Unofficially

I was a sociology major, and I found that none of my classes discussed the African diaspora in the Americas outside of the United States. Luckily, Burling had a fairly extensive black history library. There I was able to learn about blacks in Brazil and other Latin American countries. I learned about the difference in the slave trade and how racism and colorism were intertwined with classism. Each Latin American country was a little different. I also learned about blacks living in Canada, who had fled there to escape slavery but still faced racial discrimination. This was never an official research project, but skipping class to read books that I was actually interested in was a highlight of my Grinnell experience as a black student in the 1980s.  

Rhonda Stuart ’86
Evanston, Illinois
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