Beverly Guy-Sheftall has been a prominent contributor to the field of women's studies and active feminism attending and holding numerous conventions, seminars, lectures while being constantly interviewed for her achievements in this field. The number of awards that she has achieved includes the Kellogg fellowship, W.K Kellogg Foundation, Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, and the Spelman College Presidential Faculty Award for outstanding scholarship. Along with these exceptional awards she also founded the Women's Research and Resource Center.
Beverly Guy-Sheftall has also been rewarded the title of Anna Julia Cooper Professor of women's studies, after the renowned feminist. The biography of Anna Julia Cooper draws parallels between hers and Beverly Guy-Sheftall’s. With their somewhat similar biographies and feminist thought, it is understandable why Beverly Guy-Sheftall holds Anna Julia Cooper in the highest respect, and has been given her title. Just like Beverly Guy-Sheftall, “Cooper’s life is the story of an extraordinary intellect, with a genuine love for learning and for aesthetic experience, reflecting on a world that put up barriers of race, gender, and class to her pursuit of that love (Lengermann, 154).” Anna Julia Cooper also became literate at an early age during the civil war when it was prohibited. At school she focused on reading and writing, and after graduation was in demand for public speaking. She spoke about the importance of higher education for women, attended exchange meetings of black teachers for cross-cultural comparison of race relations, and responded to writings on racism and other published works. Towards the end of Anna Julia Cooper’s career she involved herself as much as she could in community service and education. These brief highlights of Anna Julia Cooper’s life are uncannily similar to that of Beverly Guy-Sheftall’s. Another major resemblance between them was “Cooper’s handwritten memories of her early years show a love of learning and an appreciation of the strengths of her mother (Lengermann, 154),” and Beverly Guy-Sheftall’s unwavering appreciation and admiration for all that her mother taught her. It is completely logical that Beverly Guy-Sheftall would be named the Anna Julia Cooper Professor due to their mirrored lives and black feminist thought.
Beverly Guy-Sheftall has also been rewarded the title of Anna Julia Cooper Professor of women's studies, after the renowned feminist. The biography of Anna Julia Cooper draws parallels between hers and Beverly Guy-Sheftall’s. With their somewhat similar biographies and feminist thought, it is understandable why Beverly Guy-Sheftall holds Anna Julia Cooper in the highest respect, and has been given her title. Just like Beverly Guy-Sheftall, “Cooper’s life is the story of an extraordinary intellect, with a genuine love for learning and for aesthetic experience, reflecting on a world that put up barriers of race, gender, and class to her pursuit of that love (Lengermann, 154).” Anna Julia Cooper also became literate at an early age during the civil war when it was prohibited. At school she focused on reading and writing, and after graduation was in demand for public speaking. She spoke about the importance of higher education for women, attended exchange meetings of black teachers for cross-cultural comparison of race relations, and responded to writings on racism and other published works. Towards the end of Anna Julia Cooper’s career she involved herself as much as she could in community service and education. These brief highlights of Anna Julia Cooper’s life are uncannily similar to that of Beverly Guy-Sheftall’s. Another major resemblance between them was “Cooper’s handwritten memories of her early years show a love of learning and an appreciation of the strengths of her mother (Lengermann, 154),” and Beverly Guy-Sheftall’s unwavering appreciation and admiration for all that her mother taught her. It is completely logical that Beverly Guy-Sheftall would be named the Anna Julia Cooper Professor due to their mirrored lives and black feminist thought.
An article noted that something Beverly Guy-Sheftall would have liked to achieve would have been that her mother, someone she looked up to her whole life, lived to see her accomplishments. Her mother died after a vicious battle with breast cancer. The Atlanta Constitution asked her how she thought her mother would respond to her career and status in the academic community, Guy-Sheftall replied "She'd be happy. She would feel that she made her point."
Work Referenced:
Lengermann, Patricia, Niebrugge-Brantley, Jill. The Women Founders. Sociology and Social Theory 1830-1930. McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. 1998. New York
Edited - Howe, Florence. The Politics of Women’s Studies. The Feminist Press. New York: 2000
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