Author: Voices of SMU

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AAPI At SMU Black History At SMU Latinx At SMU Meet the Team Oral History SMU

Diversity during the Covid Pandemic: SMU Multicultural Histories in 2020-2021

This blog post was written by Jonathan Angulo. He is currently a PhD Candidate at SMU’s History Department and an Oral History Project Manager at Voices of SMU. His research focuses on undocumented economies in the Imperial-Mexicali Valley California Borderlands during the mid-twentieth century. 
The Voices of SMU team seeing each other in person after carrying the project forward via Zoom. 
SMU students, faculty, and staff experienced the Covid pandemic in numerous ways throughout the 2020 and 2021 semesters; this was also true for the Voices of SMU team. Everyone throughout the campus adjusted to multitudes of emergency protocols as Covid spread throughout the nation and university. Individuals learned and worked by attending Zoom classes, virtual weekly meetings, hybrid courses, and physically distanced events. People affiliated with SMU attempted to protect themselves and their loved ones to the best of their abilities as we experienced the highs and lows of a once-in-a-lifetime event. The Voices of SMU team learned that we could conduct oral history interviews digitally. Black, Asian, Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI), and Latinx alumni participated in interviews via Zoom to tell their histories. As we get ready for the fall semester, the team is animated to grow our work while being safe during the remainder of the pandemic.
When the university transitioned to a virtual semester after Spring Break 2020, leaders at Voices of SMU thought of ways to keep a digital presence. Project managers and graduate assistants worked via Microsoft Teams and email to construct a blog page through WordPress. Members created content via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn to inform others about essential interviews we conducted. Our lead project manager continued to contact alumni and arranged interviews with them throughout the summer. As a result, the team succeeded in creating new and sharing important interviews on social media. Furthermore, undergraduate research assistants learned about the experiences of alumni who graduated between the 1970s and 2010s.
After the Fall 2021 semester, our team highlighted alumni during Black History Month and Women’s History Month on social media. For Black History Month, we chose to focus on Ms. Rickie Wright (Class of 1977), Ms. Anga Sanders (Class of 1970), and Reverend Doctor Zan Homes (Class of 1959 and 1968). These alumni talked about segregation in Dallas, Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority’s history at SMU, and the Black League of African American Students’ (BLAACS) sit-in at President Willis M. Tate’s office. The scholars discussed how they fought segregation in the city and formed institutions at SMU that advocated for better funding, retention, and recruitment of Black students.
For Women’s History Month, we shared an oral history and posted a blog about the experiences of alumni. The team discussed the importance of Dr. Sheron Patterson’s (Class of 1983, 1989, 1996) trailblazing career. Dr. Patterson became one of the first Black women to be ordained in the North Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church. Furthermore, she published numerous books and became recognized for her work in United Methodism. Our graduate project manager, Camille Davis, shared, “Merci Monsieur! (Thank You, Sir!) What I learned from SMU Alum, Marc Patrick” on the blog. Ms. Davis describes how Mr. Patrick’s views on internal strength and good character helped him succeed as a Black student at a predominantly white institution. Mr. Patrick’s insights left an imprint on her as she aspires to build on her internal strength and good character to develop as an academic and individual.
The Voices of SMU team successfully organized our first webinar and participated in SMU Giving Day in April despite the pandemic. Beginning in Spring 2021, our leadership team planned an online webinar sponsored by the Office of Social Change and Intercultural Engagement, Clements Department of History, Dedman College Interdisciplinary Institute, and Dedman College Diversity and Inclusion. Using our social media pages and the sponsoring institutions, we had a successful webinar where alumni, participants, and attendees heard our undergraduate and graduate researchers discuss the experiences of Black, Asian/AAPI, and Latinx alumni. The team was pleased to hear that the attendees enjoyed hearing about the histories and alumni’s contributions to SMU’s history. Finally, we closed out the month with a strong finish for SMU’s Giving Day. Forty-six supporters helped us fundraise nearly $10,000 for events, transcription costs, and research funding. THANK YOU!
While we are not at the end of the Covid pandemic, Voices of SMU is excited for a safe 2021-2022 school year where we can interact in person and present our projects to the public. To relieve ourselves from Zoom fatigue, the team scheduled an in-person meeting where our undergraduate and graduate researchers took headshots for their professional advancement during the summer. We reminisced about our virtual experiences and talked about how enthusiastic we are for the school year. Researchers succeeded in creating a Latinx History at SMU video for Hispanic Heritage Month; it will be aired between August and September 2021. Moreover, this video will acknowledge the importance of Latinos and Latinas at SMU, just as our Black History at SMU video does. The Voices team assisted with an application for a Texas historical marker commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s speech in SMU’s McFarlin Auditorium. We will be at the unveiling event and hope to see everyone there when it’s completed! We are thrilled to share our work with the SMU community as safe as possible throughout the upcoming school year.
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Black History At SMU Oral History SMU

Merci Monsieur! (Thank you, Sir!) What I learned from SMU Alum, Marc Patrick

A screenshot from a Voices of SMU Zoom interview between PhD Candidate Camille Davis and SMU Meadows School of the Arts Executive Board Member, Marc Patrick, in December 2020. The interview will be available for viewing at the end of this month.

