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Classica Africana and
Classica Hispana
Brochures
It was suggested to us that that it might be useful to have the Classica Africana and Classica Hispana materials, developed by Michele Valerie Ronnick, online. Therefore we offer two formats for you: text and a ready-made PDF brochure. You will need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to download the PDF brochures.
Classica Africana
Ready to print brochure: click here
Text from brochure:
Classica Africana:
The Influence of Classical Studies on People of African Descent
by
Michele Valerie Ronnick
Vice-Chair
National Committee for Latin and Greek
It is a time for scholars and educators to look beyond the Martin Bernal-Mary Lefkowitz debate, and turn toward other types of research. One of these new approaches is Classica Africana, a name patterned upon Meyer Reinhold's pioneering book, Classica Americana (1984), which examined the impact of classics upon eighteenth and nineteenth-century America. The new subfield sharpens the wide view taken by Reinhold concerning the influence of the Graeco-Roman heritage in America, and looks at the undeniable impact, both positive and negative, that this heritage has had upon people of African descent, not only in America but also in the Western World. The past 400-500 years offer us many note-worthy examples of people of African descent who used their knowledge of classical studies in their creative and/or professional lives. This terra incognita of intellectual inquiry is worthy of attention today and tomorrow.
William Sanders Scarborough
(1852-1926) was America's first professional classicist of African descent. His First Lessons in Greek was published in 1881.
Sarah Jane Woodson Early
(1825-1907) one of the first women of African descent to serve on a college faculty, and was made preceptress of English and Latin at Wilberforce University in 1865.
W.E.B. DuBois
(1868-1963) taught Cicero's Pro Archia to students in rural Tennessee in 1886, and served as chair of the classics department at Wilberforce University from 1894-1896.
Countee Cullen
(1903-1946) American poet, received special honors in Latin at New York City's De Witt Clinton High School in 1922.
Phillis Wheatley
(c. 1753-1784) an early American Poet, learned Latin and translated portions of the Roman poet Ovid.
Zora Neale Hurston
(1903-1960) in her book Dust Tracks on the Road, described how she first drew attention to herself in grade school by reading the story of Pluto and Persephone aloud with zest and accuracy.
Charles W. Chesnutt
(1858-1932) before his career as a novelist and businessman, taught himself to read Latin. His daughter, Helen M. Chessnutt, was a Latin teacher in Cleveland, Ohio.
Langston Hughes
(1902-1967) an American poet, says that he was inspired by his high school Latin teacher.
Sarah "Sadie" Delany
(1889-1999) studied Greek at Saint Augustine's School in North Carolina with Professor Charles Boyer.
Paul Robeson
(1898-1976) tutored the son of his football coach at Rutgers, G. Foster Sanford Jr, in Latin and set the stage for Sanford's excellent record in Latin at the University of Pennsylvania.
Mission Statement
In recent years classicists have become increasingly aware that students from ethnic backgrounds other than white European and Asian are underrepresented in the study of Latin and Greek. Among those less likely to pursue these languages are particularly African-Americans, but the group also includes those of Hispanic and Native American descent. An essential part of the solution to this problem lies in locating obvious role models, past and present, upon which these students can pattern themselves. This brochure is designed to help teachers, parents, students and administrators grapple with this important issue.
