Dear MIIS Students, Staff, and Faculty,
As we honor and celebrate Black History Month 2022, on behalf of the global Middlebury Institute community, I want to reflect upon and reaffirm the myriad ways that Black lives matter: in history, and today; at home, and around the world. I want to express my solidarity with the Black members of our campus community, and my gratitude for the contributions they make here every day.
Black History Month matters to the Middlebury Institute today and every day. We educate professionals to advance understanding, promote peace, and drive change in pursuit of a more just world. That requires that the analysis and interpretation of the lessons and examples of Black history occupy a central place. And that must be reflected in our curricula and in our teaching, in and beyond our classrooms, in the rich life of student organizations that characterize our campus—in all of these settings. The competencies, skills, and tools our graduates gain must be acquired and applied in light of, and with constant reference to, Black history, to ensure they succeed in their pursuit of that more just world.
The Middlebury Institute campus community has engaged with energy and focus in the national reckoning on race and inequality. We are committed to making our institution an assertively anti-racist one, because anti-racist action is necessary to the pursuit of a more just world.
In 1903, W.E.B. DuBois prophetically proclaimed that “the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line.” His words explicitly referred to the experience of Black Americans, and also to people of color worldwide. Black history, DuBois underscored, was and would be, a history of oppression, struggle, and liberation. His prognosis remains bracingly apt for the current century.
Our campus community marks Black History Month in a variety of ways. The Women of Color Advancing Peace and Security, whose West Coast chapter was established by MIIS students, paid tribute to Black women in national security. The Middlebury Libraries have organized a digital display celebrating our observance of the month. Our TESOL/TFL students led an inspiring conference with a closing keynote by Dr. Shondel Nero on “Decolonizing World Language Education in the 21st Century.” This Black History Month, I urge us all—students, faculty, staff, and alumni—to acknowledge and embrace our solemn responsibility to better understand—and combat—the color line decried by DuBois.
Jeff Dayton-Johnson
Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Institute
| by Laurie Patton and Miguel Fernández
February is Black History Month. As events of the past year have demonstrated, it is as crucial as ever that we face up to and address our nation’s racial past. Last winter brought calls for reflection about our history and how we include the stories of enslaved peoples.