Addendum: At the time of the interview, Patrick was Senior Vice President of Beyond Meat; however, in 2021, he became Head of Sports Marketing at Amazon Prime Video. In early 2022, he returned to Nike as Vice President of North America Brand Defining, Purpose and Athlete Marketing.

Background

One of the many joys of being a member of the Voices of SMU team is having the opportunity to become acquainted with inspirational SMU alumni. At the end of last year, I got the pleasure of interviewing SMU Meadows School of the Arts Executive Board Member, Marc Patrick. A few months later, I still find myself empowered, encouraged, and challenged by the wisdom he shared during his oral history.  I won’t give away any details because I don’t want to spoil the interview. However, I will convey the lessons that stuck with me regarding internal strength and good character.
First, you should know that Marc Patrick is a marketing extraordinaire. He is the Senior Vice President of Marketing at Beyond Meat, an organization that creates meat from plant-based proteins for those who live vegan and vegetarian lifestyles. Additionally, before joining Beyond Meat, Patrick spent twenty-one years at Nike in various marketing and brand-enhancement roles that include Head of Global Brand Communications, Head of Global Brand Marketing Special Categories, and Senior Director of Global Brand Marketing Nike Sportswear – just to name a few.
Secondly, you should know that I had a brief stint at Nike, which gave me some insight into Mr. Patrick’s previous employment.  It was my first “real job” after college. I worked off-site, a few blocks from SMU, because Nike had hired a corporate entity to handle the logistics of a special project that they were rolling out that year. I was hired by this third party to complete analysis and editing work on text and photos for the new project, and I was paid by Nike. I reported to both organizations. 
As I was preparing for my interview with Mr. Patrick, I learned that he was the Senior Director of Global Brand Marketing of Nike Sportswear and the Senior Director of North America Brand Marketing during my time as an off-site Nike Brand Coordinator. During the interview, I had an epiphany. I realized that although I had never met Mr. Patrick during my association with Nike, so much of what went right during my tenure was due to his leadership within the company.

Getting to know Marc Patrick

Mr. Patrick possesses qualities that are even more rare than his significant achievements. I have tried to find the appropriate adjectives to characterize him, but I am at a loss for just the right words. My best conjecture is to use the well-known French phrase used to represent individuals with qualities that are difficult to articulate– “je ne sais quoi,” which literally translates to “a quality that cannot be described or named easily.” I have come to this conclusion because Mr. Patrick is more concerned with personal integrity than with professional success. During his interview, when I asked about the mantra that guides his professional life, he mentioned none of the usual “buzzwords” that usually permeate the psyche of high achievers within the corporate realm. Patrick did not use “networking” and “personal branding” or even “marketing” as directives for success. Instead, he invoked a trait that few consider, value, or possess — namely, the characteristic of personal excellence. 
Often people are shaped and defined by the climate of their professional lives. However, in this case, the antithesis is true.  Instead of being controlled by his surroundings, Patrick chooses to imbue his environment with integrity and hard work.  He believes that the road to success is paved with treating others with respect and dignity, honoring one’s commitments, and doing unglamorous tasks with the consistency and vigor usually reserved for conspicuously significant feats.  This perspective has formed an internal discipline that distinguishes him from the masses.

Coming Full Circle

While with Nike, I received continuous encouragement and support from the marketing and brand personnel– the individuals who reported to Mr. Patrick. Despite the struggles of working with the third-party that Nike hired, I was always buoyed by the treatment I received from Mr. Patrick’s team. They sent me Nike merchandise and encouraged me through many difficult times. They recommended me for special opportunities and trainings and invited me to dinner when they came to town from their Portland, Oregon headquarters. Most importantly, this group supported my professional goals. At the time, I was unaware of why they poured into me.  Why were they treating me so well?  Why had they chosen to believe in me as a team member and as a human being?
The answer was that they had a leader that I had not met. This person set a professional tone that reverberated throughout his chain of command. Unbeknownst to me until a few months ago, this was Marc Patrick.

The Final Analysis

As I reflect on that period of my life, I now understand how crucial it was in developing me into the person I am and into the person who I am working towards becoming.  As I worked with Nike, I had no idea that my mind was being disciplined to do much of the analytical work that is a continuous part of my doctoral research as a visual historian at SMU. At that time, I just wanted to become a professional woman and develop the skills that I needed to become a trustworthy team member. Little did I know that I was absorbing lessons that were even more important: lessons that crystallized once I had my conversation with Marc Patrick.
The first lesson is that the true reward for any type of work is the person that one becomes along the way. Yes, goals matter. Yes, achievement matters. Nevertheless, these things are only meaningful if they mold us into people with exceptional personal standards who approach each task of life – those that are big, small, significant, and those that seem insignificant, with equal amounts of care and attention. Additionally, goals make us more aware of our own fragility and vulnerability, which should result in us being more patient, understanding, and helpful with the fragility and vulnerability of those within our sphere. The right goals shape our ambition into desires that seek the good of others, instead of focusing only on our own welfare.  A good goal will force one’s heart, mind, and soul into beautiful, virtuous contortions that no selfish impulse could ever create.  Virtuous desires challenge us to become the best version of ourselves and to appreciate the best versions of others.
Last year, I spent so much time worrying about the future. For numerous hours, I contemplated a post-pandemic world and pondered whether I had accomplished enough to be professionally marketable within it. However, my mind and my heart are shifting. I am thinking of all my favorite scriptures and poems that elevate the soul above the goal. Additionally, I am remembering one of the lines from the French author, Colette, that I have kept close to my heart for quite some time:

“What it takes to make a heavenly star…one will never know. But no human star has ever been made without suffering.”

Colette simply meant that although she knew nothing about the science of how stars were formed in the sky, she did know how the best people in the world were formed. It was through the discipline and commitment of attempting to do the right thing, despite the ease or difficulty of circumstances. A true luminary was a luminary of the soul instead of someone who achieved just for the sake of the ego or personal aggrandizement. Such is the life of Marc Patrick.
I am honored to have spent time with this individual, and I imagine that the lessons from his oral history will stick with me for the rest of my life. If I am wise, they will. As I close, it seems fitting that I offer one more French phrase in appreciation of my time with this extraordinary human being.
 Merci, Monsieur.
 Or simply said, Thank you, Sir.
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Black History At SMU Football Team Integration Oral History SMU

WFAA Airs Documentary on Jerry LeVias. His Oral History Reveals He Does Not Regret Choosing SMU.

On October 19, 2020 the ABC-affiliated television station in Dallas, WFAA, premiered a mini documentary on Jerry LeVias (SMU, Class of 1969). The SMU alum was the first Black athlete who received a football scholarship to the NCAA’s Southwest Conference. Levias integrated the team at the university and experienced numerous acts of racism on campus. WFAA’s episode details what life was like for LeVias as he navigated integration during the mid-1960s. In this special, LeVias reflects on the Civil Rights Movement and today’s Black Lives Matter demonstrations.
To learn more about LeVias’ years at SMU, check out our interview with him. The clip excerpted below describes how he does not regret his tenure at SMU, despite the many difficulties he endured as he played for the football team. His drive allowed him to succeed at the school and continued to persevere after graduating. He ultimately became a professional football player and a successful businessman. LeVias ends by stating that he would not change any of his decisions.
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DMAHL Los Chicanos Oral History SMU

