Sabbatical Presentation by Zosha Stuckey, Department of English
Zosha Stuckey, Associate Professor in the Department of English, has prepared a virtual talk derived from her research sabbatical. The video of her talk may be viewed here: Ghostwriting for Racial Justice: Barbara Johns, Speechwriting, & Critical Imagination.
Special thanks to the Moton Museum, Dr. Cainan Townsend, Dr. Cassandra Newby-Alexander, and to Towson University.
Abstract:
On April 23, 1951 at age 16, Barbara Johns delivered a sobering speech to the student body of Moton High School in Prince Edward County, Virginia that catalyzed a walk-out and strike to protest the unequal conditions at their all-black high school. But that’s not all. Once securing the support of the NAACP, the students at Moton went on to file Davis v. Prince Edward County which became the only student-led initiative consolidated into the landmark Brown v. Board of Education. It may come as no surprise that the walk-out speech which led to a school strike, that Johns delivered to over 400 of her high school peers, was not recorded; nor does any transcript remain. Thus, I ask: how does a writer compose a re-creation when no original text remains? In this talk, I tell the story of Johns’ speech. Then, I decipher via an interview with Dr. Cassandra Newby-Alexander–the “ghostwriter” of the Johns’ speech–the method used to construct a re-enactment so that other writers can ethically compose similar reparatory projects.
For more information, contact Dr. Stuckey at zstuckey@towson.edu.
Categorised in: General
This post was written by Zyne, Paula C.