John Mitchell Jr Program for History Justice and Race

New exhibit highlights the hidden work of African American naturalists

Colleen Rich — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 21:45:52 +0000

New exhibit highlights the hidden work of African American naturalists Colleen Rich Wed, 01/05/2022 - 16:45

George Mason University scholars from the John Mitchell, Jr. Program for History, Justice, and Race at the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution and the Department of Environmental Science and Policy (ESP) of the College of Science have teamed up to create an online exhibit highlighting and acknowledging the hidden history of enslaved naturalists.

Charles Chavis, assistant professor of conflict resolution and history at the Carter School, and Travis Gallo, assistant professor in ESP, were awarded a $20,000 grant from the National Park Service’s 400 Years of African American History Commission to research, design and create "The Enslaved Naturalist" exhibit. Housed in the John Mitchell, Jr. Program Digital Museum and curated by Chavis, Gallo, Mason doctoral student Laura Brannan, and researcher Ajanet Rountree, "The Enslaved Naturalist" is the Mitchell Program’s flagship exhibit.

Between 1619 and 1863, enslaved and free African Americans contributed significantly to the current understanding of natural history, particularly in the United States. But their stories are not included in American classrooms, textbooks, or discussions. Men like Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, Carl Linnaeus, and Aldo Leopold have places in the accepted narratives—but folks like Harriet Tubman, Jenny Dugan, Brister Freeman, and York have been intentionally excluded.

The exhibit aims to promote narrative change by introducing learners of every age and background to the complex and expansive contributions that enslaved African Americans have made to our understanding of, and inextricable relationship with, the natural environment.

The exhibit is buoyed by original research and scholarship, alongside oral history interviews with Pauline Copes Johnson (great-great-grandniece of Harriet Tubman), Rita Daniels (great-great-great grandniece of Harriet Tubman), Ranger Angela Crenshaw (Maryland Park Service), Dr. Iris Barnes (Lillie Carroll Jackson Museum), and Chris Haley (Maryland State Archives). Oral histories for this exhibit were coordinated by Jack Del Nunzio, oral history coordinator and research historian at the John Mitchell, Jr. Program, with support from Joshua O’Neal.

The curators also recognize the support of the Harriet Tubman Learning Center to the success of this exhibit.

“This online exhibit creatively merges compelling visual artwork, scholarly research, primary documents, a digital map, and embedded interviews with expert historians and original oral histories with the descendants of Harriet Tubman," said RJ Ramey of auut studio, an industry-leading digital humanities studio that helped to design exhibit. "The project’s exploration of the enslaved man York, for example, brings numerous direct entries to light from the journal of William Clark. An interactive map allows readers to locate the eight islands that, to this day, bear the name of York as they were named by the expedition.”

This project joins a recent movement within the United States and the world, seeking to amplify the voices of people of African descent who have been historically suppressed. For example, on October 17, 2021, the organization Black in Natural History Museums launched the Twitter campaign #BlackInNHM to begin sharing stories of enslaved people that contributed to current scientific knowledge and the evolution of natural history museums. "The Enslaved Naturalist" shares the same objectives: to highlight and celebrate individuals who have been historically excluded from natural history lessons.

Chavis and Gallo said they hope that educators, students, and amateur naturalists will all take something away from this exhibit. Educators will have access to resources that allow them to further diversify their educational materials, and students and young naturalists will be exposed to broader representation in the fields of natural history, botany, ecology, wildlife science, and conservation.

In the near future, the Mitchell Program will be partnering with like-minded organizations, such as the National Park Service and the Harriet Tubman Learning Center, to produce and distribute K-12 curriculum as a companion to "The Enslaved Naturalist" exhibit.

The exhibit will remain a work-in-progress. Moving forward, Gallo will mentor an undergraduate researcher through Mason’s Office of Student Scholarship, Creative Activities and Research (OSCAR). This student will have the opportunity to develop narratives about Black naturalists and expand the number of subjects covered by the exhibit.

"For two centuries, these naturalists did not receive the just rewards and recognition for their contributions," said Gallo. "Now is the time to acknowledge their place as early naturalists and rectify the way we teach about the great contributors to our modern world."

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John Mitchell Jr Program for History Justice and Race

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Mason team brings to life untold narratives of anti-lynching heroes

Mariam Aburdeineh — Wed, 12 May 2021 17:05:54 +0000

Mason team brings to life untold narratives of anti-lynching heroes Mariam Aburdeineh Wed, 05/12/2021 - 13:05

In This Story

Charles Chavis

Charles Chavis. Photo by: Ron Aira

Students and researchers at George Mason University’s John Mitchell, Jr. Program (JMJP) are working hard to create a digital museum that sheds light on civil rights pioneers with largely untold stories.

