Interview with Dr. Jipguep

Our group interviewed Dr. Marie C. Jipguep. The question that she was expected to give a response to was: Why do you think foreign language programs are not being implemented in US elementary schools despite the increasing emphasis on globalization? She began by saying that the reason she believes this has happened is because of the foreign language program not making sense. However, I find it odd that in places such as Cameroon, where she is from, the students are required to learn French and English, which are the two official languages. Once she entered Junior high school, she, along with the other students, was required to learn one language from one of their colonizers. Dr. Jipguep says that Americans are one track minded. They feel as though they do not have to learn another language because they are pretty much in control of much of the business. Many other countries are not able to neglect learning English because they do a lot of business with the US countries.

She brought up the point that if anyone wanted to incorporate a language program, it would be according to the community, or area, in which the students live. If students live in an area that has many Hispanics and Asians, then those schools will be more likely to incorporate a Spanish course and a course containing an Asian language. I feel as though that idea is smart. It would be pointless for the students to learn a language in which they would never really have to use it on a daily basis. If Chinese people are the majority in one’s neighborhood, then the school would have to teach the Chinese language. It would be only logical to do so. If school systems do not realize that learning another language at a young age is fundamental, then the students may have a harder time picking up on it later on in life.

Dr. Williams- Last Lecture

Our last lecture course on Tuesday, October 5, was basically a summation of everything we discussed in order to introduce our project. This project takes a lot of thought and work. Our independent discovery project should include six basic components. Those components are a statement that introduces the problem or challenge, a review of what has been discussed, the methodology that we would like to use for our project, the framework, a development of our thesis, and lastly, the conclusion that summarizes the project as a whole. Dr. Williams discussed how all of our lectures were examples of some aspect of this course. To be honest, I feel as though this course was interesting, yet at the same time, I did not understand its purpose in its entirety. I liked most of the lecture topics we discussed but once we concluded with all of the lectures, I did not really know what I was that I was really supposed to take with me. As with Dr. Williams discussing our group project in our last lecture, I was not too sure that I was looking forward to completing it. However, I think that this project will be informational and will force me to step out of my comfort zone. I will be forced to look into topics that I would normally not think about and work with people that I may not have encountered on my day to day basis here on campus. Hopefully this project and the presentations will help end this course on an interesting and positive note.

My African Burial Ground Experience

Shareef Abdul Malik
This was my first trip into the city of New York. When exiting off the bus on 125th and Douglas, I never felt the rush of excitement, the rush of potential, the rush of life. This trip was the most inspirational trips that I have ever experienced, and I would love to take more. I was not able to go on the 2nd of October with my group because of family issues but I believe I went on the right day. I was said that 10 to 12 million Africans were captured and transported world wide as part of the transatlantic salve trade from the 1500s to the 1800s. I think that the history of our ancestors should have been covered more thoroughly, maybe a trip to the Blacks and Wax museum in Baltimore. I say that because it bothered me when some of the students were making unnecessary jokes about the history. I believe that the history of Muslim slaves should have been covered more because a big portion of the museum's dedication was towards Muslims. I noticed a wax figure of Muslims slaves praying in a circle together, the women had on their head wraps and the men had their hands in the position for prayer. The young Muslim children use to write on a wooden board to memorized the Quran. This is proof of their literacy and obligation to learning their scriptures. I gathered the proper understanding of the middle passage, and that before it, the 30 million slave that were captured only 13 million of them survived to the middle passage. This I must say was the highlight of my year thus far.

Our Project

Shareef
Today, our group the Johnson group, had to commute to the Tubman Quad building in order to have our group discussion. We sat down and organized our plans and thoughts. Even though the time was short we were able to get a lot done. The group decided to target different points and bring in different statistics on our project. In the beginning our questions were a little too broad and we needed to specify what it is we are saying. After constructively criticizing each other ideas, we thought that maybe we should target a certain group, African Americans. Some members in the group thought that we should implement the variable of the parents, whether one or both of them are bilingual, or speak another language than English in the household. I decided amongst the group that I will collect data on the children here in Washington DC. We decided to look at the African American children here in Washington DC who are in the public school systems. As a group we will ask certain questions to professors on the campus of Howard University and if I have time then I will venture out to other college campuses and talk to other professors. From our own perspectives African American children have a low percentage of being by lingual. I believe we should as a group compare the children with other ethnicity in the US and out side the US. We decided that we will gather the stats and email each other with this information. This will put us all on the same page allowing us to properly have synergy.

