Disclaimer: This article is not written based on any affiliation with any university. It is interesting to try to dissect an identity when that identity has been so core for almost twenty years. In answering the question, “who are you,” I have often said, “I’m VP and professor at X university.” But in this moment in history, I am working on becoming better at bifurcation, a type of psychosis perpetuated by the academy. “They” say “bring your full authentic self to work, (smile/grin) but please don’t be Black, female, higher education executive, and professor.” The concept of intersectionality — like I am both Black and female at the same time — not just one or the other — has been so ingrained in my educational experience. However, this is a time for shifts. So, this article is written by Menah, Blackwildgirl, with no institutional affiliation.
On Father’s Day, I like to remember my father, Theodore Allantantu Emmanuel Cyril Pratt. He liked to use his initials: T.A.E.C. Pratt. As a Creole, his name blended British and Yoruba names.
He was born in 1936 in Freetown Sierra Leone in West Africa. He came to America for his education. He got his bachelor’s degree in Physics at Hampton Institute in 1963. He got his Master’s degree in Physics at Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1965 and his PhD in Nuclear Physics in 1968.
After graduating, he returned to Hampton as an Assistant Professor in 1968-1969. In 1969, he started in tenure-track career at Illinois State University. In 1972-1973, he had a year’s research leave in the Federal University of Rio de Janiero, Brazil, and during that leave, Illinois State University notified him that his contract would not be renewed. After 1974, my father never taught a physics class again and he never did any research.
He had several publications in the Journal of Nuclear Instruments and Methods. His articles were frequently requested with 170 requests for reprints from 148 scientists in 23 countries.
My father died in 1996, and I always say that racism killed him. He was 60 years old. His death certificate says he died of pancreatic cancer. I know he died from the stress and heartbreak of racism. I will be working on a project to document his life and the racism that he experienced as a Black African (he never became a US citizen). The discrimination based on nationality and racism is an important story, because his experience is not unique, but there are often so many barriers that prevent these stories from being told. Often litigation includes non disclosure agreements, and even if there are no agreements, victims of discrimination rarely have access to records and investigations. Even if they have records, the heartbreak and trauma precludes and prevents the retelling and reliving of the horrific and dehumanizing events.
My father fought his discrimination case. He filed suit in May 1974 with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He also engaged the law firm of Chapin and Chapin in Springfield, Illinois to help him in the charge he filed with the Fair Employment Practices Commission. The firm’s letter dated March 26, 1975 states:
I have reviewed the file and the evidence at the request of Dr. Pratt. It appears to me that there is substantial evidence of racial discrimination against this man from the first year of his employment at Illinois State University right down to the date of his termination while he was on sabbatical leave in Brazil. The petty putdowns and humiliations that have been visited on this talented man are really quite shocking. In most cases of alleged discrimination, the evidence is quite subjective and difficult to identify. Here it is so fragrant that it seems your commission would welcome it with open arms instead of moving it on to the back burner.
His legal efforts were not fruitful. My father, a 39 year-old Black PhD physicist, married with two children, had to pivot. My life is a direct result of his pivot to become my tennis coach, but more than tennis, he taught me the value and importance of discipline and excellence. He also tried to prepare me for a world rife with racism and discrimination. I am still angry at the severing of my father’s career and the killing of Black brilliance and genius. It’s 50 years later, and it is as if very little has changed. But much has changed and I want to recognize the gains and civil rights legislation and civil rights protests that have addressed legalized segregation and oppression. The dance of social justice is complex, like a salsa; forward and backward steps, seemingly progressing, then regressing, then progressing, and then maybe ultimately in the same place.
The persistence of racism and discrimination and sexism in the United States, particularly reflected by the anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion movement, is a powerful cancer and virus. It is a movement that is still seeking to silence voices, careers, and opportunities for talented women, women of color, and men of color; it is a movement still seeking to silence voices, careers, and opportunities for those who identify as binary, as trans, as a member of the LGBTQ community. But, there are always voices that are courageous enough to speak up. I believe that speaking up is like an antidote and vaccine to the virus.
It is my hope that we will continue to raise up stories, because they do have power, even as our stories are being erased from social media and websites.
When you click on the above link, you will see this message to a broken link:
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This broken link exemplifies the brokenness and severing and erasure of content in this moment, yet we can still find portals and venues for our stories.
It takes courage to share our stories, but I hope that more of us will share our experiences through the Dear Higher Education: Letters from the Social Justice Mountain project, online at the University of Minnesota Library open access platform. Our first and second volumes have amazing and powerful, personal and authentic experiences about social justice issues in higher education:
Learn more about the project at https://open.lib.umn.edu/dearhighereducation/
https://open.lib.umn.edu/dhespecialissue/
Learn more about my life by reading my award-winning memoir, Blackwildgirl at
www.menahpratt.com/blackwildgirl
