Geneva smitherman
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If canonized, she could become the first Black American saint. “We were so struck by the integrated approach of all the different elements that are being taught and are part of the department. AAAS students already are starting to benefit from these funds. “This is truly just the surface of the work that we are able to do and having more capacity to create these opportunities will definitely continue to grow this excitement.”
Written by Kim Popiolek
Categories: African American and African Studies/Diversity, Equity and Inclusion/Donor/Lansing-East Lansing Impact/Michigan Impact/News
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Geneva Smitherman is a University Distinguished Professor Emerita of English and co-founder of the African American and African Studies doctoral program at Michigan State University.
This allows us to dream big and really gets us imagining all that we can do and where we can go. “I want them to be proud of who they are and not feel ashamed or not knowing anything about themselves.”
The Adrian Dominican Sisters first invested in a scholarship for Black students at Siena Heights University, the Catholic university founded and sponsored by the Adrian Dominican Sisters.
She also plans to provide resources, such as self-care kits, to “better represent all that the department stands for.”
“The Dr. M. Shawn Copeland Experiential Learning Fund allows me to step outside my comfort zone and give back to my community in a unique way,” McAddley said. The purpose of the congregation was to educate Black children and the congregation still exists today.
“To have the support of an external organization that wasn’t part of our everyday work see us so clearly and be so appreciative of our values and practices, enlarges our sense of community and deepens the impact of AAAS, in and beyond the state of Michigan.
“This first gift is significant. There are six of us who are doing the laborious work of running the department but also still building the department, and so if our students, the campus, the community, and other stakeholders are finding the work we have done within this short period is already remarkable and impressive then just wait until we can get into our individual and collective bag of gifts and really show what we can offer and bring to the table,” said Yvonne Morris, Academic Specialist in the AAAS Department.
Dr. Smitherman continued her education, earning a B.A. and M.A. in English and Latin from Wayne State University and a Ph.D in English, with a specialization in sociolinguistics and education, from the University of Michigan.
In addition to working at Michigan State University in the Department of English and co-founding MSU's African American and African Studies, Dr.
Smitherman has been active in advocating for African American children's education.
In the late 1970s, Dr. Smitherman worked as an expert witness and advocate in the federal court case, Martin Luther King Junior Elementary School Children et al.
I’m just super excited to see what’s to come.”
“This is truly just the surface of the work that we are able to do and having more capacity to create these opportunities will definitely continue to grow this excitement.”
Yvonne Morris, Academic Specialist in the AAAS Department
It has only been four years since the MSU Board of Trustees voted on Feb.
15, 2019, to support the creation of the AAAS Department and so the department is still building and, in many ways, is at the very beginning of all that is envisioned for the future. We as Dominican Sisters of Adrian who share the values that are being articulated by that program are really proud to be in this partnership and to have the ability to do what we have done.”
The Adrian Dominican Sisters don’t receive any money from the church.
It aligns with our sense as Dominicans of the integration of study, community, prayer, and ministry in justice. They also established a scholarship for students enrolled in the Institute for Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University of Louisiana. Geneva Smitherman is a University Distinguished Professor Emerita of English and co-founder of the African American and African Studies doctoral program at Michigan State University.
“I am thrilled to share my personal experiences and use my voice to encourage and empower others through their fears.”
Jhala Martin, who is a senior African American and African Studies major and on track to become one of the first students at MSU to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in African American and African Studies, said she is grateful for the Adrian Dominican Sisters and their gift.
Dr. Smitherman studied at and graduated from Detroit's Cass Technical High School. Sister Maria del Rey Plain was a student of Dr. Smitherman more than 20 years ago at Wayne State University and says she still remembers some of the things she taught and wanted to support the program that Smitherman started at MSU. Thanks to Dr. Smitherman’s efforts, AAAS at Michigan State University began as a Ph.D.
Smitherman’s book, Talkin and Testifyin: The Language of Black America, published in 1977, contributed to shifting public and academic perspectives towards the value of African-American Vernacular English. “Following that, there was the murder of George Floyd that just stunned everybody and brought us all to a halt in terms of the way in which we were thinking about racism.”
In the wake of the murder of George Floyd, the Adrian Dominican Sisters drew upon its learnings with Reckoning with Racism to determine what they could do as a congregation to address the issue of racism and to create a more equitable and just society.