Between May 27 and June 2, two Darrow School faculty members and a group of six students, including local student Kekoa Lopez ’12 of Sand Lake, will study the roots of antiracism in the Berkshires. As part of the seminar the students will visit local historical sites and museums, examine contemporary artwork inspired by the antislavery movement and help to clean up the Housatonic River Walk and excavate the W.E.B. DuBois home site in Great Barrington, MA.
Nancy Dutton, the faculty leader of the seminar, has been researching the area’s pioneers in the tolerance movement, from Mum Bett, the first slave to sue for her freedom and win, to the Shakers, who actively worked against slavery and who established the community on which Darrow is now located.
“I’ve always been invested in questions of equity in society,” Dutton relates. “This is an excellent opportunity for our students to feel connected to these movements and to understand that it didn’t happen thousands of years ago or far away from here. It took place in our own backyard.”
Dutton and her group will begin by visiting regional historic sites. At the W.E.B. DuBois home site in Great Barrington, they will assist the University of Massachusetts’ Archaeology Field School in its excavation of the property. In homage to DuBois’s efforts as an environmental activist, the students will also aid in the cleanup of a portion of the Housatonic River Walk. Later in the week, the group will view a presentation on the Shakers’ role in antislavery activism with noted Shaker historian and author Sharon Koomler. They will round out their study by examining an exhibit of contemporary works based on the equality movement at the Williams College Museum. After discussing the history of racial development and identity in the United States, the students will create their own artwork inspired by what they have learned.