Betty Hart is an English teacher. She is also an African-American woman. But, she does not feel like these two facts have to clash with each other.
“I do not perceive my teaching as African-American. I’m committed to helping students broaden their appreciation for the world and its cultures,” she said. “I teach lots of things not pertaining to race or culture, and emphasize language as a means to represent who we are, not just our personal selves, but our cultural selves.”
Hart, originally from West Virginia, attended two colleges: the traditionally black Howard University, and the predominantly white West Virginia University.
This gave her a broad perspective of race relations in American universities, although she staunchly refuses to bring them up in class when not justified by a reading or discussion, nor will she tolerate any sort of racial exclusivity.
“I am proud of who I am, but racial pride and identity does not justify prejudice and bias towards those who are not like me,” she said. “As a teacher, it would be wholly inappropriate and wrong.”
Hart is very outspoken about both eliminating racial boundaries, especially at the university level, and embracing her and other student’s cultural heritage.
In her African-American literature class, Hart teaches about literature from slavery, the Harlem Renaissance (her personal favorite) and contemporary stories about being black in America.
Hart also teaches English 497, which deals with racism in America.
“I proposed that course as an opportunity for students of all backgrounds to openly discuss and confront issues of racism in America,” Hart said.
With the classes she teaches, plus the many other English courses offered, Hart hopes students will experience different cultures and new ways of relating to each other.
“I have not encountered any racism here at USI. It’s been quite the opposite,” Hart said. “I have been asked to share my memories of life as an African-American, especially during the Civil Rights era. The university regards my diversity as a positive.”
Despite her good experiences at USI, Hart feels like there is still room to improve.
“We need to increase opportunities for encountering diversity in our classrooms and in campus life. The ratio of ethnic faculty to students is very disproportionate,” Hart said. “There is a disparity between the ratio to white students and white teachers and African-American students and African-American teachers. This disparity runs across all ethnicities here at USI.”
Despite these problems, Hart is very optimistic about the future of USI pertaining to race and in general, and hopes that she can help students embrace diversity both on campus and off.
“There are too many people who still live in a black and white world, like an old TV, both of which are obsolete,” Hart said. “We live in a world of color.”