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We Were Pioneers, an original play telling the story of Lafayette’s transition to coeducation in 1970, will be presented 7:30 p.m. today, Friday, and Saturday in the Marlo Room.
Producers Amanda Roth ’04 (Easton, Pa.), a double major in philosophy and Women’s Studies, and Kamaka Martin ’04 (Brooklyn, N.Y.), a history and government & law major, co-wrote the play using a serious of monologues based on about 50 interviews with alumni from the 1960s and ’70s, as well as 15 to 20 with current students. They conducted the interviews as part of an EXCEL Scholars project led by Special Collections assistant Kristen Turner and Diane Shaw, Special Collections librarian and college archivist, who are working with them to present the play.
“This play was produced as a way to display the research we have complied over the past year and a half,” says Martin. “It allows students, alumni, and faculty to get a better understanding of the college’s history, its growth, and the areas that still need work.”
“The play will be almost fully based on exact quotations, except for grammar and clarification editing,” notes Roth, a Marquis Scholar. “We’ve done our best not to put words in anyone’s mouths.”
The students participated in another student monologues play, the Vagina Monologues, on campus last school year.
“The play format offers the campus a history lesson about Lafayette College, but hopefully an entertaining one,” says Roth. “And, like any good history lesson, this play will demonstrate how history connects to the present by offering some current students’ voices to complement those of the older alumni.”
The students gave a presentation on the EXCEL Scholars work in March at the ninth annual Undergraduate Women’s Studies Conference, held by the Women’s Studies Coalition of the Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges. (Roth also presented her research on the links between femininity, sports, and feminism.)
The oral history project has provided a valuable learning experience for Martin since she began working on it in spring 2002.
“I have been able to use my skills as a history major to record history and see its progression through time,” she says. “This project has also honed my research skills and my ability to effectively communicate with others. Similarly, as an African-American female, this project was enlightening because the history of both women and African-Americans at Lafayette happened almost simultaneously, so the information we uncovered was eye-opening.”
Roth began her EXCEL Scholar work in January 2002.
“I’ve come to see what it is like to really be dedicated to a research project, to work on it day in and day out for years and to maintain interest in it,” she says. “I’m sure my listening skills have improved since during an interview, we refrain from speaking unless we’re asking a question. I’ve also gained a greater appreciation for stories; the best part of the job is hearing an amusing story, and there is certainly an art to storytelling. And best of all, I’ve become intimately aware of the experiences of over 50 people at Lafayette College; they’ve told me the best and the worst that’s happened to them. It is certainly a privilege to be privy to such information. And of course, the project has made me horribly anxious for the day when I am hitting 50 and someone from Lafayette calls and wants to interview me. I feel like I should start preparing now so I don’t forget anything!”
Roth is conducting a year-long research project within the realm of egalitarianism in pursuit of honors in philosophy. She is co-president of Association for Lafayette Women, a co-chair of Questioning Established Sexual Taboos, an assistant in the admissions office, and a member of the production staff for next semester’s presentation of Vagina Monologues. She is a member of the McKelvy Scholars program, in which 16 students are living in a historic off-campus house and share in intellectual and social activities. In previous EXCEL Scholars work, she conducted research on orphans in British fiction and nonfiction writing with Deborah Byrd, associate professor of English. Roth is a recipient of the Eugene P. Chase Government Prize, awarded annually to the student author of the best paper in political science.
Martin also is taking on a year-long honors thesis, working under the guidance of John McCartney, associate professor and head of government and law, and Diane Elliott, associate director for public service at Lafayette’s Meyner Center for the Study of State and Local Government. She also is serving an internship at the Office of the Attorney General, Bureau of Consumer Protection. She studied abroad last fall at Melbourne University in Victoria, Australia, where she also interned for the Justice Department. She is president of the Association of Black Collegians, secretary of Minority Scientists and Engineers, and a participant in Lafayette Leadership Institute.