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  Sonia Sanchez, Lecture to Black Student Association, 1976

  Sonia Sanchez

  Poet and activist Sonia Sanchez (Wilsonia Benita Driver) spoke at Eastern Michigan University in 1976. Introduced here by EMU Black Student Association spokesperson Malek Ukeine, Sanchez reads from her own poetry and lectures EMU students on issues facing African Americans in 1976. Framing her arguments and critiques in her religious beliefs and her affiliation with the Nation of Islam, Sanchez calls for righteousness and unity amongst African Americans. Sanchez also speaks on the plight of children, pan-Africanism, the portrayal of African Americans in media, womanhood, slavery, drugs and black identity.

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  Yosef Ben-Jochanan, Lecture to EMU Black Student Association, 1976

  Yosef Ben-Jochanan

  As the keynote speaker of an event organized by the EMU chapter of the Black Student Association (BSA), Yosef Ben-Jochannan visited Eastern Michigan University in 1976. Introduced by BSA spokesman Malek Ukeine, Yosef Ben-Jochannan examines historical criticism leveled against white America by African American activists. He discusses the erasure of black history from popular memory and education and condemns the pro-black movement for forgetting their African heritage and forefathers. Ben-Jochannan also criticizes black participation in Christianity and interracial relationships.

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  Curtis Stadtfeld - From The Land and Back

  Curtis Stadtfeld

  Curtis Stadtfeld joined Eastern Michigan University in 1966, working for the Public Information Office, and began teaching journalism at the university in 1976. Recognized numerous times over his time at EMU, Stadtfeld won the EMU Alumni Teaching Excellence Award in 1991 for his innovative teaching methods, and ability to stimulate student interest in the field of journalism. In this address, Stadtfeld discusses his book, From The Land and Back, and answers questions from the audience.

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  Jeffrey Duncan Address to Fall Faculty Luncheon, 1974

  Jeffrey Duncan

  Jeffrey Duncan began joined the English Department in 1971, and served as Professor of English until his retirement in 2012. Duncan has written two textbooks, numerous award-winning plays, and has published over thirty works in Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, and Kentucky. In this address at the 1974 Fall Faculty Luncheon, Duncan attempts to suss out the differences in interpretation of the writings and literary language of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Duncan states that Emerson deems the written word rarely as literal article, instead regarding words as representations of spiritual facts.

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  Haki Madhubuti (Don Lee), Lecture to EMU Black Student Association, 1971

  Haki Madhubuti

  Haki Madhubuti (Don Luther Lee) was introduced to EMU in 1971 by a woman reading three poems by black authors to the crowd. Speaking on education and black separatism, Madhubuti condemns white control of institutions that govern black life in the United States. He calls for liberation from ‘plantation policy’, as he argues that African Americans that excel in white institutions have lost sight of the true goals of the black struggle. Madhubuti stresses the importance in acknowledging one’s blackness before ideology, religion, or other marker of identity. He critiques the white savior narrative, pointing to atrocities committed by white, western culture across the globe. According to Madhubuti, family and black unity is the solution to issues facing the African American community.

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  Alex Haley, "A History of the Negro in America," 1968

  Alex Haley

  Alex Haley was an American author and writer of several critically acclaimed novels and biographies including Malcolm X, and Roots: The Saga of an American Family. A fervent scholar of African American history, Haley here gives a presentation centered around his genealogical research in preparation for writing Roots. Referring to African Americans as “the only unwilling immigrants” to the United States, Haley traces his own roots back to the slave ship that brought his ancestors to the New World, detailing European first impressions of African culture, and vice versa.

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  Edwin Waugh, "The Vice Presidency," 1968

  Edwin Waugh

  Born in 1901 in Mississippi, Edwin Waugh began his teaching career with MIchigan State Normal College in 1927, and retired from Eastern Michigan University in 1968. Along the way, Waugh published two books and advised a Senate subcommittee which drew up the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Waugh here discusses the office of the Vice Presidency of the United States - the various paths to the office, and the logic behind the institution of the office by America’s founding fathers.

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  Geoffery Martin, "Mark Jefferson: Career and Contributions," 1968

  Geoffery Martin

  Geoffery Martin was a respected academic and historian carrying out the duties of England’s Keeper of Records from 1982 to 1988. In 1968, Martin was invited to give a presentation on the life and work of famed Michigan State Normal College geographer, Mark Jefferson.

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  John Jickling, Campus in Review, 1968

  John Jickling

  John Jickling was a noted Michigan architect until his death at 90 years old in 2012. His projects at the University of Michigan include the Gerald Ford Memorial Library, the Bentley Historical Library, and the Medical Research Building. He was instumental in developing the first set of master plans for Eastern Michigan University, and in this presentation, he reviews those plans, detailing the layout and organation of buildings and traffic on campus.

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  Notley Maddox, Poetry Reading, 1968

  Notley S. Maddox

  Notley Maddox served as a professor of English at Eastern Michigan University from 1947-1970. In his time with the English Department, he stimulated, delighted, and exasperated students and faculty alike with his sharp wit and deep literary knowledge. In this audio recording, Maddox gives a reading of his favorite authors, including Emerson, Melville, and Hawthorne. The night of the event was evidently a blustery, snowy night, and Maddox tailors his reading list accordingly, speaking about snow as metaphor, and reading several passages which feature snow and general weather themes. The tape is cut off near the end, as it suddenly moves to high speed.