National Committee for Latin and Greek
Vice-Chair
Michele Valerie Ronnick
Department of Classics
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI 48202
Executive Secretary
Judith Lynn Sebesta
Department of History
University of South Dakota
Vermillion, SD 57069
Visit our website
www.promotelatin.org
Classica Hispana
Ready to print brochure: click here
Text from brochure:
Classica Hispana:
The Influence of Classical Studies on People of Hispanic Descent
by
Michele Valerie Ronnick
Vice-Chair
National Committee for Latin and Greek
Statistics forecasting trends in the demography of the United States in the twenty-first century predict a substantial growth among Spanish-speaking peoples. The impact of this shift in population will be, without a doubt, both wide and deep. Thus it is prudent for educators in the field of classical studies to stay current, and respond by incorporating some new approaches into our programs. A pioneer in this regard is Professor Edward V. George (Texas Tech University, ed.george@ttu.edu) who has worked over the past several years to create such a nexus by highlighting features that Latin and Spanish share in the classroom. On the high school level one result has been the invention of SPLAT-a program developed by Donalee Harris and Susan Robertson (Wolfforth, TX) that conjoins the two languages, and at the same time builds better skills in English. When established as a natural bridge to the Romance languages, such an approach is also of service on the university level in attracting students to study classical languages. For Spanish and Hispanic culture has been deeply influenced by its Graeco-Roman heritage. Important figures in the Roman world such as the writers Quintilian, Martial, Seneca and the emperors Trajan and Hadrian hailed from the Iberian peninsula. In the coming century, classicists and Hispanists alike have a worthy goal in cultivating this common ground.
Don Enrique de Villena
(1384-1434) made the first translation of Vergil's Aeneid into a vernacular language.
Antonio de Nebrija
(c. 1441-1522) a brilliant humanist, wrote the best Latin/Spanish and Spanish/Latin dictionaries of their time. He also wrote a Latin grammar entitled Introductiones Latinae.
Luis Vives
(1492-1540) philosopher humanist, was the author of many texts in Latin including In Pseudodialecticos, Ad Sapientiam Introducto, and De Tradendis Disciplinis.
Luis de León
(1527-1591) a great poet of Spain, was a professor of theology at Salamanca. Known as the Christian Horace, he also wrote religious works in Latin, such as De Spe, De Fide, and De Caritate.
Miguel Antonio Caro
(1843-1909) rivaled Marcelino Menédez Pelayo (1856-1912) in his love of Latin letters. His contributions to Latin studies include Virgilio en España (1879) and original poems and translations in Latin, Versione latinas (1951) and Carmina Latina (1993).
Marcelino Menédez Pelayo
(1856-1912) the greatest scholar of the 19th century, was a student of the Roman poet Horace and published Horacio en España in 1877.
Miguel de Unamuno
(1864-1936) Spanish philosopher, was professor of ancient Greek at Salamanca. His writings are pervaded with classical learning.
Leopoldo Lugones
(1874-1938) Spanish-American modernist, studied ancient Greek culture and published Estudios helénicos in 1924, and Nuevos estudios helénicos in 1928.
Afonso Henriques de Lima Barreto
(1881-1922) Brazilian journalist and novelist, gave a contemporary setting to Plutarch's account of Numa, the second king of Rome, in his novel Numa e a Ninfa (1915).
Jorge Luis Borges
(1899-1986) found Latin to be one of his chief subjects at Collége Calvin in Geneva.
Guillermo Cabrera Infante
(1929- ) professor of theology at Salamanca, has a multilingual style with a distinctly Latinate quality rather like Petronius.
José Triana
(1933- ) the Cuban dramatist, based his play Medea en el espejo (1959) on Euripides' Medea.
Luis Antonio de Villena
(1951- ) respected Spanish poet and literary critic, made a special study of Catullus, Catulo (1979).
Mission Statement
In recent years classicists have become increasingly aware that students from ethnic backgrounds other than white European and Asian are underrepresented in the study of Latin and Greek. Among those less likely to pursue these languages are particularly African-Americans, but the group also includes those of Hispanic and Native American descent. An essential part of the solution to this problem lies in locating obvious role models, past and present, upon which these students can pattern themselves. This brochure is designed to help teachers, parents, students and administrators grapple with this important issue.
National Committee for Latin and Greek
Vice-Chair
Michele Valeria Ronnick
Department of Classics
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI 48202
Executive Secretary
Judith Lynn Sebesta
Department of History
University of South Dakota
Vermillion, SD 57069
Visit our Website
www.promotelatin.org