A tiny figure in a tattered and bloodied yellow dress runs through the woods. Tripping over her own feet, she clutches her belly, throwing frantic glances behind her. This is the opening to Grace, a novel by PCC’s writer in residence Natashia Deon. The scene came to her, somewhere between daydream and hallucination, while in her home, clutching her newborn so, when she was transported to the 1850s Alabama woods. Feeling connected to the young slave woman, Deon felt compelled to tell her story.
13th: From slave to criminal with one amendment
Cries of shock and gasps of disbelief echoed off the walls from students who watched stock footage of a black man being pushed, kicked and beaten by a mob of white men. The voice-over of current president Donald Trump from his campaign rallies intermingled with the footage stating, “Knock the crap out of ‘em would ya? In the good old days this doesn’t happen because they used to treat them very very rough and when they protested once, you know they would not do it …
Pathway research conference swarms campus
To the left, posters on slavery and racism. To the right, students discussing time traveling concepts. Everywhere one looked at the quad of the PCC campus, students engaged in various discussions brought on by hundreds of first-year Pathways students.