Bennett College for Women Adopts "Go, Tell Michelle"

We are reposting this article which was first posted in June 2009, but given the Essence Magazine mention of the adoption of GTM by Bennett College for Women, we thought we'd re-post the article as it's timely. We also heard from Dr. Johnson, via our friend Marissa Jennings, that her class Survey of Women's Issues has about 30 students enrolled -- a big class for this course. Dr. Johnson will begin her course with Go, Tell Michelle and the students will be required to write their own letters. More will be forthcoming as Dr. Johnson progresses through the semester.

Some members of the GTM Sisterhood Network know that we have been working to propose that our book be used as a text by college professors(or high school teachers)in the disciplines of “Women’s Studies”, “African –American Studies”, “Gender Studies”, “Creative and Expository Writing”, “Sociology”, etc.

We believe that “Go, Tell Michelle” offers instructors, at various educational levels and in various disciplines, a rich source of contemporary issues related to the historic election of Barack Obama as the First African American President and the installation of Michelle Obama as the First African American First Lady of the United States, which Black women have identified as compelling and of pivotal importance to them. And that these issues have been presented through the creative and interesting (and seldom used) mechanism of letter writing.

Thanks to the work of our dear friend and publicist, Marissa Jennings, a Bennett College alumnus, we have our first adoption of “Go, Tell Michelle” by a college – and we are so proud and pleased to announce that it’s an Historically Black College ( HBCU), Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, North Carolina. We just received the following e-mail from Dr. Valerie Ann Johnson, Ph.D. , Mott Distinguished Professor of Women's Studies and Director of the Africana Women's Studies Program at Bennett College for Women.

Dr. Johnson stated: “I wanted to let you know that the book looks great. It is already on order for my class in the Fall, and I will be using it this summer as I teach in a Teen Writers Camp. We begin tomorrow (June 17th). I plan to read a couple of letters to the students as examples of expository writing in letter form. I will encourage the students (rising 9th-12th graders) to get a copy of the book and read it on their own.”

Dr. Johnson’s program Africana Women’s Studies was founded in 2004 under the direction of Dr. Irma McLaurin. Africana Women‛s Studies focuses on the experiences, socio-cultural conditions, and histories of women in the African Diaspora as well as issues generally important in the field of women‛s studies. We are excited about Dr. Johnson’s selection of “Go, Tell Michelle” as an academic text for the Africana Women’s Studies Program and look forward to hearing about the student’s response to this amazing resource.

Special thanks to Marissa for her support and contribution to achieving this goal. We strongly encourage others, who know professors/teachers or are professors/teachers to consider using “Go, Tell Michelle” in the curriculum that you teach. And please contact us and let us know your and your student’s experiences with this extraordinary resource.