{"id":36659,"date":"2018-01-26T14:39:20","date_gmt":"2018-01-26T19:39:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=36659"},"modified":"2018-01-30T15:34:36","modified_gmt":"2018-01-30T20:34:36","slug":"dianne-swann-wright-known-historical-research-monticello-remembered-contributions-emu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/dianne-swann-wright-known-historical-research-monticello-remembered-contributions-emu\/","title":{"rendered":"Dianne Swann-Wright, known for historical research at Monticello, remembered for contributions to EMU"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dianne Swann-Wright, former director of multicultural programs at Eastern Mennonite University and a leading historian of African American history, died Jan. 23, 2018.<\/p>\n

At the time of her death, she was director of the Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park in Baltimore, Maryland.<\/p>\n

A wake will take place at Vaughn Greene Funeral Home, 4905 York Rd., Baltimore, Maryland, on\u00a0Monday, Jan. 29, from 4-8 p.m.<\/p>\n

The funeral is at Bright Morning Star Church, RR 617, Dillwyn, Virginia, on Tuesday, Jan. 30 at noon.<\/p>\n

A pioneer and champion<\/h3>\n

Swann-Wright joined the EMU community as an assistant in the learning center in August 1990. [She was then known as Dianne Wright.] She served as director of multicultural programs from 1993-97. During this time, she taught African American history courses and led cross-cultural groups to Kenya, encouraging African American students to learn more about their heritage.<\/p>\n

From 1997-98, she became the first African American to hold a senior administrative role on campus when she served as interim vice president for student life.<\/p>\n

While at EMU, she earned a doctorate in American history from University of Virginia.<\/p>\n

From 1998 to 2005, Swann-Wright was director of African-American and special programs at Monticello. Her hiring as the first African American senior staff member was \u201ca clear signal of the shift in the site\u2019s programming and interpretation<\/a>,\u201d wrote historian Kendra Hamilton in 1999. Before her hiring by then-Director of Research Lucia \u201cCinder\u201d Stanton,\u201d Hamilton notes there was \u201ca gaping crater in the institution\u2019s allegedly comprehensive knowledge of life on Jefferson\u2019s mountaintop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Swann-Wright and Stanton co-founded the Getting Word oral history project<\/a>, which has identified and collected oral histories from descendants of families enslaved at Monticello. The duo also co-authored the official Monticello report linking Jefferson to Sally Hemings. Much of their research helped to develop programming and interpretation around African American life, experiences and culture at Monticello.<\/p>\n

Influencing, empowering<\/h3>\n

At EMU, Swann-Wright was no less influential.<\/p>\n

“She was the reason why I was able to succeed as a student at EMU, and she was why I came back to be her successor at EMU as director of multicultural services,\u201d says Melody Pannell<\/a>, now a professor of social work at EMU. \u201cShe was the reason why I had the courage to return again and teach. She believed in me.”<\/p>\n

Several other alumni share similarly strong admiration and affection for Swann-Wright. \u201cOutstanding woman and supporter,\u201d wrote one alumna in a Facebook post.<\/p>\n

Swann-Wright\u2019s passion for sharing and celebrating African American history was remembered by Professor Emeritus Vernon Jantzi<\/a>, who served with her on an advisory council to support multicultural efforts, appreciation and programming.<\/p>\n

Pannell also recalls this influence: \u201cShe ensured that as a student of color, I was immersed, engaged and empowered by voices within the community-at-large that reflected my history and ancestry. She took me and other students to meet in person Cornell West, Maya Angelou, Sonya Sanchez and James Farmer, powerful voices that each spoke to the importance of raising my own voice, critically and with creatively, about issues of social justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Longtime friend Linda Alley first met and worked with Swann-Wright in what was then called the Student Life Division.<\/p>\n

\u201cI watched as Di went far beyond her job description in mentoring students, many of whom kept in touch with her for years,\u201d Alley said. \u201cShe would report to me how proud she was or which ones needed extra prayer. She sent pictures of them and their children, because they were her spiritual family. My own son benefited from a tutoring session when she came to our house and spent some hours with him. Teaching was her gift, and she did it from a place of deep wisdom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Swann-Wright had an insightful way of helping faculty and administrators to see the causes and potential effects of decisions, Alley said. \u201cEMU would be a different place without the lingering effects of Dianne\u2019s sojourn there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe told once told me that her life\u2019s work was helping people to recognize and respond to society\u2019s lies and views. She called this \u2018the Great Re-Education Project,\u2019\u201d recalls nursing professor Ann Hershberger<\/a>. \u201cDianne was deeply influential among EMU faculty and staff due to her honesty, openness and ability to name truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lee Snyder was academic dean when Swann-Wright was at EMU. \u201cWe worked closely together. I learned much from Dianne, a generous colleague and dear friend,\u201d Snyder said. \u201cShe taught me the power of story in furthering appreciation of diversity and she modeled a gracious spirit which has enriched all of us who knew her.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Snyder was president at Bluffton College, she invited Swann-Wright to speak about her Monticello research.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we all celebrated with her when her book, A Way Out of No Way: Claiming Family and Freedom in the New South<\/em>, was published in 2002 by University of Virginia Press,\u201d Snyder said, recalling that much of that research was completed while Swann-Wright was balancing full-time work at EMU with her doctoral work.<\/p>\n

Remembrances of Dianne Swann-Wright are encouraged (use the comment box below) and will be<\/em> shared with the family.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dianne Swann-Wright, former director of multicultural programs at Eastern Mennonite University and a leading historian of African American history, died Jan. 23, 2018. 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