Thanks to an $8,000 grant from Virginia Humanities, the team is building a digital exhibit on the life of anti-lynching advocate John Mitchell, Jr., and his colleagues Frederick Douglass and Ida B. Wells. The grant is part of $181,500 in funding awarded to 25 nonprofits.

“As a conflict resolution school, we believe there’s so much power in history and understanding leaders like Mitchell, as we look to deal with and engage with the modern-day issues we’re facing around race,” said Carter School professor Charles Chavis.

Mitchell, among other leaders, laid the foundation for the transformational work in the 1950s and ‘60s around civil rights, Chavis said. The Mitchell Program’s namesake was a prominent anti-lynching advocate, journalist, newspaper owner, and teacher.

Laura Brannan. Photo provided.

“Our main charge with the Mitchell Program is to complicate historical narrative,” Chavis said. “As leaders are oftentimes overlooked—or their words are only understood as speaking to historical issues—this exhibit sheds light on how we can learn so much, not only from the rhetoric, but from the lives of these individuals who risked their lives to fight for human rights.”

The exhibit also highlights international impact, said Carter School PhD student Ajanet Rountree, as these leaders extended their anti-lynching advocacy abroad.

The grant will allow the team, which also includes Mason PhD student Laura Brannan, who is studying history, and American University master’s student Jack Del Nunzio, to consult with leading historians on the exhibit, and gather oral narratives from living descendants of Mitchell. The exhibit will go live on the JMJP website in Fall 2021, and they have partnered with TheirStory to produce 50 oral histories.

“These are strategically silenced narratives, so the source materials we’re relying on are seeking to dismantle some of the silences,” Del Nunzio said, adding that in addition to oral histories, they’re sourcing political cartoons, Black newspapers, written correspondences, and more.

“I’m incredibly humbled to help support this initiative,” said Kimberly Wilson, the great-great niece of Mitchell and chief human resource officer for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

Ajanet Rountree. Photo provided.

“I hope people take away that [Mitchell] was a man who gave everything to people, and really wanted to make a difference for everyone,” she said. “I’m hoping it will inspire conversation about his work and how it applies today, and that [JMJP] will help students learn how to use their voice to be advocates and allies, but also to set policies.”

Brannan, who is helping upload and contextualize exhibit materials, said connecting history to the present is of critical importance for inspiring change. The exhibit will also serve as a powerful tool for educators across the country.

“This work honors those who were doing peacebuilding because they were trying to survive and because they believed in the American Dream in spite of it,” Chavis said. “Their sacrifice has to be honored and studied.”

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Carter School Faculty

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Reconstructing their narratives: $300,000 DOJ grant elevates Mason’s lynching research

Mariam Aburdeineh — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 17:43:08 +0000

Reconstructing their narratives: $300,000 DOJ grant elevates Mason’s lynching research Mariam Aburdeineh Fri, 12/11/2020 - 12:43

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Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

John Mitchell Jr Program for History Justice and Race

Justice and Race

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Black Lives Matter

undergraduate research opportunities

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In This Story

Charles Chavis

Of the more than 4,000 lynchings of Black Americans that took place in the United States between 1865 and 1950, at least 43 cases occurred in Maryland.

George Mason University’s John Mitchell Jr. Program (JMJP), housed within the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, has been helping research several of these cases since 2019 to support the Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In October, they received news that they will be taking their research to the next level, thanks to a $300,000 Department of Justice grant they helped secure for the commission.

Charles Chavis speaks at a dialogue on memorialization in December 2019. Photo provided.

“States, in terms of their narratives, don’t shed light on these historic traumas,” said Carter School professor Charles Chavis, who is on the board of directors for the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project. “We wanted to give life to the relatives of victims whose loved ones had been forgotten.”

The grant, which is part of the Emmett Till Cold Case Investigations Program, will allow the commission and JMJP to supercharge their research.

“We work directly with the relatives in the sentence that we identify because we believe there is a direct line that can be drawn from the racial terror and lynchings of old to the existing racial terror and anti-blackness that we continue to see manifest in 2020,” Chavis said. “[With the grant] we’re now able to hire expert genealogists to help us track down the relatives [of lynching victims] so that they can be a part of the process.”

$100,000 is set aside for the communities and families of the victims for restorative justice reform, said Chavis, who founded JMJP to address narrative change and social transformation. The rest of the funds will go toward live reconciliation-style hearings.

“We work through each individual case in the various communities with key expert witnesses, relatives, descendants bearing witness to this history,” Chavis said.

