To Be A MOMENTUM MAKER and to be STOPPED from making change
by Jolivette Anderson 'the poet warrior'

I was nominated to be a Momentum Maker. I was notified, interviewed, photographer took my picture to go on the website with a story and then I WAS NOTIFIED I WAS NOT GOING TO BE RECOGNIZED FOR THE WORK I WAS DOING AT THE PURDUE BCC.  The reason, oh the person that notified you made a mistake. I had told the Provost, I had told my mother and mailed her a copy of the interview questions I had answered because she did not have internet so she would not be able to see it online.

I remember telling her about my troubles at Purdue. I had been hiding it from her as to not have her worry about me and my daughter. My mother said to me,"Don't you worry about them people, Jolivette. They don't want you there. You know how to talk to all kinds of people and you doing a good job and peoples get jealous of people like you cause they can't do what you do. First of all, you Jethro and Helen's child, and then you done went and got your degrees from the Black folks at Grambling and now you got one of their degrees up there with big time Purdue. Now you trying to get a doctorate. Shit, you doing good, them folks get jealous. Don't worry, you gonna be alright and Nadja gonna be alright. Shit, me a Jeff done worked and we got this land and these houses down here. You can always come down here and get you a job and help your people dow her. Hell, Black folks is everywhere."

My mother had NEVER lifted me up like that. She had always been proud of us but there was something in her voice. She must have heard the pain in my voice. I was hurting and she knew it and she was pissed off that someone was messing with her baby.

I have my mother's heart and her fire. I love that about myself but I have struggled with it because I always thought she could be harsh, hard, even rude to people with the way she talked. In retrospect, I see she needed to control her life, the things around her, and she taught that to me and my sister. We have had to unlearn some of that in our older years, but for the most part, Mama was right. Treat people like they treat you! Don't let people speak down to you, no matter who they are. If they ain't right, feed them with a long handled spoon or stay away from them altogether. If they dump shit on you, take it off and give it back to them. All these lessons, but she was also ill. I can't prove it, but I think something hurt her so bad that she lost a part of herself. Her being around young people kept her alive after Daddy died. I can't believe how fast she got to Indiana after Nadja was born. She called as said, 'I'm coming, I got to see that baby, that's my REAL grandbaby, something I KNOW is my blood.'

I love the people that made me.

Here are the interview questions and my responses for being a PURUE MOMENTUM MAKER whose momentum was stopped by the powers that be.

Anderson-Douoning, Jolivette – Momentum Maker Questions and Responses

How did you become the Cultural Liaison and Program Specialist for the Black Cultural Center?

• My original title was Facility and Program Supervisor when I was first hired in January 2005. I had relocated from Mississippi and was working in social services and job placement when the previous person in this position, Mrs. Donna Hall, retired.  Once I became familiar with the position I was asked by my supervisor, Renee Thomas, to enhance the work previously done. With that in mind, I found a way to use my background in theater and performance to provide interactive educational experiences for high school students who tour the facility to learn about Black culture. Interactions with college students became more lecture based and eventually conversations took place that positioned me as a person students could feel comfortable talking to about Race.

What are your professional responsibilities?

1. Provide oversight for student staff to work on the BCC Historical and Digital Archive Project which is a collaborative effort between University Libraries, University Archives and the Purdue Black Cultural Center.  The project began when I saw a need for the historical binders held at the BCC that document the history of the center since 1969 to be digitized and preserved for future generations. After taking a class on Digital Archives and the Humanities, I found the confidence to lay the foundation for the work to begin.  It is an ongoing project with many more years of work to be done.
2. I develop content (curriculum) and implement that content using a teaching method (pedagogy) -- conducive for teaching in public spaces-- for the Race and Cultural Education Lecture Tours at the Black Cultural Center.  I have been trained by elders from SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee) in how I approach teaching the culture of African Americans in the U.S.. The people who trained me were trained by Ella Baker, Dr. Martin Luther King and many others who advocated for their citizens’ rights. I feel it is a part of who I am as a human being to do ‘culture work’. This is important, urgent work because Purdue students deserve to know more about African Americans than what has been taught K-12 grade. 

How do the BCC’s operations fit into the University at large?

