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Weissman
Center for Leadership |
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Geographies
of Color : Education, Inequality, and Black Leadership in the Twenty
- First Century
Third
Annual Women in Public Life Forum: Black Women in the Media
 Featured Audio Broadcast
On March 6, 2004, The Weissman Center for
Leadership and the Liberal Arts and the Mount Holyoke College
Alumnae Association
presented the "Third Annual Women in Public Life Forum."
The forum focused on representation of black women in the media
and the ways in which news papers, television and magazines can
be used for social change. The College invited three alumnae
to speak about their professional work as African-American women
in the media. The panelists were Cassandra West '79, Tara Roberts
'91, and Angela T. Heath '93. Cassandra West is the editor of
the |
Cassandra
West '79 |
Women's
News section of the
Chicago Tribune. West said, "My Mount Holyoke experience helped shape me
as a leader… I left here with a set of power tools to get the job done," West
noted. She observed that all women journalist need to re-direct their |
| focus
from trivial entertainment to reporting the more essential
and
meaningful
issues that
impact our daily lives. |
Tara
Roberts '91 |
Tara
Roberts is the founder and publisher of Fierce magazine,
a publication she describes as
multi-cultural and pro-feminist. As a child, Roberts grew up
reading fairytales with only white characters.The absence of
African-American protagonists left Roberts |
| questioning why minorities were excluded from
books and other forms of media. Roberts came to Mount Holyoke
College with a challenge in mind: to make mainstream media
more inclusive of all races and cultures. "Mount Holyoke
College shaped me as a student. You are in a space where you
form your own opinions, shape ideas and have it make sense
to you. You get to decide who you are . . . that is the power
of Mount Holyoke College," Roberts said. |
Angela
Terrell Heath ’93 |
Angela T. Heath,
who attented Mount Holyoke for her first years and graduated
from Pace University,
is a field producer and reporter of the "Nightly Business
Reports" for the Public Broadcasting System (PBS). Heath
told the Weissman audience that every person should have a sense
of preparation in order to be successful. |
| Heath has recognized that she
faced an adjustment by moving from an all-women's institution
to a field of mostly
white men. Roberts was well aware she stood out. She stated, "I
had a job to do . . . so I fixed my hair, brushed my suit and
dived right in." Not allowing racial and gender barriers
to stand in her way, made Heath a stronger individual and reporter,
she said. |
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Mount Holyoke College, 50 College Street, South Hadley, MA
01075, Phone: 413-538-2564.
This page is created by Mallika Aryal '05, Natalia Stefanova '05 and Eleanor
S. Choo '06. Last modified on
September 22, 2004
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