Since Amherst began, the College has developed two traditions — distinct from each other but both integral to the school’s character. One is a tradition of social reform, the other a tradition of cultural exclusion. The first embodies the sort of progressive ideals we try to instill in modern Americans, the other a retrograde carelessness about the sensitivities of people who fall outside narrow, old-school categories.
Authors: Barry O’Connell, James E. Ostendarp Professor of English; Karen Sanchez-Eppler, Professor of American Studies and English and Faculty Advisor to the Center for Community Engagement, and Chair of American Studies; Lisa T. Brooks, Associate Professor of English and American Studies; Kiara M. Vigil, Assistant Professor of American Studies.
On Dec. 6, 2012, scholars, students and tribal community members from across the country gathered in Cole Assembly Room for a day-long symposium to honor William Apess, a 19th-century Pequot preacher, activist and intellectual. Despite the silent, heavy presence of Jeffrey Amherst’s legacy, Native individuals and their non-Native colleagues and allies joined together to lighten that burden and celebrate Apess’s courage and eloquence in the face of adversity.