Memorializing Santos Rodriguez at SMU

This blog post was written by Jonathan Angulo and with the support of the Dallas Mexican American Historical League(DMAHL). He is currently a PhD Candidate at SMU’s History Department. His research focuses on undocumented economies in the Imperial-Mexicali Valley California Borderlands during the mid-twentieth century. 
On July 25, 2020, in the midst of a pandemic, car caravans met at Pike Park—a park located in Dallas’ Little Mexico—early in the morning. They drove to the city’s Oakland Cemetery to commemorate the forty-seventh anniversary of Santos Rodriguez’ tragic passing. Darrell Cain, a Dallas police officer, murdered the twelve-year-old ethnic Mexican by playing a game of Russian Roulette; this was not the first time that the law enforcement official killed a teenager. He took the life of a Black adolescent, Michael Morehead, in 1970. Officer Cain took Santos and his brother, David, from their home on suspicion of vandalizing a vending machine. The enforcer placed his firearm to Santos’ temple and pulled the trigger in hopes of acquiring a confession from him. The gun did not go off. Cain tried it a second time and killed Santos. Black and Brown communities participated in protests that year to demand justice for the teenager. The police officer walked off with a five-year sentence and only served a little over two years in custody. The two tragic murders demonstrated, as they do now, that a number of police officers act with impunity. The Voices of SMU Oral History Project has helped demonstrate how SMU’s alumni experienced the event, what they did, and how they have memorialized this instance of police brutality.
Protestors in 1973 pictured holding a flag for the March of Justice for Santos Rodriguez. Image courtesy of DeGolyer Library, SMU.
Sol Villasana (Class of 1975) was a student at SMU in the 1970s, a pivotal period for the Civil Rights and Chicana/o Movement. The young scholar helped start SMU’s Los Chicanos organization at the university, which aimed to bring more economic and educational opportunities for ethnic Mexican students both at SMU and in Dallas. Moreover, the organization wanted the university to recruit students from the ethnic Mexican Dallas community. The school traditionally directed few resources at finding pupils within the city’s lower-income populations and sought individuals who came from wealthy or upper middle-class neighborhoods. Thus, Villasana and his peers fought to make the institution aware of this bias and to focus on recruiting ethnic Mexicans in Dallas.
Villasana was conflicted about the campus culture during the 1970s and became involved with his community. The alum described how the university culture revolved around fraternity and sorority life. He decided not to participate in such activities despite some of his peers having positive experiences with Greek life. Instead, the young scholar became involved in his neighborhood and city politics. Villasana remembered how the city’s Chicana, Chicano, and African American communities came together to protest the murder of Santos Rodriguez. It was one of the largest demonstrations that he had experienced during his early adulthood. Numerous communities, including faith organizations, gathered in the old city hall in downtown Dallas. The groups voiced their outrage against the decades of police abuse committed against the Black and Latino neighborhoods in the city. The March of Justice for Santos Rodriguez—that Villasana participated in—motivated him to continue participating in Los Chicanos and continue advocating for social causes.
Another SMU alumnus, René Martinez (Class of 1969), was also shaped by the events that transpired in 1973. Soon after graduating, the scholar became an activist by helping found a Dallas chapter for the Mexican American Youth Organization. The group organized ethnic Mexicans in south Texas metropolises like San Antonio and Crystal City, with the objective of funding more educational opportunities for Chicanas and Chicanos. Similarly, Martinez helped with campaigns for La Raza Unida Party—a third party centered on electing Chicanas and Chicanos throughout Texas because of the failure of Democrats and Republicans in addressing the issues of ethnic Mexicans. By participating in these different organizations, the young graduate utilized his experiences to channel the energy from the protests after The March of Justice for Santos Rodriguez into an organization. Martinez and his friend, Hector Flores, ultimately decided to form a League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) council. He described how the LULAC organization became one of the avenues for the community to be involved in to address issues of education, policing, and injustice.
Since the events that transpired in 1973, the Dallas community has continued to utilize the mass sentiment after Santos’ tragic passing to educate the city about the history of Latinas and Latinos. Rosemary Hinojosa (Class of 1973) was an active participant in Los Chicanos at SMU and learned much throughout her experience. She specifically remembered how the group met at La Casa—a house they shared with African American students on campus that served as a safe space. Moreover, Hinojosa learned a lot about activism by socializing with Los Chicanos and the Chicano Coalition of College Students. She continued to engage with her community after graduating from SMU. Today, she is one of the board members of the Dallas Mexican American Historical League (DMAHL)—an organization which seeks to elevate the history and place of ethnic Mexicans in the city. Specifically, DMAHL conducted group interviews of civil rights groups that participated in The March of Justice for Santos Rodriguez. The resulting oral histories helped preserve what the event meant for the community, and captured how the interviewees have memorialized the event. Hinojosa and DMAHL continue to address these historical moments along with others to demonstrate, especially during the present, how police brutality continues to affect communities of color.
Historian Dr. Ruben Arellano (Class of 2010 & 2017), described how significant 1973 was for the ethnic Mexican community in Dallas. He discussed how the Chicano Movement really began in Dallas in 1969 when ethnic Mexicans met in Waxahachie, a town about thirty minutes south of the city. Chicanos in the southern establishment discussed the issues that ethnic Mexicans were fighting for in south Texas and how Dallas needed to participate in the same endeavors. As a result, the activists began to involve themselves in city council meetings where the former would voice their concerns over issues like police violence. They specifically talked about how ethnic Mexicans were being killed by law enforcement. At the time, a significant number of Mexicans did not want to challenge the status quo and wanted to live their normal lives. However, the murder of Santos Rodriguez mobilized the community against the police and other systems of oppression. Ultimately, 1973 proved to be a pivotal year for the population as more Mexicans began to participate in demonstrations. The police department did adopt some of the reforms called for by the communities. For example, Arellano described how the law enforcement department had restrictive codes as to who could join the force. The mandate called for individuals to be of a certain height or weight and other criteria, which officials used to automatically disqualify Mexicans from joining the police. As a result, the police department amended some of these requirements so more Mexicans could join the law enforcement agency. This change ultimately occurred because of the 1973 protests and the movements that followed after the demonstrations in the city hall.
Hinojosa and Arellano demonstrated how they used the events of 1973 to narrate the history of ethnic Mexicans in Dallas, and SMU has attempted to support the cause since then. The university has created the Santos Rodriguez Memorial Endowed Scholarship to help finance the education of students who want to study Human Rights at the institution. The funds aim to make the degree more accessible to scholars who demonstrate financial hardships and who want to study this major. The scholarship was created in collaboration with SMU’s Latino Center for Leadership Development and has the endorsement of Bessie Rodriguez, the mother of Santos. Administrators set a fundraising goal of at least $200,000 for the scholarship, and the Latino Center for Leadership Development funded half of the costs with the rest from individual contributions. Students who are awarded the scholarship will be provided $10,000 each year for education costs. In the spirit of the Los Chicanos organization, the ethnic Mexican community was able to move the university in a positive direction.
Despite these advancements, the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, demonstrated that cases of police brutality continue to impact communities of color throughout the United States and institutions like SMU need to reckon with this history. Collaboration between Black and Brown populations is crucial to bring about structural changes in this country. Black SMU students point to the African American sit in of 1969 when individuals sat in the president’s office demanding more opportunities for their community. As described above, Los Chicanos also fought for similar opportunities in the early 1970s on campus. Race relations, however, have not been completely amended at SMU. In 2015, Black students made similar demands of the university when racist flyers were distributed throughout campus and derogatory statements were made on social media. Students spoke to their experience using the #BlackAtSMU hashtag. After May 25, 2020, the hashtag gained a following on twitter when students discussed their experiences at the school. I have also encountered similar episodes. I remember walking through campus in 2018 by the sorority houses and seeing papers placed on car windshields. The documents argued that white women should only have relationships with Anglo men instead of communities of color. The statement truly shocked me as I had never experienced anything like that before. The intersectionality between the murders of Santos Rodriguez, George Floyd, Elijah McClain, Breonna Taylor, Andres Guardado, and numerous others demonstrate that Black and Brown communities face similar problems. We need to be united in such instances, demand racial equity from our governments, and also from our scholarly institutions.
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Oral History SMU

