Personal Perspectives on Empowerment
Glenn Anderson
University of Arkansas
Thank you for the invitation to return to New York City to participate in this very exciting conference. New York City is like “home” to me because there are so many special friends of mine that I am delighted to see again. When I travel around the country, there are many people who often ask me, “Do you miss NYC?” and I tell them, “Yes.” They then ask me, “Well, what do you miss about NYC?” My answer is always, ‘The people I have been fortunate to become friends with.”
There is one person in particular that I miss. I wish she were able to be here with us. I miss Claudia Gregory very much. I am sure many of you who knew her feel the same way I do. She is a good example of one of us who became more empowered after she decided to go back to school. I still vividly remember the day she walked into my office at LaGuardia Community College and told me she had quit her job. She said to me, “I’m tired of the ‘BS’ on the job, and I’m ready to start going to school.” Because she had been out of school for several years and had never talked about wanting to go back to school, I was stunned by her desire to enter LaGuardia. Her first year was a struggle, but she was very determined and willing to “tough it out.” Before she had completed her degree, I moved to Arkansas.
About two years later, Claudia called me at my office to inform me that she was graduating. That really made me feel good. Then she said, “Now, Dr. G., I want your opinion. Debbie Copeland has suggested that I go to the University of Tennessee to get my bachelor’s degree. What do you think about that?” I said to her, “Gosh, the University of Tennessee is a big school with very few deaf students there. Haven’t you thought about going to Gallaudet?” She said she preferred to go to a hearing college and was willing to take the chance on the University of Tennessee.
A couple of years later, our paths crossed at the 10th anniversary celebration of the Programs for Deaf Adults at LaGuardia. Claudia told me that attending the University of Tennessee was a challenge because she was one of only about six deaf students on campus. It really impressed me when she said, “I don’t have time to party anymore because I’m too busy studying.” Our paths crossed again at the Black Deaf Advocates conference in Detroit. This time, she said, “I’ve got good news! I’m graduating next month, and my parents are coming to my graduation. I’m going back to LaGuardia to work as a counselor in the deaf program.” Her announcement touched me deeply. I could not help but be proud and happy that she was able to overcome so many obstacles to reach her goals. Since our conference theme is about empowerment, I am sure that Claudia would be pleased if we shared her story with others who are not aware of what she accomplished.
I was asked if I would share information on four topics as part of my presentation: my personal experiences as a Black Deaf person; personal insights into how I made my way to where I am now; lessons I have learned over the years; and my views on empowerment.
Personal Experiences as a Black Deaf Person
The Southern IQ Test
During my second year in Little Rock, our Little Rock Association of the Deaf team drove to Jackson, Miss., to participate in a basketball tournament. As we were driving through northern Louisiana, where there was a lot of farmland, one of the players said to me, “Because you have a Ph.D., that means you know everything, right?” I answered, “No, I don’t know everything.” So my teammate said, “Well, we are going to give you an IQ test and find out.” One of the guys said, “Glenn, what’s that planted out there in the fields?” I answered, “I don’t know, they look like bushes to me.” All of the guys in the car laughed and said, “Glenn is a real city boy. He doesn’t know what cotton looks like. Glenn, that’s cotton out there.” I failed my Southern IQ test, but I know what cotton looks like now.
They Don’t Sell Such a Thing as Grits in the Food Stores
When I was in the 7th grade at a day program for deaf students in my hometown of Chicago, the teacher asked the class to write a composition about what we had done at home during the past weekend. I wrote about how my father had gone fishing that weekend. He had returned home late on Saturday night with plenty of fish. Whenever my father brought fresh fish home, my mother would fry fish for breakfast on Sunday morning. She would serve the fish with scrambled eggs, hot biscuits, and grits. After my teacher read my composition, she called me over to her desk and said, “What’s grits? They don’t sell that in the food stores.” No matter how hard I tried to explain to her what grits were, and that they are sold in the food stores, she remained convinced that there was no such food called grits. I felt dismayed and frustrated when I returned to my desk. When I arrived home that evening, I told my mother about the incident. My mother, of course, was upset. She decided to give me a box of grits to take to school. The next day, I showed the box of grits to my teacher and said, “My mother told me to show you this box of grits and to tell you that they do sell them in the food store and also to tell you that Quaker Oats Company makes them!”
“What Did You Get a Ph.D. For?”
Last month I was in San Antonio, Texas, for the SWAAD regional basketball tournament. As our team was warming up, I was filling out the starting line-up. As I gave the line-up to the official scorekeeper, there were two young Black Deaf men standing by. One of them asked me if I had recently spoken at Gallaudet as part of the Black History month celebration. I responded affirmatively. He then explained to his friend who I was. The friend said to me, “Is it true that you got a Ph.D. and you are a Doctor?” I again responded affirmatively. He had a look of amazement on his face, and he said, “You are the first Black Deaf person I have ever met who is a Doctor. Tell me, what did you get a Ph.D. for?” His question really caught me off guard because I had never had anyone ask me that before. I took a few moments to think about what to say to him. Finally, I said, “Well, why not? I had an opportunity, so I decided to take advantage of it.”