Dr. Segun Gbadegesin

Dr. Segun Gbadegesin is Professor of Philosophy and Associate Dean of the Humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences at Howard University. I believe this presentation covered the most beneficial information so far. There were many lesson taught is this presentation that I would like to piggy back on. He mentioned that we should never loose our good character and that patience is the most important element in our character. Dr. Segun told us a story that emphasized the importance of character. The story I believe was called Orunmila. Orunmila was a the god of wisdom who had a wife called Iwa and Iwa had a father named Suuru. As I mentioned before there were a lot of concepts that was shared and now I would like to say a few. Some of the Principles of Ma'at were truth, justice order, harmony, and balance. Some listed: I have not committed a sin,I have not committed robbery, I have not committed robbery with violence, I have not stolen, I have not slain men and women, I have not polluted myself, and I have not terrorized anyone. He mentioned that Immortality is the crown of existence in the memory of community. There were some words that I would like to share such as Omo olu iwa bi: a child begotten of the chief or source. He said that discipline and education does not shy away from making personal sacrifices. Iwa Iewa: good character is beauty, Iwa Ioba Awure: Good character is the greatest talisman. Later He spoke of different theories of the ancient, one being the theory of the structure of the universe.

African Burial Ground

The African Burial Ground is a very amazing place. In 1775, it was originally given the name, Negro Burial Ground. It has become the very last resting place for about 15,000 free and enslaved Africans. The African Burial Ground was once a 6.6 acre burial ground site in the lower region of Manhattan. It was discovered when workers began constructing buildings in that area. They began taking out bones by truckloads, which was a problem. In a video I recently viewed about the African Burial Ground, a woman felt as though it was not right for them to confiscate the remains of “our” ancestors. Also, in this video, I found it interesting to hear of the African Burial Ground as the black Ellis Island and Auschwitz. It was referred to Auschwitz because it is believed that many ancestors have been left dead in the Atlantic Ocean by way of the Middle Passage.
I think that the 19 years of progress has paid off. The African Burial Ground has gone from a parking lot to becoming the resting place of seventeenth and eighteenth century free and enslaved Africans. The work that the architect put into making the memorial was phenomenal. The people who have helped to make this project successful are incredible. I know that without this African Burial Ground, I would have never known about the many free and enslaved Africans that died in New York. This site is very important and can help teach many people who may not have known that slaves even existed in New York. The African Burial Ground should have a requirement that everyone must come and educate themselves at this site.

Inscription is liberating

Our final lecture for Freshman Seminar was conducted by Dr Dana Williams, who was one of our advisors for the course. During this lecture, Dr. Williams informed us of the purpose of the Freshman Seminar course, which was to help the students gain a sense of independent discovery. Then, Dr. Williams proceeded to tell us the six basic components of research. These steps consisted of the statement of the problem or challenge, current state of research, methodology, framework, development of the thesis, and conclusions. Dr. Williams defined the different ways that these components could be used and then related them to the development of the Freshman Seminar class. This is how we were able to learn what the purpose of the class was and what was expected of us as students. I had wondered why we seemed to learn about African history and about different important historical figures in Black History, and her presentation was able to show me that the purpose of the class was to instruct students about the different aspects of African culture and history that we did not know because of the Diaspora. Then Dr. Williams told us of the different objectives of the lessons. They were supposed to aid the students with Memory and Awareness, which would help us to regain the knowledge that had never been taught to us in our schools. I find it interesting that the entire point of Freshman Seminar was to make us more knowledgeable about what our schooling and our communities thus far have kept us ignorant of. We were given the opportunity to learn that inscription could be a liberating practice.

Shayna McCormack

African Burial Ground

"I need a break." That's all I could think about the Friday night before our trip to the African Burial Ground. Yes, I did want to attend considering it has been so long since I've been on a field trip, but I was just so tired. I thought about asking the professors if there was a make-up assignment for those who couldn't attend. Luckily for me, I sucked up exhaustion and woke up the next morning.
I consider myself so blessed to be able to learn the information I learned on the trip. Maybe it is my own fault that I never knew of Lorenzo Pace and Jalani and the Lock. Perhaps, it is my own ignorance that left me unaware of the meaning behind the Ankh. Whatever the reason was, it is invalid now.
Squeezed so tightly through the gate of "no return". Eyes closed, imagining what it would be like to feel someone's breathe on you for months at a time. Thinking of the pain my ancestors to endure. How they were forced to lie in the excrement of themselves and their neighbor. I began to tear up at the thought of smelling death right next to you with no escape. I knew of this information before. However, standing neck to neck with someone while thinking of all of this makes it so much more moving.
One of my favorite parts, after imagination station, was learning about the various symbols. The symbol that resonated the most with me was Funtunfunefu Denkyemfunefu aka Siamese Crocodiles. These crocodiles share one stomach, but fight over food. It makes no sense. However, that is how we live today. We all fight over who pays what when it benefits us all.
The movie in the exhibit was touching as well. Maybe I'm just emotional, but I teared up then as well. It is just so difficult to place myself in that time period. I sometimes find myself saddened because I feel I lack the strength my ancestors had to have had.