Interviewing Tips and Best Practices

Sriya Reddy is a senior majoring in Journalism, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, and History. She is a Research Assistant for Voices of SMU, Engagement Editor for the Daily Campus, and an intern for The Dallas Morning News
When I first joined the Voices of SMU team, I was a sophomore just beginning to dip my toes into research. I wanted to be a part of something that I am passionate about. The project was a perfect combination of everything I was interested in. I was ecstatic to be a part of documenting history and diversifying the SMU archives. After being a part of Voices of SMU for almost two years, my favorite part is simply listening to participant’s stories.
Voices of SMU has helped me develop my interviewing skills. As a journalism major, interviewing is a huge part of my career path. However, oral history delves deeper into interviews because we explore life histories. Each interview gives me an understanding of not only different perspectives on the SMU experience, but also the individual themselves. Here are some tips I’ve picked up over the last few years that have bettered my interviews.
1. Engage in conversation with them before (and after) the interview
I try not to jump straight into interviews. Especially as we transitioned to Zoom interviews, jumping straight in can be intimidating. Asking a few questions and making small talk lightens the mood and helps make both you and the interviewee more comfortable.
2. Explain the Purpose of the Interview
This is very important because it encourages the interviewee to share detailed stories. The purpose of Voices of SMU is to bring the perspective of alumni of color to the archives. Interviewees often apologize for talking a lot. However, if you let them know that we want to hear as much as they are willing to share, the interviewees will feel more at ease in telling their stories.
3. Use your questions as a guide not a script
For the Voices of SMU project, we have a standard set of questions that range from childhood to post-grad life. This list of questions is great and helps us, the interviewers, feel more prepared. We can even add to the list with personalized questions based on our research. Although the list is useful, it is not something interviewers have to stick to. Sometimes questions make more sense in a different order, or they answer multiple questions in one. It’s helpful to remember that your list of questions is not set in stone.
4. Embrace the silence after the participant’s response 
Many interviewees take a few seconds to pause after they answer questions. This does not always mean that they are finished with their responses. Sometimes, they are gathering their thoughts or reliving memories. Giving them a few more seconds to finish their answer before you ask the next question can lead to great stories. Pay attention to body language to see if a participant is finished talking or simply thinking. When I am not sure, I count to three in my head just in case they want to say more.
5. Listen to them and ask follow up questions
A mistake I used to make a lot while interviewing was not listening. Instead I was focused on the next question on my list. After a while I learned that some of the best questions to ask are follow up questions. Asking about anything that needs further elaboration can take interviews to the next level.
6. Establish a timeline
Since Voices of SMU is a history project, establishing a timeline gives a lot of context to each interview. Experiences by themselves are great, but years can show historians the setting, which elevates every story. Asking questions like “Can you clarify what year that happened?” or “What years did you attend SMU?” not only helps the interviewer keep track of certain events, but also anyone who engages with the interview in the future.
7. Always end with “Is there anything that I missed that you want to discuss?”
Sometimes our questions don’t hit all the right spots, and that is okay. Asking this question gives an opportunity to the interviewee to bring up any more topics. You never know what extra answers you’ll get.
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Oral History SMU