Before that happens, Chavis said the Mason team helps with forensic reconstruction, which involves leaning on existing research and records to put together a mosaic of the case.

The Maryland State Archives have been key to their efforts.

“Students have been able to work directly with the research, documenting cases, doing census data, pulling death certificates, verifying biographical data and pulling together narratives of individuals,” Chavis said.

In the process, undergraduate and graduate students are gaining hands-on activist and research experience.

“What has been most important for me is being able to put some of what I learned about narrative approaches to racial and social justice into practice,” said master’s in conflict analysis and resolution student Audrey Williams, who is one of five students supporting the commission.

She said the project has also helped her better understand her role in creating change.

“You have to recommit to confronting anti-Black racism every day,” Williams said. “What that means for people who already benefit from the system is committing, with humility, to listening to and platforming the voices of colleagues, friends, and community members who have been harmed, and to becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable. The best place for this entire process to start is in our own hallways, classrooms and relationships.”

Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

John Mitchell Jr Program for History Justice and Race

Justice and Race

Conflict Resolution

Narrative

Black African Heritage

Black Lives Matter

undergraduate research opportunities

Undergraduate Education

Campus News

Mason’s John Mitchell Jr. Program is putting activism in action

Mariam Aburdeineh — Fri, 04 Sep 2020 05:00:00 +0000

Mason’s John Mitchell Jr. Program is putting activism in action Mariam Aburdeineh Fri, 09/04/2020 - 01:00

What does social justice look like during a pandemic and a time of racial turmoil?

George Mason University’s John Mitchell Jr. Program for History, Justice and Race (JMJP) has been busy answering that question.

“We started off trying to figure out a way to promote racial healing,” said JMJP founder and Carter School professor Charles Chavis. “Our work is twofold: promoting narrative change and social transformation.”

Members of Mason's John Mitchell, Jr. Program attended the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington on August 28, 2020. From left to right: Jordan Mrvos (Carter School MS graduate ‘20), Ajanet Rountree (Carter School PhD student), Charles L. Chavis, Jr. (Carter School assistant professor and JMJP founding director), Audrey Williams (Carter School MS student), Chinyere Erondu (Carter School MS student). Photo provided.

A theme of their work has been having conversations about systemic racism. Ideally, these discussions would be held face-to-face, Chavis said, but that wasn’t possible due to COVID-19.

The virtual efforts have been surging with support.

In the summer, JMJP hosted “Mondays in June,” a virtual series with Andy Shallal, owner of the D.C. restaurant chain Busboys and Poets, to discuss race. The combined events had more than 15,000 views and led to a partnership with Washington, D.C., radio station WPFW.

“We were granted the opportunity to take our online Facebook show to the radio world,” Chavis said, adding that the first show will air on September 14. “We’re extremely excited.”

Members of JMJP post "Let us take courage," a quote from John Mitchell, Jr. on persevering in the struggle for civil rights, with signage at the March on Washington 2020. Photo provided.

Founded in 2019, JMJP is named after John Mitchell Jr., an anti-lynching advocate, journalist, and Virginia politician who lived at the turn of the 20th century. With a focus on activism on the local level, all at Mason and in the community are invited to get involved.

“Anti-racism is not the problem of people of color, but our problem as a country,” Chavis said. “The program represents a space where everyone who wants to be about social justice and peace can do that, not only through attending events, but doing work around nearing change, curriculum development and public humanities.”

For students, participation means experiential learning.

“The program gives us a platform to call out injustice and point to places in history where those injustices originated,” said Ajanet Rountree, JMJP program coordinator and Carter School PhD student. “That allows us to question what we’re going to do about it, how we can change the trajectory of our lives as individuals, Americans, and global citizens.”

Beyond discussions, JMJP took their activism to the streets and marched in the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington held at the National Mall in August.

March on Washington 2020. Photo provided.

“We can’t say we are committed to conflict resolution if we are unwilling to be in the streets and be where the people are who are facing conflict,” Rountree said.

Jonathan Prinz, son of civil rights leader Rabbi Joachim Prinz, attended the original March on Washington with his father. He was also a guest speaker with Susannah Heschel, daughter of civil rights leader Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, for JMJP’s fall inaugural event.

Prinz said he notices a difference in the movements of the 1960s versus today.

“There’s something very spontaneous about [the Black Lives Matter movement] and something leader-less about it,” Prinz said. “A lot of it has to do with a wonderful generation of young people who are engaged.”

Students in JMJP are one example of that.

“The heart of what we want to be is a beacon not only that promotes peace, but also provides students with opportunities to step outside the box and really connect what they’re doing to social justice,” Chavis said.

John Mitchell Jr Program for History Justice and Race

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