Building Multicolored Bridges More-Diverse Curriculum Just One Of Beleford’S Goals

LaTonya Beleford has a poem tacked to her bedroom wall.

“It’s the fire in my eyes,

And the flash of my teeth,

The swing in my waist,

And the joy in my feet.

I’m a woman

Phenomenally.”

The words are Maya Angelou’s, and the poem gives Beleford strength.

“It makes me look at where I am and where I came from,” said the Gonzaga University junior. “It inspires me.”

That inspiration struck more than 10 years ago, when Beleford was a young girl looking for guidance. It’s the reason she has spent the past eight weeks volunteering at Gonzaga to help bring Angelou to campus. She wants others to be touched by the woman who made such a difference in her life, she said.

Through people like Beleford, the world-renowned poet will speak Wednesday at GU’s Martin Centre.

Beleford, 20, first discovered Angelou’s poetry as a 10-year-old while reading an anthology of African American women writers. Growing up in Seattle’s Rainier Beach area, Beleford was inspired by Angelou’s words.

“It was amazing,” said Beleford, a member of Gonzaga’s Black Student Union. “It made me want to beat the stereotypes and make an impact on people, just as Maya Angelou had.”

In other words, she found a role model - one who empowered her, who helped her achieve her goals while some of her peers dropped out of school or became teen moms.

Now, Beleford wants to share her love of Angelou’s work with those in Spokane.

As the performing arts chair of the Gonzaga Activities Board, Beleford wanted “to bring diversity through (Angelou’s) story of her life and struggles.” The Activities Board also donated $5,000 toward the cost of bringing Angelou to Gonzaga.Centre.

Spokane is in need of the diversity that Angelou has to offer, Beleford said.

Being African-American in a mostly white city like Spokane, Beleford occasionally finds herself among people asking questions about soul food or how often she washes her hair.

“It’s shocking,” she admits, but she wants people to know more about her and her culture.

As an Activities Board member, she also tries to sponsor events and speakers that reflect diversity. For Black History Month, Beleford hopes to bring women’s basketball champion Sheryl Swoopes to Gonzaga.

Although Gonzaga works hard at improving multicultural awareness, some students feel that the curriculum doesn’t reflect the diversity the school wants to promote.

Beleford, a psychology major, has taken two required classes in English. One of them had a short unit on the Harlem Renaissance, but that was it.

She wants to read and discuss the works of Pulitzer Prize-winner Toni Morrison, Alice Walker and other female writers of color. Instead of having to take a course that focuses specifically on women writers, Beleford wishes these authors could be included in the required courses.

“A lot of these poems and stories are a part of American literature,” she said.

That’s why bringing Angelou to Spokane increases people’s awareness of diversity, Beleford said.

“Maya Angelou is a creative person and a wise woman,” said Helen Doohan, a professor of religious studies and the person in charge of Angelou’s visit. “We need those role models here for our students and also for Spokane.”

This will be Angelou’s second visit to Spokane in the past year. During her last presentation, she fused song, story and poetry. She left some of her listeners in tears. The crowd of 2,000 people, who paid $100 each as part of the YWCA benefit luncheon, gave her a standing ovation before she started speaking.

So far, more than 2,800 tickets have been sold for Wednesday’s event. Various Gonzaga departments, as well as members of the community, contributed to purchase 500 tickets for people from the Martin Luther King Center and other social agencies. Beleford also sold about 250 tickets for half price to Gonzaga students.

Angelou’s presentation is part of Gonzaga’s annual Arnold Lecture in the Humanities, which was established through a trust from the late Alphonse A. and Geraldine F. Arnold from Wallace, Idaho.

Doohan invited Angelou last summer, before she knew that the poet already had agreed to come in November for the YWCA benefit.

As the professor responsible for the Arnold Lecture, Doohan was looking for someone creative, she said, someone who had experienced struggle and whose work has affected a variety of people, she said.

Angelou has published 10 best-selling books and numerous magazine articles that have earned her Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award nominations.

She’s a poet, educator, historian, author, actress, playwright, civilrights activist, producer and director. She has traveled worldwide to share her stories and experiences.

“She witnesses on an academic and personal level,” Doohan said. “She has a message and she is extraordinary.”

Beleford will have an opportunity to meet Angelou before her presentation. She’ll even get a photo with her hero, she said.

“I’ll probably just break down and cry,” she said. “To actually be in her presence and to be able to tell her how much she’s made an impact on my life is so overwhelming.”

Fewer than 500 tickets are available to hear Maya Angelou. She’ll be at Gonzaga University’s Martin Centre on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20, $25 and $35. Call Leisa Lybbert at 323-3548. Tickets will not be available the night of the event.