Toward a Preliminary Report on Black Women's Health and Wellness

This isn’t a flex, I promise, but over the last 15 years I have likely taught more Black women students than any other educator at my university. Along with my regular courses, since 2008, I’ve taught a first-year African American literature course that each year enrolled approximately 30 Black women undergraduates.

The students have had many accomplishments. They have done well in classes, become leaders on campus, graduated, and entered their professional careers. But there have also been challenges. Beyond academics, one pattern that stands out is the number of students who miss class days due to illness.

I'm not naive and realize that a student here and there might have other reasons for missing classes. I understand that. But after nearly two decades of close attention, I am convinced that the overwhelming majority of Black women who miss class and cite sickness are telling the truth. I’ve witnessed this more than most because, as noted, I’ve taught more Black women than most. 

Informal conversations with colleagues who also teach large numbers of Black women note the same pattern. Some have even observed that, on average, Black women students report sickness-related absences more often than other groups.

In the last decade, conversations about mental wellness among Black students have grown. Many now openly embrace therapy and other forms of support, which is encouraging.

But I have not seen the same level of discussion about physical health. Based on what I’ve witnessed in classrooms, that absence worries me. We would benefit from more visibility, more conversation, and more initiatives addressing Black women’s physical well-being.

We need to start now with preliminary reports at the very least. We can and should listen to Black women students, document their experiences, and advocate for real changes in campus health services and support systems.

What Dismantling DEI means for African American Literary Studies

A brief take on how recent efforts to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion programs threaten the institutional support and long-term viability of African American literary studies.

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Kickoff Event for SIUE Reads

There was laughter. There were fellowships. There were expressions of gratitude. There was the humming of a jazz tune. We had it all on August 26 at the kickoff event for SIUE Reads, our campus-wide reading project.

SIUE Reads is sponsored by the Hansen Humanities Network, made possible by a generous gift from Stephen and Julia Hansen.

At the opening event, we, the organizers, offered brief remarks, and the Hansens shared a few words about their gift.

It just so happened that we also had a special guest: my faculty mentor, Eugene B. Redmond. To pay tribute to him, I opened my remarks by humming Miles Davis’s "All Blues," a song Redmond had often hummed to open his readings.

More than 50 students attended the event. They mingled, received personalized “Welcome to SIUE Reads” notes I prepared for each of them, and picked up one of the following book selections: Ta-Nehisi Coates's Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet (2016), Jessica Nabongo's The Catch Me If You Can: One Woman's Journey to Every Country in the World (2022), Erika Engelhaupt's Gory Details: Adventures from the Dark Side of Science (2021), or Joy Harden Bradford's Sisterhood Heals: The Transformative Power of Healing in Community (2023).

Related:

• SIUE Reads

The Presence of Katherine Dunham and Judith Jamison Exhibit

On August 27 and 28, we hosted an exhibit "Power Poses, Movement, and the Presence of Katherine Dunham and Judith Jamison," which highlighted how posture, presence, and movement express embodied power, inaugurating a new series curated by African American literary studies. Sparked by Dana Williams’s November 18, 2024 talk at the National Museum of African American History & Culture, and the vivid images of Judith Jamison, the exhibit also traced how that moment catalyzed upgrades to SIUE’s Eugene B. Redmond Reading Room to create enhanced environments. 

Panels paired concise reflections on Jamison and Dunham with original poems and kwansabas by Angel Dye, Cindy N. Reed, and Danielle N. Hall, while introducing the kwansaba as a modern African American poetic form. 

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• Public Programming Fall 2025

Collegiate Black Men as Forgotten Readers Exhibit

On August 27 and 28, we hosted our exhibit "Forgotten Readers," highlighting the reading journeys of first-year collegiate Black men. Framed by Elizabeth McHenry’s call to “look in new directions," the exhibit challenged the habit of overlooking reading identities among African Americans. 

The panels focused some observations I gained from teaching a literature course that enrolled African American men since 2004. The panels focused on reading Frederick Douglass and Colson Whitehead, becoming verse decoders, and listening to Malcolm X. 

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• Public Programming Fall 2025

Public Programming Fall 2025

Here's a run down of our fall 2025 public programming. 

• August 26: Kickoff event for SIUE Reads

• August 27 and 28: Collegiate Black Men as Forgotten Readers Exhibit 

• August 27 and 28: The Presence of Katherine Dunham and Judith Jamison Exhibit

Related:

• Public programming on campus, 2009 - present

Storytelling as Foundations for Black Poetry and Literary Studies

Jerry W. Ward and Eugene B. Redmond preparing for discussion in East St. Louis, February 2005

Much of my crucial knowledge of Black poetry and Black literary studies didn't come from classrooms and reading scholarly works alone, but by word of mouth. My foundations were built in extended conversations with Jerry W. Ward, beginning at Tougaloo College; William J. Harris, Keith Gilyard, and Bernard W. Bell at Penn State; and Eugene B. Redmond at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

Just as important was Donald Garcia, whom I met in New York City in spring 1998 while participating in an exchange program at NYU. He opened worlds of books and bookstores to me. Later, I encountered Ben McFall, the Oracle of the Strand, who generously passed along a wealth of stories and information.

They were not the only ones who shared knowledge about authors, books, essays, and ideas, but they were foundational. Their storytelling shaped the way I entered and understood Black poetry and literary studies.

I'm taking note of the storytelling and the sharing and the passing along of information because I realized that we don't talk about it enough in our discussions of intellectual development or in discussions about training in the field of African American literary studies. 

We understandably place a lot of emphasis on "reading." That makes sense. People should be reading. But there are so many important side stories, unpublished footnotes, eye-witnesses accounts, and so forth that, while vital, do not make it onto the official record. 

Now, even as I raise this issue, I know there are problems and challenges. In many cases, there are only a few scholars of African American literature in English departments. So often, there are no opportunities to hear stories and direct information. Folks will come up not knowing that they are missing things. 

Early on, I had no idea that it was unusual that Professor Ward spent so much out-of-class time talking to me about the histories of Black poetry. He and Garcia normalized it to a degree that I almost expected or sought our such conversations from my teachers in grad school and then from my mentor when I became a professor. 

I realized along the way that such conversations weren't normal or normalized. In fact, I understood how rare it was. But when and if we as a field view those things as really important, then perhaps we can find ways to embed aspects of them along the educational and career paths of graduate students and junior scholars. 

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• Black men, personal libraries, and Black Book Culture

Reading Ta-Nehisi Coates's Black Panther

This semester, as part of our SIUE Reads activities, many of us will read and discuss Ta-Nehisi Coates's Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet. 

Coates is widely known as a journalist, book author, and commentator. Less often noted, however, is that his run on Black Panther from 2016 to 2021 marked a defining moment in the history of African American creators in comics. 

I'm looking forward to our weekly gatherings this semester, where we'll cover both the writing and artwork of Black Panther. 

I suspect some people may be surprised to see a comic book as a featured selection for our reading group. Comics aren't always viewed as "serious" literature, right? But through years of reading, researching, and teaching on the subject, I've found that comics offer both playful and profound engagements with words, images, and ideas. 

Plus, in the hands of a writer like Coates, you can expect a Black Panther storyline that addresses fascinating and complex topics. Paired with the striking artwork of Brian Stelfreeze, Chris Sprouse, and a talented team of additional creators, the series delivers a visually and intellectually compelling reading experience.

Related:

• SIUE Reads