2/20/2013 - Multiculturalism students focus on Southern Writers

Judson College’s Department of Education recently participated in Selma Dallas County Library series “Lunch at the Library” featuring Southern writer Deborah Johnson Harper.   In conjunction with the Voices of Civil Rights exhibit on loan from the Library of Congress, the event enriched Judson teacher candidates’ course on multiculturalism.  A major aim of the course is for college students to see the world through the lenses of those from various backgrounds.  Harper’s presentation provided a glimpse into the history of students raised in rural Mississippi.

Deborah Johnson Harper grew up in the segregated South, the daughter of an African-American physician. Watching her father’s career as a “ghost surgeon” inspired much of the plot of the featured book, The Air Between Us. A ghost surgeon is one who performs an operation in which a patient thinks a different doctor is operating. In her father’s case, his superior skills were utilized though it was not socially acceptable for a black doctor to operate on a white patient.

In The Air Between Us, a 10-year-old black boy drives a white man dying of a supposed hunting accident to the local hospital. He takes him to the blacks-only side so he could go in and ask for help, but those working there knew they couldn’t bring a white man into their side of the hospital. The boy had to waste precious time driving him around the whites-only side and figure out how to get help there. After the man dies, an ensuing investigation strains already tense racial relations in 1960s Mississippi.

With characters as rich as the history, the edge-of-your-seat suspense is pure Southern sawmill gravy on top of this engaging story. FreshFiction.com describes the book as “a look at the underpinnings of racial desegregation, the sensitivities and emotions that buoyed both sides of this explosive issue at a time when integration was a runaway train unable to be stopped, and an immensely satisfying read.”  Learning from author Deborah Johnson Harper was a highlight of the multiculturalism course.  They will continue to explore their personal histories, uncovering truths to develop their knowledge and dispositions for effectively teaching in America’s pluralistic society.

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