Social Justice | Graphic by Monica Brutto | The Wright State Guardian
Wright State University students shared social justice projects with special guest speaker Lyn Ford who mixed important social justice issues with humor at the university’s third annual Social Justice Fair.
What is the Social Justice Fair?
The Wright State University Social Justice Fair was on April 1 in the Russ Engineering Center rooms 145 and 146.
Dr. Angela Johnson, an English professor and faculty advisor, co-coordinated the event and explained the motivation for the fair, which started with a focus on language arts disciplines.
“I just realized that practically every author that we had had some kind of connection in their books with social justice in some way. I wanted to open it up beyond just English language arts,” Johnson said. “If I make it social justice, then you’ve got social justice in math and stats and sciences and still want to be working on bringing that in.”
Author Lyn Ford
Lyn Ford, author of books including “Affrilachian Tales: Folktales from the African-American Appalachian Tradition” and “Beyond the Briar Patch: Affrilachian Folktales, Food, and Folklore” was the keynote speaker for the fair. Ford mixed humor and personal stories to educate on social justice.
“What’s important to me is to share and enjoy stories,” Ford said. “I’m not brave, I’m not bold, I just like to give folks what I can or what they need, and everybody needs a story.”
Ford talked about Pangea 480 million years ago, when the Appalachian Mountains, the Atlas Mountains of Morocco and the Scottish Highlands were all the same mountain range.
“None of us are really that far apart,” Ford said. “So, when you wound someone else of a different culture, you are actually wounding your brothers, your sisters and yourselves.”
Student stories
Wright State students shared stories and poems about what social justice personally means. Logan MacGregor, a sophomore majoring in middle childhood education, shared a poem about Emmett Till.
“I didn’t know much about him until it was all in that poetry, and I ended up doing some more research on my own time, just kind of read about some stuff, and I was blown away. I am so baffled that I didn’t have, you know, the privilege of learning this in school, and how much of an impact that he made on the civil rights movement,” MacGregor said.
MacGregor’s poem reads as follows:
A beating so brutal, the world had to look.
At Emmett Till’s casket, open like a book.
Bruises so blue, and scars so red.
Like the U.S. Flag, his body did spread.
A fire of justice, for civil rights.
In the ‘50s and ‘60s, we stood a fight.
In a country divided by the day and the night.
Emmitt Till’s death would serve as our flight.
Against the injustice that we have all seen.
Our country’s a nightmare, and also a dream.
Stefanie Wilcox, a high school English teacher and graduate student at Wright State, discussed a concern that came up in the classroom.
“There’s a story about a young man who was accused of kissing another boy. I teach at a Catholic school, so people were very much not okay with the gay thing, but what better place to talk about something than somewhere with people with like-minded values?” Wilcox said. “We’re learning to share our insights and also show dignity and respect to others because that was the theme of the unit.”
Wilcox taught a lesson about bullying in the classroom to better educate tenth and eleventh graders using books taught in class.
“If we can start in literature, we’ve got a practice place, and then we can use our classrooms and safe places, and I love that I’m seeing this in my classroom already, but it’s been fantastic and exhausting,” Wilcox said.
More social justice awareness at Wright State
Johnson is teaching English 2040, Great Books: Literature, at Wright State next spring. The class will focus on an introduction to interpreting literature, using works from various periods and cultures, which students will view in particular social and historical contexts and read for enduring interest.
Johnson discussed the importance of continuing the discussion of important social justice issues in the classroom.
“It’s really concerning to me that we’re becoming more insulated rather than reaching out and learning more about one another. That’s kind of the route of democracy, that we are many within one, that E Pluribus Unum,” Johnson said. “If we’re not learning from one another, just think that’s a hallmark of a healthy civilized society. Attempt to understand and have at least a little bit of respect, if not complete acceptance.”
Johnson extended gratitude to the sponsors, including the Division of Inclusive Excellence, College of Liberal Arts, College of Health, Education and Human Services and Carol H. Cline with the English Program Fund.