Villages and People

Laurence Lundy (Class of 2021) is a senior from Plano, Texas majoring in History and Journalism. He is a research assistant for Voices of SMU, a resident of the SMU Service House, and works with his fellow peer, Nia Kamau, in the Champions Mentorship Program, aiming to provide underprivileged youth with a firm foundation both spiritually and intellectually.
A saying I have heard throughout my life is that, “It takes a village to raise a child.” In the grand scheme of things, I believe that to be true. Children are shaped and molded by their experiences, and also by who teaches them and guides them. However, this is applicable to more than just people. Institutions, organizations, and colleges by their very definition generally require multiple people to pour into them and create the myriad of modern businesses, universities, and groups we know of today. Voices of SMU (VOSMU), considering I only joined the program in December of 2019, has taught me that and much more. Ultimately, it taught me to rein myself in because you simply cannot listen if you are too ready to scream. Additionally, you can never be ready to listen to an interviewee if you are ready to create your own answers. People are not puzzles with pre-defined parameters and one-size-fits-all questionnaires. They are individuals that deserve and require the full attention of whoever is talking to them so that their stories can be told.  It takes a village to raise a child, and each child is a bastion of their own thoughts, conclusions, and reasons for why they feel as they do. To really engage with another person, you have to consistently make an effort to look outside of your own village and take a moment to see what helped comprise theirs.
I became a part of this project because of someone in my own village. I learned about VOSMU through Nia Kamau (my fellow classmate), who I was already working with in another program. And to be completely honest, it has been one of the most enlightening and simultaneously disheartening programs to take part in.
Laurence, Nia, and Camille attended the Black Excellence Ball in the beginning of 2020
My interview with Nariana Sands was one of the most interesting ones I had in light of what I believe about institutional villages. Throughout her time at SMU, she noticed when teachers seemed less willing to give her a fair share of attention or respect. I was compelled to find that implicit bias is not just something projected from the actions and thoughts of teachers, but students too. Her experiences, or at least that small snippet of her story, speak to the idea of the lone student of color, singled out simply because people have preconceived notions about communities of color. What was even more important was that she found that some students could be ignorant, while students of color were more intimately aware of such circumstances. If that divide is so palpable that an individual can describe it concisely, then how pervasive must it be for others? How many people have simply given up when faced with that invisible pressure?  And ultimately how do we cross this invisible gap between people?
The adage of taking a village to raise a child should come with the corollary that some villages genuinely do not know how to raise children. Or perhaps the people that live there cannot be bothered to do it right. Either way, through my relatively short experience in VOSMU, I have seen how institutions and groups fail people. Of course, a Predominantly White Institution (PWI) like SMU is going to have imperfections and cracks in the perfectly paved sidewalks that all of its students must traverse. The most frustrating part is listening to those aggrieved by the university and fellow students/faculty they held faith in. When your school consistently has less than five percent black students across the whole body (in some cases decreasing to three percent or less), it becomes easy to see where systemic problems crop up. For me, what was most notable was how people responded to these situations. Some were resigned. They saw it as either an inevitable part of SMU culture, atmosphere, or overall social landscape. Others were angry, the mistreatment they had felt while on campus radiating off them even over video. It is strange to see and feel at times, that palpable sense that the experiences someone is relating to you might have irrevocably changed them in some form. Others still were happy, determined, and made a place all their own. They are not the same people that came to SMU, for good or ill. (And of course, for some there is no change at all). That is what really drives me when it comes to interviewing and making sure peoples’ perspectives get their fair share of airtime. The effects of imperfect systems leave behind stitched up wounds and scars unseen with the naked eye. Such structures additionally leave behind the spirits of people, through which the past and its status quo can become set. They surrender in their wake names, numbers, triumphs, and losses. Those are the kinds of things that make up a voice, and they are especially poignant in the voices of children who were left behind by their village.
People are not immune to the failures of those around them. The very concepts that bind us are products of dealing with and responding to the botches of our environment. We are kind not only to treat others as we wish to be, but to push back against hatred and division in our communities. Voices of SMU is a program that makes progress towards those ultimate ideals, for me at least. It is not saving people from burning buildings or creating cheap water purifiers. However, it does allow me and others to save the voices of other people. It allows us to observe and work to create bridges of understanding through which changes can be made and actions can be taken. Overall, individuals can feel heard in a way they may not be otherwise, and for that I will forever be thankful for the Voices of SMU project.
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Uncategorized

