology of it was never covered. Racism
was covered a little in one of my sociology classes and came up sometimes in a
couple of my other courses. High school really gave me very little information on
African American history.
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There was half of a chapter in my American History class about the Harlem
Renaissance and various African American writers. Other than that, there was
nothing.
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We basically learned about African American history exclusively during black history
month in elementary school. It’s really crazy because we only had one white student
in our class and the school was predominately African American. In high school we
didn't really have African American history courses at all. Again it’s crazy because the
minorities outweighed the white people in attendance.
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It was taught in a matter-of-fact and necessity way rather than a proud and extensive
way.
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We learned about mostly slavery. Which included some of the important people like
Harriet Tubman, Fredrick Douglas and Sojourner Truth. It wasn't in real great
detail.
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My middle school classes did in regards to African American history is one chapter in
history class about slavery, and it was very basic. In high school my AP US history
class went into much more depth, talking about the triangle trade, the middle
voyage, and the horrible treatment of slaves in the pre civil war south.
•
African American history was scarcely taught in high school. All we were taught was
about slave, boycotts and we touched briefly on the treatment of African American
that were not slaves.
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Our education of African American history consisted of basic facts from the start of
the American colonies up until present day. There seemed to be special emphasis on
slavery and the Underground Railroad.
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We didn't really learn about African American history until high school because
when I was in elementary school, we didn't have any African American students so
they didn't feel it necessary for us to learn it.
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In elementary school and in high school, the students were always taught about
Martin Luther King Jr and Harriet Tubman. Never Malcom X or any other women
who helped in the civil right movement.
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Question 4: Did you find connections between this convocation and your courses?
Answer:
Yes – 37
No – 39
Yes - 37
49%
No
Yes
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No - 39
51%
Question 5: If yes, please list courses you have taken or are currently taking that relate to the
convocation.
CO 336 – Rhetoric of Women’s Discourse
CO 311 – Argumentation and Debate
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Answer:
FR 402 – The "Other" in French Film and Text
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GWS 101 – Intro to Gender and Women’s Studies
HI 101 – United States History to 1877
HI 102 – United Stated History since 1877
HI 197 – African American History to 1877
HI 198 – African American History since 1877
HI 231 – Women in U.S. History
HI 398 – Race in American History
SOC 101 – Introduction to Sociology
SOC 302 – Race and Ethnicity
TH 205 – Introduction to Theatre
Misc.:
FR 130
IS 130
SOC 130
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Question 6 – What prompted you to attend this convocation? SELECT ALL THAT APPLY.
Answer:
I have friends performing in the Showcase. – 39
My Professor offered Extra Credit. – 22
I needed Convo Credit. – 56
I was bored. – 4
Someone asked me to go with them. – 26
I am interested in Black History. – 37
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35
25
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My Professor
offered Extra
Credit.
I needed Convo
Credit.
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I have friends
performing in the
Showcase.
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I was bored.
Someone asked I am interested in
me to go with
Black History.
them.
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Question 7: Which dance performance/poetry selections resonated with you the most? SELECT ALL
THAT APPLY.
Poem: “What if I am a Black Woman?” by Unknown – 27
The Motherland – 11
Poem: Rhythm of Africa by Edward Kofi Louis – 8
Step! – 22
Let the Church Say “Amen!” – 18
Dance and Poem: Black Vaginas – 34
Poem: “Untitled” by Darius Redmond – 24
The Salon – 20
#CareFreeBlackGirl – 14
Let’s talk about Freedom – 19
Powerful – 11
Poem: “Angry Black Woman” by Porsha O – 47
Unapologetic Blackness – 13
Formation – 22
Poem: “Phenomenal Woman” by Maya Angelou – 24
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Answer:
Poem: “Phenomenal Woman” by Maya Angelou
Formation
Unapologetic Blackness
Poem: “Angry Black Woman” by Porsha O
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Let’s talk about Freedom
#CareFreeBlackGirl
The Salon
Poem: “Untitled” by Darius Redmond
Dance and Poem: Black Vaginas
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Let the Church Say “Amen!”
Step!
Poem: Rhythm of Africa by Edward Kofi Louis
The Motherland
Poem: “What if I am a Black Woman?” by Unknown
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Question 8: This convocation increased my knowledge of the African American Experience.
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Yes – 73
No – 3
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Answer:
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No
Yes
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