The BCC operations are designed to meet the needs of the students, historically and primarily African American students. It is important for the BCC to be a source of encouragement for student success from entering the university to graduating from the university. It does this by being the hub for Black students to gather, meet, study, participate in the performance and academic ensembles, and build lasting friendships with other Black students. However, ALL students are welcome at the BCC and students that frequent the BCC build relationships with students from all over Indiana and the world. 

The BCC operation is the practicum or what is taught theoretically in the classroom.  We support the academic side of the student experience but in a more open, public space than the classroom.  

The BCC operation fits into the ‘global initiative’ of the university strategic plan. We provide a model for how to interact with individuals and the public to educate everyone. We do this with the classes I teach, with our extensive art collection, our programming and our Arts Education done through the work of the performance ensembles. Many people want to know about African Americans because they have heard about the Civil Rights movement and not because of the negative representations often seen through popular cultural images.

In what other ways are you involved in the community?

I have served on committees for the Jazz and Blues Fest, volunteered at the Hanna Community Center, served on a committee for local Underground Railroad history and I am the parent of a highly active and community involved 1^st grader at Cumberland Elementary School.

Why did this job first interest you?

I wanted to work in an arts and culture environment. The BCC was a perfect fit.

What else does your job involve?

1. I also manage the daily activities in the Black Cultural Center where I try to create and maintain a welcoming, caring environment for ALL people to experience and to learn about Black culture but most importantly, to learn about themselves. 

2. I liaise with the campus community and the greater Lafayette/West Lafayette community.  I sometimes have the opportunity to work on national projects and one day, hopefully an international project that will serve to create an ongoing conversation and discourse on Africans in the Diaspora. 

What's your favorite part of the job?

Figuring out the needs of students and faculty, formulating ideas to communicate with students, sharing those ideas and how they connect to the present time and to their lives and then listening to students respond to or try to make sense of what was shared with them. In other words, TEACHING.

What's the most rewarding aspect of your job?

Working with students and providing an open ear, an educational moment or witnessing their excitement when they passed an exam or accomplished something they did not think they could.

How do you act as a mentor to current students?

I mentor students by being a window for them to see themselves in the ‘cultural work’ that acknowledges and edifies African American life in the U.S., no matter the students’ race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, national origin. I assist them in developing their cultural competency about Black culture.  (this is but one way)

How has your personal background shaped the way you approach your job?

I am a descendant of ‘enslaved’ and ‘free’ Blacks. I am the daughter of college educated parents who were the first generation out of the rural farming and sharecropping into living and working in cities and urban areas. My grandmothers were domestic workers. My grandfathers were land owners and skilled laborers. All of them knew they were human and they carried themselves as human beings do, even when they were not treated as such. Their lives have shaped me first and foremost, in ALL that I do. I must give voice to the history of our [African American] families, our day to day existence, so others can begin to grasp a greater understanding of who we are and why we had to challenge the United States to live up to its ideals by doing away with the institutions of Chattel Slavery and Jim Crow segregation.  This IS black culture! One could say that my personal background IS my work, so I approach it with all the love and care I want and deserve for myself.

How do you work to promote leadership in a global and diverse society?

I feel it is part of my responsibility to teach and because I teach in a Public Space and not the classroom, I have more freedom to create a more relaxed energy so that students are relaxed and comfortable enough to ask questions they may have never asked an African American for fear of being embarrassed or misunderstood.  I share a part of who I am --as an African American woman from the South-- and some of the stories of my family to provide context to the legal history and culture of America and how African Americans had to navigate their actions and identity because of that history. In doing so, I encourage students of all backgrounds and experiences to take a leadership role in telling their stories, and most importantly, to take a leadership role in spreading diversity across campus and around the world by sharing what they learn about others with their personal and professional networks. In many ways, the laws of this land created Black culture as we know it today.

What other projects have you tackled here at Purdue?

Currently, my work as a PhD student in American Studies and Education Curriculum and Instruction, I have proposed that Purdue consider offering an online course on U.S. Race and Racism in the Massively Open Online Course (MOOC) format.  With assistance from the Office of the Provost, I am recruiting Purdue faculty to work on this project.