Alexandria Igwe

New York African Burial Ground

The trip to New York is one I will never forget. At first when I was told that we had to go to New York to see the African Burial Ground I was a little bored by the thought. I figured I could look it up on the Internet or in books and find out the same information. How different I feel about that now. The experience of being there, is one I can't really describe, even with the most descriptive words. I just felt like I actually got a hands on history lesson and it affected me. I do not want to say I was emotional, but I was very mentally connected to what I was apart of. History..... my history. Real people, real emotions. It was all a reality check for me. I learned so much in that small amount of time that we were there. The group I was in started outside and the first thing that kind of attached to me was the 7 graves that held the 419 bones that were found. The way they were placed, the way they kind of came out of the ground, it got to me. I could feel a presence in the atmosphere like something was there. The pyramid that had the door of no return and being inside it and realizing that it was the same type of space that my ancestors traveled in, it was such an eerie feeling. Then looking at all of the symbols and there meanings, I just felt so connected to my history. When we went inside and watched the movie about Kwame John it was the most touching moment I had throughout the whole time there. When I first sat down to watch the movie I thought it was just a documentary. But when the story about Kwame surprised me. It was so deep and the feeling in the room was so still. As we watched the movie no one moved, spoke, you could barely here people breathing. As soon as it was over we sat in the room and just stared at the black screen. No one moved for almost a minute and then we all kind of looked around at each other as if we all just shared a moment. Even after we left out the room none of us were speaking. The movie got to me, I thought about it for the remainder of that day. I'm happy I got a chance to experience the African Burial Ground. That was an experience that no book, Internet or other person could tell me or teach me about. I plan to go back with my family in the future.

Richelle Jenkins

Last Lecture

On Tuesday, October 5, Dr. Dana Williams concluded the Freshman Seminar lecture series. Her lectured served as the pretty ribbon on a Christmas gift. She put the finishing touch on all we've touched on and learned through out the series. She went back and mentioned every lecture we've encountered, it's purpose, and how it related to the research and methodology of which Dr. Williams spoke of. This hindsight clearly fulfilled the related objectives she had "to show the relation of the previous lectures to the group project" and "to review the precious weeks' lectures to reaffirm this relationship."
We have been assigned, in Freshman Seminar, the task of exploring a basic research question. "In what way is knowledge generated by various fields of study used to develop solutions to human social problems and challenges?" Dr. Williams sought to give us the tools necessary to answer this research question by alerting us to the basic components of research. Those basic components include: the statement of the problem, the current state of research, methodology, framework, development of the thesis, and conclusions. The Freshman Seminar Case Study really helped to see how these basic components apply to an actual problem instead of a theoretical one. I liked the student spotlight. It was a great end to the lecture and an excellent way to see how my peers feel about the various lectures.

Alexandria Igwe

Dr. Dana Williams

Tuesday, October 5th, marked the last day of our lectures in freshman seminar. I honestly did not know that that would be our last lecture in class. Not to sound a little unreal but that is how that moment seemed to me when we were told that that would be our last lecture. I felt like I had learned so much just from the 5 previous speakers and I know there is so much left to be learned. But any who, Dr. Williams spoke to us about research and methodology and then circled around and kind of put closure to all of the lectures. She discussed the 6 basic components of research which we can apply to all research we do throughout undergrad. The components were statement of the problem, current research being done, methodology, framework, development of thesis, and conclusions. I have used these same tactics in doing research before so being refreshed on them and knowing that they are a recipe for success helped me know that I am on the right track. When she went into discussing how all of the lectures were set up to lead up to the next, I began to recall how almost all of the speakers did incorporate something from the previous week even if it was unintentional. She then described what it means to be present, which was also a point Dr. Carr pointed out. She spoke about vision, memory, and awareness which makes us be present. Then she related memory and awareness to the lectures and how they have allowed us to have a vision as well as live out their (seminar speakers) visions by doing our weekly blogs. All of this is just possible because we are present.

