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Black Voices at Rutgers
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Douglass College (Rutgers)
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Interview: Busia, Abena, 2015 Founding member of the Center for Women's Global Leadership and Center for African Studies, Abena Busia is an Associate Professor in the Department of Women's and Gender Studies and the Department of English at Rutgers. She is also co-director and co-editor of the groundbreaking Women Writing Africa Project, a multi-volume anthology published by the Feminist Press at CUNY. Busia articulates the significance of communities and leadership at Rutgers and describes negotiating a space within Rutgers to consider women's experiences, blackness, and African womanness. She emphasizes the value of a single-sex education and describes Douglass as a place for nurturing women's leadership. -
Interview: Carmichael, Rosalind, 2015 Dr. Rosalind Carmichael was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina. She attended Douglass College and graduated in 1972 with a degree in English. She earned her Masters in Education from the Rutgers Graduate School of Education (1977), and her PhD in African American Studies from Temple University (2000). Dr. Carmichael worked as an English teacher at Malcolm X Shabazz High School for over thirty years. -
Interview: Harris, M. Wilma, 2015 M. Wilma Harris was born in 1944 in Paulsboro, New Jersey. She attended Douglass College and graduated with a history degree in the Class of 1966. She went on to earn her master's degree in Governmental Administration from the University of Pennsylvania. Harris worked at Douglass College as Counselor-in-Residence, Assistant Dean of Students and Associate Dean of Students. In 1977, Harris began working at Prudential and spent the rest of her career there, eventually becoming Vice President of Human Resources. Harris has an honorary doctorate from St. Peter's College. -
Interview: Morrison Rodriguez, Barbara, 2015 Dr. Barbara Morrison-Rodriguez was born in Washington, DC in 1947. She graduated from McKinley Technical High School in Washington, DC, and went on to Douglass College. Barbara graduated with a degree in Sociology. In 1979, she earned a Master's Degree in Social Welfare Research from Columbia University's School of Social Welfare and later, a PhD in Social Welfare Research and Evaluation. -
Interview: Shuford, Deborah, 2018 Deborah Shuford was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1959. Her parents grew up in Lowndes County, Alabama, before moving to Newark. For most of her childhood, her family lived in the Weequahic section. Deborah attended Chancellor Elementary School and Arts High School in Newark. During one summer in high school, Deborah attended the Technical Enrichment Program at Stevens Tech in Hoboken. From 1977 to 1981, Deborah went to Douglass College. She began as an engineering major and switched to journalism and English literature. Deborah earned her bachelor's degree in the Douglass College Class of 1981. Deborah worked for many years in the communications field. She interned at WOR-AM talk radio. She worked at ABC Radio and Television Network and then at the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). In 2001, Deborah began studying for her master's degree at American University. After earning her master's in film in 2003, Deborah worked as a professor at institutions of higher education, including McDaniel College, Howard University and Rutgers University, where she developed a variety of courses in film studies and African American studies. She also worked as a producer, writer and documentary filmmaker. In addition to being an active alumna at Rutgers-New Brunswick, Deborah has volunteered at the New Jersey Tree Foundation and as a career coach at New Start. In the first interview session, recorded on June 8, 2018, Deborah discusses her family's history in Lowndes County, Alabama, notably her grandmother's involvement in the voter registration efforts spurred on by Stokely Carmichael and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee in the summer of 1965. In discussing her childhood, Deborah talks about her family, siblings, parents' careers, traveling, education and neighborhoods in Newark. In the second interview, Deborah talks about the military service of her family members. She traces her family's roots in Alabama and her parents' migration to New Jersey. Growing up in the Weequahic section of Newark, she compares and contrasts the city before and after the Newark rebellion of 1967. In the third interview session, Deborah discusses her experiences during high school at Arts High in Newark. In 1977, she began attending Douglass College as an engineering major. She switched to journalism and recalls memorable professors Roger Cohen in journalism and Cheryl Wall in English. She describes student life and traditions at Douglass and the impact that Dean Jewel Plummer Cobb had upon her, as well as the college. -
Interview: Venable, Bernice, 2015 Bernice Proctor Venable grew up in Somerville, New Jersey. In the interview, she discusses being raised by a foster parent after the age of thirteen and the support she received from her community in Somerville. She went to Douglass College, where she sang in the Rutgers University Choir and worked as a reporter for The Caellian. She majored in Spanish. Later, she earned her M.A. in Spanish Language and Literature from Rutgers, M.A. in Guidance and Counseling from Rider, and doctorate in Educational Administration from Rutgers. She went on to a career in education as a teacher, guidance counselor and administrator in Franklin, Somerville, Elizabeth, Irvington and Trenton. She served as Superintendent in Trenton for six years and in Irvington for two years. She testified on behalf of the plaintiffs in Abbott v. Burke, the landmark decision in which the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that the state must ensure parity in educational funding between poorer urban school districts and affluent suburban districts. In 1992, she received an honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from Trenton State College (now The College of New Jersey). She and her spouse funded a computer lab at the Hale Center that is dedicated to Paul Robeson. After retiring as an educator, she joined AlphaGraphics, working in sales and marketing. -
Interview: Wall, Cheryl A., 2015 Cheryl Wall (1948-2020) was a Board of Governors Zora Neale Hurston Distinguished Professor of English and former Chair of the English Department. Wall was an author and a specialist in Black women's writing, the Harlem Renaissance, and Zora Neale Hurston. She was a co-chair of the President's Council on Institutional Diversity and Equity. Joining Douglass College in 1972 as an assistant instructor, in her interview Wall described her role in the development of the college and its legacy today. She discussed the intrinsic value of the humanities in the context of a liberal arts education, student activism on campus, and the evolution of the Douglass Woman.