Dean of Yale College Participates in Hopkins' Conversation on Race

Jonathan Holloway, Dean of Yale College, Edmund S. Morgan Professor of African American Studies, History, and American Studies, and a self-described “proud” father of a current Hopkins student, addressed the Hilltopper community at a special assembly on Tuesday, October 20th on the topic of race.

“I have been watching, through the emails that have come home, the kind of conversation that Hopkins is beginning this year”, said Holloway in his opening remarks, “and I couldn’t help but write a note to the Head of School to say how impressed I was at what is happening at Hopkins, because, in case you didn’t know, the same thing is happening at Yale.”  Prior to his appointment as Dean of Yale College, Holloway was Master of Calhoun College, named for John C. Calhoun, the intellectual architect of secession and an ardent supporter of slavery. Pressure from alumni/ae to rename Calhoun College has become a focal point for Yale’s conversation on race.

In his remarks, which were videotaped and are available in two parts on this webpage, Holloway highlighted several events in America’s history of racism and recounted his own personal experience of being a black man in America.

During a brief question and answer session, and in an “only at Hopkins moment”, a student asked:  “Two years ago Peter Salovey, the President of Yale, came here to talk to us about the topic of emotional intelligence. Do you think (the film, I'm Not Racist, Am I?) calling us racist to start a conversation is a very emotionally intelligent thing to do? “  “It would not have been my first choice”, replied Holloway, but he emphasized that the purpose of the film is to spark a conversation which then needs to be curated by teachers and parents. What we need to do, he noted, is listen deeply to each other.

 Another student asked whether Holloway agreed with the definition put forth in the film: social prejudice plus power equals racism. “Absolutely. I really do think that is exactly right”. Holloway concluded with a description of an event in post-emancipation African American history where racial differences were highlighted as a way to preserve white power.

The next school-wide program, in the year-long Conversation on Race, is the one-act play, Defamation, a courtroom drama where the audience decides the verdict. The play will be performed during a special assembly on Friday, November 13th at 1:30 p.m.
 
Back

Videos

    • Voted #1
      Best Day School
      in CT, 2024

Hopkins is a private middle school and high school for grades 7-12. Located on a campus overlooking New Haven, CT, the School takes pride in its intellectually curious students as well as its dedicated faculty and staff.