Surprises and Stories

India Simmons graduated with majors in Human Rights, International Studies, Political Science, and minors in History, Arabic, and Women & Gender Studies. She is currently preparing to acquire her master’s degree at American University in Washington D.C. 
India presenting at an academic conference
I have always found it curious the way things work out in life. I initially entered SMU as a member of the Women’s Track and Field team, but I soon became medically disqualified and in search of a new avenue to pursue my passions for civil rights and advocacy. One of the best decisions I ever made was taking Modern African History with Professor Jill E. Kelly during Spring of my sophomore year. By the end of the semester, Professor Kelly invited me to work on a blossoming oral history project during the summer with another peer, Carson Dudick. My immediate professional and scholarly thought was, “Sure, why not?!”
And with that I found myself spending the summer as a research assistant, of all things! It was a good thing that Carson and I were only first and second-year bright eyed undergraduate students. We spent the next several months lugging massive bags of tech equipment across campus in standard Texas summer heat. With time, Carson and I found efficient and strategic ways to conduct the interviews across both the university and the city (without panicking several minutes before the participant showed up because we were practically gleaming in sweat). From taking Ubers across the city (with bags of equipment worth our room and board); to being given personal tours through a judge’s own court; to being repeatedly locked out of buildings on Friday evening; to being invited to capture a woman’s story in her family’s home; to enjoying sparkling flavored water and conversating with a Reverend prior to their interview. I never would have guessed the adventures that would come with an oral history research project.
And throughout it, I found I was consistently having the time of my life. Conducting the oral history interviews allowed me to make personal and meaningful human connections with the individuals I was sitting down with. I quickly found myself immersed into the participants’ stories and feelings, and for an hour each day, I was appreciative of having the opportunity to witness another individual reclaim their story, their history, in their own voice and words. Language is a powerful thing, and often when younger individuals of a disenfranchised group find themselves in situations of injustice or unfairness, they may not always be equipped with the words to accurately describe what they are feeling or experiencing. For the majority of my life I have been such an individual, and I know how daunting it is trying to reclaim a space you have the right to or try to vocalize your (unpopular) thoughts. Perhaps without surprise, I found myself becoming emboldened with each story we captured, and over time I felt myself slowly gathering the courage- and words- to properly claim my own space.
Voices of SMU is a long overdue project for the university. Since its emergence two years ago, over 150 individuals have come back to campus (some for the first time in decades) to tell their story, and in doing so reclaiming their space.
But it gets even better- with a team of a dozen staff including faculty, staff, graduate and undergraduate students, the project reached another layer of application, as we began working with offices on campus to improve the lives of minority students at the university. And as this work spread to multicultural organizations and other offices, it also began to spread across the North America continent. During the first initial months, Professor Kelly would often pass along invitations or opportunities to present at conferences or local engagements. And each time she passed along an opportunity, my immediate instinctual thought always appeared- “Sure, why not?!” As the years progressed the excitement remained, and the thought process matured as I began to grasp the depth, importance, and impact of traveling to different places and sharing the project with other scholars and educators. Before I knew it, Voices of SMU had traveled to over a dozen speaking opportunities, from Washington, D.C. to Merida, Mexico. And with that, other scholars and educators often took away pieces of the project with them, and many of color related to the material on a personal level.
I never once anticipated the numerous complexities, layers, and opportunities that would arise from joining Voices. Perhaps the biggest surprise came when the project faculty and staff took a giant chance on me and promoted me to Senior Research Assistant. The new responsibility consisted of leading meetings, managing the first half of the interview workflow, and networking with other campus organizations to find more narrators. I am entirely convinced that my acceptance to graduate school is owed to the development and growth and experience I gained during the two years working for the project. This work has challenged me in numerous ways. For example, I check my own biases when handling disagreements in different speaking engagements. I have also learned priceless skills like learning the ins and outs of project management, the ethical dilemmas and questions that arise from research projects, and when to expand its reach and material. I have gained lifelong mentors and friendships who have redefined my undergraduate experience. As I began counting down the remaining meetings I had left with the team, I knew deep down that I would never find as warm, well-intentioned, and loving a work group as this one.
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Oral History SMU

Active Listening, Mentors of Color, & Working in an Oral History Project

This blog post is written by Nia Kamau a rising junior at SMU who is double majoring in Human Rights and International Studies with minors in Economics, Public Policy, International Affairs, and Arabic. She is currently a Research Assistant for Voices of SMU, an Honors Scholar, worker for the Human Rights Program, and a Residential Assistant.
I was a freshman at SMU when I started as a Research Assistant with the Voices of SMU Research Project (VOS). If you’re not familiar with the project, it is an innovative oral history project that preserves the stories of SMU alumni of color. As a Research Assistant, I conduct interviews with these alumni and gather information from the interviews on how SMU can attract and retain students of color. During my first few weeks of SMU, the lack of diversity on campus stood out like a sore thumb. Black upperclassmen, in their way of initiating the new Black students, told us stories of recent racially motivated instances on campus that had led to “Black at SMU,” a student-led movement in 2015 that confronted the university administration with ten demands to address campus diversity. It quickly became clear to me that SMU was not a place where every student felt safe and at home on campus.
SMU is certainly not unique in this way, rather our story is the reality of many predominantly white institutions (PWI) in the South. Instead of staying complacent with this problem, I was inspired by the student leaders of “Black at SMU” to find out how I, even as a freshman, could make SMU a richer environment for students of color. Voices of SMU seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so!
While I joined Voices of SMU to serve and better the SMU community, I have benefited from the experience in several ways.   

Growing as a Listener

One significant way I have grown is by becoming an active listener. It’s about intently comprehending what the narrator is saying and asking strong follow-up questions that build on the interviewee’s story. Interviewing requires focus, intentional engagement, and being OK with not being the center of attention in a conversation.
This can be challenging! In many ways, being a good listener is the opposite of the dominant American culture, which is all about self-expression and making our opinions heard. Often, when having conversations with others, I find myself so busy thinking about what I want to say next that I am not really listening to the other person.
But Voices of SMU challenged me to practice attentive listening, to listen for the sake of asking better questions rather than coming up with a clever response. Listening is a skill, and my time with VOS has benefited me in my personal relationships as I have practiced making conversations less about myself and more about learning from the other person.