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  George Romney, "Education in Michigan," 1964

  George Romney

  George Romney (July 8, 1907 – July 26, 1995) was an American businessman and Republican Party politician. He was chairman and president of AmericanMotorsCorporation from 1954 to 1962, the 43rd Governor of Michigan from 1963 to 1969, and the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 1969 to 1973. He was the father of 2003–07 Governor of Massachusetts and 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and the husband of 1970 U.S. Senate candidate Lenore Romney. In this address, given inside Pease Auditorium on the campus of Eastern Michigan University, Romney discusses the current state of public and private education in Michigan, claiming that education is the number one industry in the nation, and that Michigan has a monopoly on the production of good teachers and schools.

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  James Meredith, "The Negro's Struggle for Civil Rights," 1964

  James Meredith

  James Howard Meredith (born June 25, 1933) is a Civil Rights Movement figure, writer, political adviser and Air Force veteran. In 1962, he became the first African-American student admitted to the segregated University of Mississippi, after the intervention of the federal government, an event that was a flashpoint in the Civil Rights Movement. In this address, sponsored by the EMU Presents Lecture Series, Meredith claims that the number one problem in America is not Civil Rights, but instead white supremacy, and the failure of the U.S. government to assure equal rights to all citizens. Meredith begins with the post-Civil War adoption of the Mississippi Plan by the United States Supreme Court, and lays out subsequent efforts by the United States, north and south, to enforce variations on the “separate but equal” doctrine of the southern states.

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  Robert Havighurst, "American Education in the 1960's," 1964

  Robert Havighurst

  Robert James Havighurst (June 5, 1900 – January 31, 1991) was a professor, physicist, educator, and expert on aging. Both his father, Freeman Alfred Havighurst, and mother, Winifred Weter Havighurst, had been educators at Lawrence University. Havighurst worked and published well into his 80s. Havighurst died of Alzheimer's disease in January 1991 in Richmond, Indiana at the age of 90. In this address, Havighurst emphasizes the importance of education as it is tied to greater society. Education, claims Havighurst, should evolve and change fluidly over time, along with changes in society at large, rather than remaining static and aloof from the world around it.

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  Vance Packard Lecture, Concert Lecture Series, 1964

  Eastern Michigan University

  Author Vance Packard delivered this public lecture, “What’s Happening to the American Character?” in Pease Auditorium as part of the Eastern Michigan University Concert Lecture Series. Author of several bestselling novels, Packard’s social criticism led him to be published in many well-known American periodicals. In this lecture, Packard discusses the impact on everyday behavior of such pressures as the deliberate encouragement of hedonism, the exploitation of the “youth market,” and the promotion of living on credit, and the preoccupation of status.

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  David Sharp, Concert Lecture Series Presentation on Abstract Art, 1963

  David Sharp

  David Sharp began his tenure with Eastern Michigan University in 1962 as a member of the Art Department, and served until his retirement in 1995. In this presentation for the EMU Concert Lecture Series, Sharp outlines the importance of abstract art, focusing specifically on plastic arts. Noting that traditional art forms have lost none of their importance, works of abstract art contain just as many cultural statements as their traditional contemporaries.

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  George Bird, "Permanence and Change in the Theater," 1963

  George Bird

  P. George Bird (12/31/1927 - 5/6/2016) was hired by Eastern Michigan University in 1955 and taught there for 52 years, directing scores of plays, designing sets and lights for hundreds of productions, and challenging and inspiring thousands of students. His legacy to the University also includes profound influence over the design of both the Quirk and Sponberg Theaters on the EMU campus. In this presentation, Bird discusses the importance of change in theater, while also emphasizing the essentiality of permanence. While styles, genres, and trends of theater may change over time, the permanence of the actors can not be challenged.

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  Reinhard Wittke, "A German Problem," 1963

  Reinhard Wittke

  Reinhard Wittke was a professor in the History Department at Eastern Michigan University from 1956-1990. During his time at Eastern, Wittke established and was best known for establishing the European Adventure Tours in 1960, which became International Studies Program. He toured Europe with EMU students until 2007. In this presentation, Wittke details Germany’s place in the modern world, remarking that after the ascension of the United States as a world power, common views of Germany were rooted in negative stereotypes reflecting the good vs. bad binary with which Americans view the world. Effective diplomacy, Reinhard says, is essential to maintaining a global balance of power and stabilty.

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  Robert Belcher, "Resources and Recreation," 1963

  Robert O. Belcher

  Born in 1918, Robert O. Belcher grew to be the leading authority on the Sencio family of plants. He brought the expertise to Eastern Michigan University in 1946, as part of the faculty in the Biology Department. Belcher taught at EMU until his retirement in 1981. In this presentation, Belcher connects the concept of recreation with the concept of sustainability, emphasizing the idea that there are certain resources essential to human recreation. Natural settings, access to water, and enough capital to sustain a way of life are all essential, yet all threatened by the population explosion of the early 1960s.