Singing the Message of Civil Rights

By Meg Rowley

The annual Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King Lecture Series on Race and Nonviolent Social Change was held on January 24th. Siena College has hosted this event since 1988, in honor of black history month and the mission and vision of nonviolent social change that Martin Luther King, Jr. preached and practiced in a time when this country was in desperate need of change. This lecture series is sponsored by Siena College and explores how problems such as racism, sexism, classism, militarism and prejudice in our nation and throughout the world can be confronted effectively through dynamic efforts informed by social justice and nonviolent action.
The event had several components. An art contest consisting of local artwork produced by elementary aged students was put on display; the pictures illustrated the core values that were represented at the event (peace, equality, and freedom.) The event honored local children by awarding middle and high school children the Student Courage Award. The award was given to children who demonstrated “positive action against racism, prejudice, and bias-related violence in their community.” The winners received a plaque, an invitation to have dinner with the speaker of the event, recognition during the lecture, as well as a cash prize.
The main event of the night was the speech given by Bernice Johnson Reagon. Regon has been an influential voice in the cause for freedom and justice for more then 30 years. As a college student at Albany State College in Albany, Georgia she became involved in the civil right
movement. She was expelled from the college
after being jailed for a nonviolent demonstration that she and other students took part in. She was one of the original members of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee Freedom Singers. She also was a founding member of the Harambee Singers.
Reagon projects her mission and vision through a wide variety of mediums, including singing, teaching and speeches. The most powerful way she proclaims her message is through the internationally acclaimed African American acappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock, a group that she formed in 1973.
Reagon sang one of the groups songs, the lyrics encapsulating the message of the entire event.

“I don’t know how my mother walked her trouble down. I don’t know how my father stood his ground. I don’t know how my people survive slavery. I do remember, that’s why I believe”

It was a moving moment, one in which Reagon sang alone in her gravelly, raw voice. As she spoke, it was clear this was a woman who embodied Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream. In a compassionate, gentle way, she called for students and people to not simply conform to socially excepted norms. The message clearly taken away, and perhaps the most dangerous, is that the moderate individual does nothing to stand up to injustice.

Part-Time Detective: Siena Professor Researches Abroad

By Christine Mundy

Instead of teaching Elizabethan Literature and battling through the slush in between classes here at Siena this spring, Dr. Margaret Hannay will be exploring the archives of Washington D.C. and London in search of a woman who was a pioneer for both her craft and her gender: Lady Mary Wroth. Two different grants fund her research to write Mary Wroth’s biography. One of which is a $36,000 Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the other is a short-term Fellowship from the Folger Shakespeare Library in D.C. where she will spend two weeks researching. Afterwards, she will spend six weeks working in London at such historic landmarks as the British Library researching for the book.
Dr. Hannay has held an interest in Lady Mary Wroth and her works for many years and has even taught some pieces here at Siena. A friend of Dr. Hannay, Josephine Roberts, republished Wroth’s works making it possible for students to read them more clearly. Before Robert’s (an English professor at Louisiana State University) republication, students and teachers alike had to read photocopies from the 1621 edition. Tragically, in 1996,
Josephine Roberts was killed in a car accident and never had the opportunity to start Wroth’s biography. Hannay comments, “In many ways I feel that I am carrying on her work.”
Dr. Hannay will be executing this biography “like detective work, adding one bit of evidence at a time.” She has already discovered several new facts about Wroth, one example of which being that Wroth’s illegitimate son (with cousin, William Herbert) “may have been a pirate of the Caribbean.” She was also one of the first people to experience Sir Walter Raleigh’s (her uncle) tales of the New World.
Dr. Hannay is drawn to Mary Wroth in part because she “wrote the first English prose romance by a woman; she was also the first woman to write a sonnet sequence, and the first to write an original drama.” She will maintain the pattern in which she wrote the biography of Lady Mary Wroth’s aunt, Mary Sidney (Phillip’s Pheonix, Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke, Oxford University Press, 1990).
Hannay completed her undergraduate work at Wheaton College in Ilinois and attained her Master’s Degree in English from The College of Saint Rose.
She got her Doctorate from Suny Albany where she wrote her doctoral dissertation on the “Renaissance Scholarship of C.S. Lewis”. The National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship offered her the opportunity to take a year for her research. Hannay decided she could not stay away from Siena that long! While on sabbatical, Dr. Hannay says she “will miss teaching, as well as talking with the students and faculty”. From all of us back home at Siena, we wish you the best of luck, Dr. Hannay! Happy Hunting!

Fr. Toal Steps Down

Fr. James Toal, O.F.M., vice president at Siena College, is stepping down after nearly 40 years of leadership in education.
For Siena’s spring semester, he has been appointed as President Fr. Kevin Mullen’s special assistant on projects. In addition, he will continue to play an active role with the athletic department.
“I have known Jim Toal for more than 30 years, and have always counted on him as a friend and a mentor,” said Fr. Mullen. “He has worked long and hard for Siena College and with other Franciscan projects. I will miss him, but I appreciate that he’s going to get a well-deserved breather.  On behalf of the college, I thank him with gratitude for his talent, expertise, and dedication to the Franciscan life and years of service to the college.”
Fr. Toal began his Siena service in 1997. He previously was president of Quincy University in Quincy, Ill. for 14 years, and executive vice president at St. Bonaventure University in New York from 1976-83. Before that he was principal of St. Francis Prep in Brooklyn, N.Y.
A native of New York, N.Y., Fr. Toal earned a bachelor’s degree in English (with minors in French and history) from St. Francis College in New York, a master’s in English from St. John’s University, and a Ph.D. in college administration and supervision from Fordham University. He also attended the Weston School of Theology in Boston.
A member of Holy Name Province in the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor (OFM), he was ordained a priest in 1975. At the Province’s chapter gathering in June, his next assignment will be determined.

First Issue of Spring Semester to be Released January 31st

The first issue of The Promethean Student Newspaper (at Siena College) will hit news stands on Thursday, January 31, 2008.  Article selections from our print publication will also appear on this website.  To view the entire publication schedule for the Spring 2008 semester click here.

As always The Promethean is always accepting article ideas and submissions from the Siena College Community.    Feel free to e-mail us at newspaper@siena.edu  or consider advertising in our print publication.  For more information visit our advertising webpage.

Siena College Celebrates 70 Years!

The Promethean staff has spent many hours digging deep into the college archives to put together a collection of photographs, collages and newspaper clippings from the past seven decades. Click on the link below to view.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE

THANKS TO ALL WHO PARTICIPATED IN OUR 70TH BIRTHDAY QUIZ !! WINNERS WERE ANNOUNCED IN OUR NOVEMBER 29TH ISSUE.