Fenwick Fellows Receive Recognition For Research

By Broadside News Editor Asma Chaudhary

Each year, the Fenwick Fellow Program, which was established in 1983, awards fellowships to one or two George Mason University faculty members. The program provides the faculty members with quiet, secluded offices in Fenwick Library, as well as access to Fenwick’s collection, to assist them with their individual research projects. The results of their extensive research are then added to the library’s collection.

At the end of the year, the two Fellows present their research at the Fenwick Fellow Lecture. The 2008 Fenwick Fellow Lecture in Meese Conference room Tuesday night featured Toni-Michelle Travis and Susan Trencher. Travis, associate professor of government and politics, presented her research entitled, “The Evolving Color Line.” Trencher, associate professor of sociology and anthropology, presented her research entitled, “Anthropology’s Public Offering: Margaret Mead’s Redbook Revisited.”

University librarian John Zenelis welcomed those in attendance and explained the purpose of the Fenwick Fellow Program. Zenelis acknowledged the importance of this program to Fenwick Library in enriching the library’s collection with the interest and expertise of those faculty members who receive this honor.

Travis began by acknowledging that the title of her paper, “The Evolving Color Line,” was influenced by W.E.B. Du Bois, the prominent black intellectual and political activist in the early 20th century. In his 1903 book, The Souls of Black Folk, Du Bois made a prescient statement when he said, “for the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line.”

The color line is the racial prejudices we continue to fight today, though the people on either side of the line is changing.

Travis discussed the history of racial injustice of blacks and immigrants. The history of the color line deals with African Americans and Chinese immigrants. Sighting the 1892 Plessy v. Ferguson case, the 1870 Naturalization Act and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, Travis explained the history of discrimination against blacks and Chinese immigrants.

The Supreme Court case, Plessy v. Ferguson established that the Louisiana laws of separate but equal conditions on intrastate railways for blacks and whites was constitutional. This decision paved the way for separate but equal laws in all aspects of life in many southern states. This was a clear line of the division of colors, races, in society.

The 1870 Naturalization Act restricted all immigration to the United States to white people and people of African descent. This was the first restriction of immigration in America. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was enacted to prevent an excess of cheap labor. The color line was slightly redrawn to make Chinese immigrants not even close to the border.

After World War II, the Chinese were considered white immigrants. They had proved their whiteness, their ability to please the privileged and consequently viewed as an honorary lighter color.

To explain her theory that race is socially constructed, Travis shared a story about three umpires and how they view strikes and balls. The first umpire said, “Somes balls, somes strikes, I call them how they are.” The second umpire said, “Somes balls, somes strikes, I call them how I see them.” The third umpire said, “Somes balls, somes strikes, but they ain’t nothing ’til I call them.”

The balls and strikes represent the division of the color line. The umpires represent the privileged whites making the laws that define people based on how they look. The third umpire portrays the power people have and exert when they put others in a box, define them based on one characteristic.

Today the color line is evolving to where people are now on the line, rather than on either side. The Census has been challenged by immigrants. Over the years, the Census has developed with the waves of immigration. The Census now has many racial categories and people now self-identify what they wish to be called, which box to check.

Trencher discussed Margaret Mead’s contributions to anthropology. Mead served as a public voice in anthropology. Mead studied under Franz Boas, known as the “father of American anthropologists.” Mead was not only the first female but also the first American anthropologist to do work outside the states.

Mead traveled to Samoa in search of the answer to her question of adolescence and whether it varied greatly in different cultures. Upon her return to America, Mead published a book about her findings, “Coming of Age in Samoa.”

“Coming of Age in Samoa” compared childrearing and adolescence experiences in Samoa and America. Mead also contributed a regular column to the “Redbook” magazine. In her column, she discussed everything from education to marriage to politics to books.

Mead, a white American woman, devoted her career to the study of other cultures and helping Americans better understand other cultures, as well as themselves.