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Who are the Barnard-Gilder Fellows?

Six Barnard students were selected to represent Barnard in Ghana and to document the historic conference, "'The bloody Writing is for ever torn': Domestic and International Consequences of the First Governmental Efforts to Abolish the Atlantic Slave Trade," convened by the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture in Accra and Elmina, August 8–12, 2007.  The Middle Passage Initiative required interested students to propose a way to document the conference for a student audience.  Each fellow was chosen through a selective application process that considered the merit of her proposal and academic record.

In celebration of their accomplishment, the fellows were treated to dinner with Columbia University Professor Saidiya Hartman, author of Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route, Provost Elizabeth Boylan, and Africana Studies faculty.  During the summer before the conference, students did independent reading on Ghana and the Middle Passage.   

Faculty from the Africana Studies Program and the Forum on Migration accompanied the students to Ghana.

The 2007 Barnard-Gilder Fellows are:

tioToi Carrion
BC ‘08 Africana Studies/English  

This Brooklyn born, Boston bred pre-law student is the former Vice President of the Black Organization of Soul Sisters (BOSS) at Barnard and continues to be an active member of the organization. Though in previous years, Toi has been involved in varying capacities in different on-campus groups, during her Senior year at the college, she is focusing on writing her thesis and other research essays, along with working with the other Barnard Gilder Fellows. In the future, she hopes to continue on her career path to corporate financial law.

 

 

 

keoKeondra Prier
BC ‘08 Africana Studies/Economics

Keondra is currently the Editor-In-Chief of the proxy magazine, a publication focusing on giving voice to students of the African Diaspora. She is a Mellon-Mayes Fellow and will be the Student Government Academic Affairs Representative and Senior Representative of BOSS, a black women's student organization, for the 2007-2008 academic year.  During the summer before the conference, she attended the Summer Institute at the Schomburg Center for Research on Black Culture.

 

Toi and Keondra created an economic timeline of the slave trade for the website.

 

Asiya Khaki
BC ’09 Architecture and Middle Eastern and Asian Studies

Before transferring to Barnard, Asiya attended Whitman College in her home state, Washington.  She has traveled extensively around the world, most recently to India where she did photo and website production for an NGO called SAMERTH (www.samerth.org).  Asiya is an avid photographer, whose photographs work to portray human life in its element.  Her most recent photo projects can be found on her website, www.khaki.org/asiya.

 




Ellen Robinson
BC ’08  Urban Studies /Education  

Before transferring to Barnard, Ellen attended the University of Georgia and completed a semester abroad at the University of Ghana in Legon, Ghana. She is from Atlanta, Georgia, and plans to pursue a career in elementary education in New York following graduation. During the summer of 2007, in addition to travelling to Ghana with the Barnard-Gilder fellows, she spent two months in Ahmedabad, India, where she created an informational video for the NGO, Manav Sadhna  (www.manavsadhna.org).

Together, Asiya and Ellen created a multimedia presentation that includes photographs and audio recordings of the events at and surrounding the conference. They also shot most of the photographs for the website.

 

svati

Svati Mariam Lelyveld
BC ‘08 English 

Svati is a New York City native, and a graduate of PS 87, MS 54 and the Bronx High School of Science. She is an instructor at The Point and Riker's Island Sprungs High School. She designed a curriculum on slavery and the Middle Passage for use in public schools.

 

 

 

 

  

raiRaia Small
BC ‘09  History/Human Rights 

Raia grew up in San Francisco. In addition to colonial and postcolonial history, her interests include journalism, visual art, and labor rights. She wrote a series of articles covering the conference.