Richelle Jenkins

Omoluabi-Dr. Gbadegesin

Dr. Gbadegesin spoke on the topic of self-actualization. He told the story of Iwa and her husband. Iwa means existence or character. In the story, Iwa’s husband did not treat her respectfully. As a result of his actions, Iwa left. All of his good fortune was destroyed because of the way he treated his wife. Once Iwa’s husband learned his lesson and Iwa returned to him, his good fortunes returned to him. The moral of the story is that if you have good character, good things will come to you.
A few great quotes that Dr. Gbadegesin shared were, “someone with character will have wealth,” and “wisdom has been made, but I will remake myself.” These two quotes are very true, in my opinion. If someone has a great since of character, then they will become successful. You cannot reach the top of the success ladder if you have bad relationships with the people around you. As for remaking one’s self, that is a learning process. Nobody will remain the same forever. They will have to endure many experiences to help them mature. Once you go through many experiences, you can start to see what aspects in your life are good and which aspects need work.
Ideas from Dr. Carr’s lecture were also included in Dr. Gbadegesin’s lecture. For instance, he spoke about Ma’at, which means truth. The Principles of Ma’at has a list of Egyptian commandments. These commandments all state things that one will not do, such as kill, lie, or steal. Overall, I was very interested in his lecture. It gave me something to think about. I know that character is very important , but now I also think about how I may have to remake myself in the process of developing my character.

Omoluabi

The lecture given Tuesday September 28th spoke to me directly for many reasons. When Dr. Gbadegesin started his lecture he told us the importance of paying respects when you enter a room. Then he went into the story of the talking drum which talks about family history of everyone. He explained that the talking drum can only be understood if the drummer tells you what it is saying. For example he did both you are stupid and you are serious and they both sounded the same except the last beat was lower for "stupid" and higher for "serious". We then discussed the story of Iwa. The story of Iwa was a story that can be related to life now. Iwa means existence and character and she was the wife of Orunmila who was the God of wisdom. He mistreated her and she decided to leave him. After she left him he lost everything that he had and once he found her he begged for her to come back to him. The story is strong and memorable because of the message behind it, Do not ever lose your existence or character because a man of character is a man of wealth. Omoluabi is a very important quality to have based on what I heard. When understanding existence it is important to understand the good of existence and how it relates to you. As a student I should remake myself through my education and then serve my community based on my education. Immortality is seen as the crown of existence and immortality is not to live forever but to live in the memory of your community. Some important structures of character is Iwa Iewa which is good character is beauty and Iwa lesin which is essence of religion. I understand now the importance of being a person with a good character, patience, an education, and a sense of existence.

Richelle Jenkins

Self-Actualization

Dr. Segun Gbadegesin was extremely intriguing Tuesday, September 28. His props helped to liven up his lecture on Self-actualization, communal responsibility and character. He first introduced the Talking Drum. I believe that is correct; his accent was thick. I originally wrote down Token Drum, but I believe Talking Drum is more befitting. Talking Drum is more befitting because that is what the drum seemed to do. Dr. Gbadegesin spoke a sentence such as "How are you?" and the Talking drum, through its inflection in rhythym and bass, repeating the greeting. This drum, to the untrained ear, is unassuming. However, to those who know of its ability, it is a like a phone line passing on information. The word "Ma'at" infiltrated my thinking again today. The first time I heard of the word was in the lecture of Dr. Carr. This time, however, there was a little more added to Ma'at besides its meaning of truth. This day when learned of the Principles of Ma'at which some believe is the basis of Christianity's Ten Commandments. It is not hard to believe that The Ten Commandments could have take inspiration from the Principles of Ma'at since a lot of the ideas are similar. Wrongdoings like stealing, adultry, lying, and murder are mentioned in both the Ten Commandments and the Principles of Ma'at. I really enjoyed the Youruba folktale of Iwa and all that we learned of posessing Good Character. However, my favorite quote of the day is: "When you control a man's thinking, you control his actions." You won't have to tell a man to enter through the back, because he'll carve his own back entrance if he thinks it to be the true order of the world.

Alexandria Igwe

Do Not Lose Your Character

On September 28, Dr. Gbadegesin spoke to our freshman seminar class about Omoluabi. We were able to learn that this related to character and existence and how that could relate to other aspects of life. Dr. Gbadegesin told us the story of Iwa and how she represented existence and character. In her story, she was mistreated by her husband, even though she told him that she would only marry him if he did not mistreat her. As a result, she left her husband. As soon as she left him, whatever good fortune he had left him. The moral was that no one should ever lose their character. He was able to convince Iwa to return to him, but he had learned his lesson. Dr. Gbadegesin told us of a quote that stated that someone with character would have wealth. His talk about character struck me as important and as a subject to which I would be able to relate. I have known about the importance of character for the majority of my life, and I can understand why there would be a story about the importance of character. I think that every society needs Omoluabi to have good character and to work to give back to the communities from which they came. I believe that everyone should work to become some form of Omoluabi. There is importance in having good character and every person should work to know more about their existence and why they are important. If a person is positive about his or her existence, then they are more likely to have a positive impact on the rest of the world.
Shayna McCormack