Personal Insights Into How I Made My Way to Where I Am Now
While I was one of the few Deaf students in a large public high school in Chicago, my parents were constantly encouraging me to plan on going to college. My father was a building custodian at a large high school, and my mother was a short-order cook in a restaurant, and they wanted me to take advantage of opportunities they never had and to get a better job than they were able to get. Since I was not aware that Gallaudet existed, I chose to attend Northern Illinois University, which was not far from Chicago. I was the only Deaf student on campus at the time, and the faculty in the Physical Education department, encouraged me to either change my major or transfer to another school. Their reasoning was that all Physical Education majors were expected to attain at least a “C” in a required public speaking class; although I had yet to enroll in the course, the faculty had already predetermined that I would not be able to attain a “C” in public speaking. After being referred to several different people for advice and counseling, I was fortunate to meet the chairperson of the Department of Special Education. It was through her that I learned about Gallaudet. She was kind and supportive; she assisted me in applying to Gallaudet, and she even administered the Gallaudet admissions test to me.
Attending Gallaudet was perhaps one of the best things that ever happened to me. My experiences as a student at Gallaudet helped me change my perceptions and expectations of myself. I realized I could do more than just become a P.E. teacher and coach, and as a result I changed my major to psychology. Before attending Gallaudet, I had never thought of myself as capable of being a leader. While I was there, I had the opportunity to participate in a variety of student activities and organizations. I was fortunate to be a student at a time when there were many outstanding student leaders on campus. In many ways, just watching them in action was a learning experience. Those students then are our leaders today: to name a few, Phil Bravin, Harvey Corson, and Gary Olsen.
We have all heard the expression, “behind every successful man is a woman” (and, I hope, “behind every successful woman is a man”). I owe a lot to my wife, Karen, for her support while I was a doctoral student at New York University. Studying for a Ph.D. and working on a dissertation were difficult and frustrating experiences for me. There were so many obstacles in the way, and I often thought I would never see “the light at the end of the tunnel.” Many times I just wanted to say, “I don’t want to put up with this BS anymore,” and quit the doctoral program. But my wife, who often had more faith in me than I had in myself, managed to talk me out of quitting by helping me realize that it was foolish not to get something in return for all the money, time, sweat, and tears I had invested in my studies. When I finally finished, my wife and I agreed we had both earned a degree. While I earned a Ph.D., she earned a Ph.T.— putting your husband through.
Lessons I Have Learned Over the Years
There are many lessons I have learned over the years, and I would like to share some with you. I believe we must have goals for ourselves and be willing to work hard to achieve them. We must keep our eyes and minds on our goals and not let other people or obstacles prevent us from reaching them. Our friend, Claudia Gregory, was a good example of someone who was persistent and determined to reach her goal of attaining a bachelor’s degree. When she decided to attend the University of Tennessee, she did not have a car to commute from her off-campus apartment to school, but that did not stop her; regardless of whether it rained or snowed, she walked to school. She also did not have any close friends or family to support her while she was there; she and her daughter, who was in junior high school at that time, had to support each other and help keep each other’s “chin up,” regardless of the problems they encountered. Claudia made a commitment and kept her “eyes on the prize,” despite the many obstacles that often got in the way. To me, Claudia was a “winner.”
The second lesson I would like to share is that we must have good role models and mentors in our lives. My father was a good role model for me. He was a man who always put his family first. In 1968, two months before I was to graduate from Gallaudet, our house was totally destroyed under questionable circumstances. My father knew that the loss of our house could have been prevented if the fire department had gotten to the fire on time; he had sufficient justification to take legal action against the fire department for “negligence,” but he chose not to. It was not possible for us to recover our losses because we supposedly lived in a “high risk” neighborhood and could not obtain homeowner’s insurance. My sister and I used to get angry at our father for not taking legal action; nevertheless, he had his reason: he did not want to risk losing his job and pension by suing his employer, the city of Chicago. He always said, “It’s better for my family to have a roof over their heads and food on the table than to be hungry and not have a place to live.” Instead of being distressed, angry, and helpless about all that our family had lost, my father “picked up the pieces” and started all over again. I could not help but admire and respect my father for all he did to rebuild our lives again.
The third lesson I want to share is about the importance of having our own organizations and being able to sponsor our own conferences. Establishing Black Deaf Advocates (BDA) and sponsoring conferences every year gives us something that is “ours.” In the early years when BDA was first organized, there were many people who questioned the need for BDA; there were also many people who were skeptical and did not think that BDA would last. But BDA, still alive and going strong in its ninth year, has become a “magnet” drawing many of us together. I am proud of what BDA has accomplished over the years. There is still a lot of work to do to make BDA stronger, but we did “get the ball rolling,” and it is our duty to keep that “ball rolling” as long as we can.
Personal Views on Empowerment
I want to close with a few thoughts about our theme, “Empowerment and Black Deaf People.” To me, empowerment means being able to control and determine your own life and future. It means getting in the driver’s seat and driving the car rather than sitting in the back seat and going along for the ride. It reminds me of what the University of Arkansas basketball coach, Nolan Richardson, has told his players for the past three years since his 15-year-old daughter died of leukemia:
Life is not promised to you. If you don’t use what you have today, you don’t have to worry about tomorrow. You may not be here tomorrow.
With my thoughts on the future, I would like to suggest that we work together to brainstorm ideas about how we can make our African American deaf history, our achievements, and our literature and publications more accessible to our sisters and brothers all over the U.S. and throughout the world. We need to build archives, libraries, information centers, and databases to preserve pictures, videotapes, books, speeches, and artistic performances that exemplify our heritage and culture. By doing that, we will be on the road toward empowering our sisters and brothers now, next year, in 10 years, and, more importantly, in 100 years.
About the Presenter
Dr. Glenn Anderson has been director of training at the University of Arkansas Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Deafness since 1982 and is also an associate professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Education and Research. Dr. Anderson earned his Ph.D. from New York University and has been involved in deafness rehabilitation as a counselor, administrator, and trainer for 20 years. He has authored numerous publications and given an extensive number of workshops and presentations. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Gallaudet University.