Connecting with Mentors

Like many PWIs, SMU has very few professors of color, much less Black female professors whom I might look up to as mentors. Honestly, I was a little hurt and disappointed when I realized that I might never have a Black professor during my time at SMU. While I have been fortunate to find mentors on campus of other genders and races, I felt like I was missing out by not having opportunities to be nurtured by Black female faculty and staff.
However, I have connected with numerous Black female alumni who have filled this gap by participating with VOS. They have been more than willing to support and advise me. The SMU graduates themselves relate to my SMU journey. The community of Black female mentors I gained from the project has been invaluable.
These two areas of growth have made Voices of SMU one of the highlights of my SMU experience. While I thought that joining this project would be a way to help SMU, the project has also invaluably improved my life for the better.
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Meet the Team Oral History SMU

Joining the Voices of SMU Oral History Project

This blog post was written by Jonathan Angulo. He is currently a PhD Candidate at SMU’s History Department. His research focuses on undocumented economies in the Imperial-Mexicali Valley California Borderlands during the mid-twentieth century. 
During the Summer 2019 break, Professor Jill Kelly (SMU’s historian of Africa) emailed me about an opportunity to work for an oral history project. I was a Ph.D. student at the time and was excited to hear about the job. I decided to reply to Dr. Kelly about my general interest, and we decided to discuss this alongside Cindy Boeke, Assistant Director for the Norwick Center for Digital Solutions. Professor Kelly emailed me a day later with the job offer, and I was thrilled to join the team. Since then, I have thoroughly enjoyed working with faculty, staff, students, and alumni.
I spent my first week familiarizing myself with normal procedures. For example, the project meets weekly to discuss who we have interviewed, who we plan on interviewing, and how we want to improve the initiative. I had an enjoyable experience getting to know everyone working for Voices of SMU.
In the first month, Camille Davis, my fellow Ph.D. classmate, introduced me to others and taught me about normal procedures. Elisa McCune informed me on how to edit and access transcriptions. She also showed me how to create and edit metadata information for the archives. I also got to meet Robert Walker who is the audio and visual backbone of Voices of SMU. He also showed me the amazing oral history studio where we interview narrators.
One of my favorite experiences is seeing the Research Assistants’ work. India Simmons is the Senior Research Assistant and leads our weekly gatherings. She also networks with school organizations to find SMU alumni, so they can discuss their histories at the university. Seeing how the students have expanded the project and continue to makes me proud of their work.
Research Assistants like Nia Kamau have highlighted the histories of SMU alumni. For example, Nia, Cindy, Camille, and I formally presented to the SMU Black Faculty and Staff Association. Ms. Kamau discussed the importance of multicultural organizations and mentors to Black students. She argued that both factors greatly contributed to the students’ success.
Camille, Joan, Nia, and Jonathan after presenting for the SMU Black Faculty and Staff Association
Since the coronavirus pandemic, Professor Kelly, Cindy, and Joan (SMU’s archivist) have masterfully provided us opportunities to work remotely. Fondren Library (where we interview narrators) is currently closed, and we do not want to expose others to the virus. As a result, the research assistants are working on numerous projects which will be featured on our blog and website.
I look forward in continuing to work with Voices of SMU to discuss the experiences of communities of color at the university and make them accessible to DFW communities and abroad.
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Oral History SMU

Learning from Voices of SMU and Growing with the Experience

This post was written by Carson Dudick (Class of 2020). She graduated with majors in History and Human Rights on the Public Policy Track and with minors in Law and Legal Reasoning and Women’s and Gender Studies. Ms. Dudick will continue her graduate education at the University of San Diego.
Since I graduated last month, I have been reflecting back on my time at Southern Methodist University. One of the largest impacts on my undergraduate career has been the Voices of SMU Oral History Project. I started on the project in the spring of my Freshman year in 2018 through a course called “Doing Oral History.” My first interview with the project, with Germaine White, I was incredibly nervous. At the time, I had no idea what I wanted to major in or do in my future. But after Dr. Kelly provided me the opportunity to stay on campus for a summer research assistantship, my future became clear. I grew in my interview skills and research abilities, resulting in the job becoming less work and more enjoyable. I decided to major in history due to this project, and it influenced my second major within human rights. The advice from the alumni on future goals, undergraduate grades, and university involvement altered my experience as a student. I focused more heavily on my grades and became involved in numerous student organizations. Furthermore, I pursued my passion for the legal sector due to their advice on postgraduate objectives. Now, I will start at University of San Diego Law School in Fall 2020. Not only did the interviews alter my experience, the team of individuals working on the oral history project were influential in my life. Although everyone improved my time as an undergrad, Dr. Jill Kelly and SMU Archivist Joan Gosnell became mentors to me. Both women encouraged me in my future, provided necessary advice, and became role models for myself. After graduation, I know that this project will stay with me due to the valuable lessons learned and the important people it has placed into my life.
Carson completed over thirty interviews for the Voices of SMU Oral History Project. Here we share several:
Gene Pouncy (Class of 1974 & 1976) received a B.F.A and M.L.A. from Southern Methodist University. In the interview, he discusses growing up in South Dallas, attending SMU with his brother, and being in the university’s football, track, and field teams. He taught English Composition at El Centro College in Dallas for 34 years.
Delia Jasso (Class of 1976 and 1993) discusses growing up in Oak Cliff during the 1960s and 1970s. At SMU, she was involved with Los Chicanos (an organization advocating for more educational investments for Hispanic students). After graduating, Ms. Jasso became a Dallas City Council Member, helped found the DART/UTA Transportation Leadership Academy, and started the Hispanic Alumni Homecoming Reception.