Diversity
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Traveling Through History for a More Diverse Future: Trail Illuminates African American Contributions
Twenty years ago, when Dora Franklin Finley approached the historians at local historic preservation societies about her plans to create an African American heritage trail in her hometown, they asked, “What have Black people done in Mobile?”
“That just fueled her fire,” says Dora’s brother Karlos Finley, President of the Dora Franklin Finley African American Heritage Trail. “She was very focused on ensuring that African Americans were recognized for the significant contributions that they’ve made to the city of Mobile because unfortunately, that part of our history was not being told.”
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Embracing Differences in Utopia: A Southern Town’s Diverse History and Hope for Change
In 1894, a group of Iowa progressives arrived on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay to establish a utopian single tax colony. Believing that their plan had a “fair hope” of success, the Fairhope Single Tax Colony was founded, generating support from across the country and attracting an eclectic population of industrious, creative and free-thinking people. Meanwhile, the area (known as Tatumville) was already inhabited by a diverse population that arrived more than 30 years earlier, including many former slaves looking to enjoy their newfound freedom.
“It was a great area because there were no plantations, it was right on the bay with good fishing and there was good soil,” says Thelma Young Todd, co-producer of the documentary Celebrating the African-American Heritage of Fairhope, Alabama and retired research librarian.
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Enduring Injustice to Thrive as a Community: The History of Alabama’s Only Federally Recognized Tribe
Native Americans have lived in what is now the Southern U.S. for at least 12,000 years, and although grouped together ethnically, they represent 574 federally recognized tribes. “Each is distinct with its own unique history, language, culture and traditions,” says Megan L. Zamora, the Director of Internal Communications of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians in Atmore.
When European settlers arrived in the 16th century, an estimated 80 percent of the indigenous population was lost, primarily to infectious diseases. The population was further hurt by the rise of Indian slave trade in the Southeast.
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Peace and Dignity Overcome Oppression: The Cultural Effects of WWII on Three Generations of Japanese Americans
Marion Konishi was a happy 16-year-old living a comfortable life with her parents and younger brother in Los Angeles in 1941. They’d go to the movies every Saturday night and they’d attend baseball games whenever they could. Her father, who immigrated to California from Japan in high school, had a produce company, and her Japanese mother, who had been brought to America as an infant, was a homemaker.
But life as they knew it changed drastically when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor that December. “I can still remember how I felt when we heard the news,” says Marion, who is now 96.
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Women of Color Inspire Change: Addressing Racism Within Our Community
“No matter how much praise I receive or how many accolades I collect, some people will never be able to see beyond the color of my skin,” said Ashanti Ash as class president in her graduation speech at Fairhope High School, earlier this summer.
Growing up with little diversity in Fairhope and as a student in the gifted and advanced placement programs, Ash shared classes with very few other black students. “It taught me a lot of patience but I enjoyed educating everyone around me.”
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Diversity on the Mat: Yoga Teachers Leading the Way
More than 5,000 years ago, most yoga teachers and students were dark skinned males, but today, the word yoga evokes images of thin white women. According to data from the 2017 National Health Interview Study, white adults are nearly twice as likely as black adults to have practiced yoga in the last 12 months. As the local yoga scene mirrors these national trends, four African American teachers are trying to bring more diversity to their classes.
When LaSarah Deshauteurs showed up for the first weekend of her yoga teacher training four years ago at Soul Shine Yoga, in Fairhope, she wondered if she had made the right decision. “It was nothing like what I expected,” she says of the hot power, Baptiste-style training. Previously, her yoga experience consisted of stretches that were taught as a part of her fitness training program and she was unfamiliar with sequencing and pose names. She was also the only person of color in the room.
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Making Space for New Perspectives: Addressing Race with Younger Generations
Conversations about race are taking place across the country as nearly 3 in 4 Americans consider racial and ethnic discrimination to be a big problem in the U.S, according to a Monmouth University Poll in June. Adults are voicing their opinions, marching in protests and reflecting on their own experiences, but what is being done to engage the nation’s youth in the conversation?
Prichard native and Mobile resident Darlene Lewis, who has been a school counselor in mostly inner-city schools for six years, feels that in the U.S. there seems to be little motivation to learn about people and communities that are different from us. “Until something terrible happens like the George Floyd incident, and then it’s forced upon us. But it shouldn’t be forced upon us, it should automatically be taught, and when it’s not, we need to educate ourselves,” she says.