Savannah Henry
As a Black undergraduate English major here at Pitt, I have had a unique experience thus far. For one, I did not declare my English major until midway through my second year. This decision never seemed like a big deal to me; sophomore year is a perfect time to figure out your major. However, a good amount of my fellow English classmates seemed to have taken a different, “know what you want to do from the get-go,” route. That being said, I’m new to ... well, everything. My only grounding force thus far has been my few mandatory visits to the English advisors. When I do stumble upon other English majors or students studying in the same area, I feel completely disconnected from them. I have yet to take any of the notorious professors students rave or complain about, I don’t know any inside information on what is occurring in the department, and I can barely even fathom becoming a teaching assistant at this point in time. In simple terms, I just feel out of the loop. Essentially, even with the help of advisors and a few classmates, I still lack a sense of community within the field.
Tack on being Black as well, and that sense of isolation grows even stronger. Racial identity is an essential factor in almost all spaces, but especially in the area you spend years of your life studying. In college, your major is more than just a degree—it can become your community. I've found myself longing for a space to feel seen both as Black and as a writer. Don’t get me wrong—there are great publications present on campus such as the Black Action Society’s Blackline magazine, but I wasn’t necessarily looking to join a publication staff. I wanted to find something else, something with more of a communal feel. I wanted a space where I could exist as a Black English scholar. It wasn’t until I stumbled upon DBLAC that I finally felt both that my want was satisfied, and that I myself was wanted.
Digital Black Lit (Literatures & Literacies) and Composition, or DBLAC, is a national digital network comprised of Black scholars—from undergraduate students to faculty—who are related to the English field in some capacity (ie., Literacy Studies, Literature, Writing Studies, Rhetoric, English Studies, Creative Writing, Digital Humanities). To elaborate, DBLAC serves as “space for members to testify to, discuss with, and share support for each other in response to the continued marginalization of Black bodies in academia.” In addition, DBLAC also serves as a community where learning, professional development, networking, and resource-pooling are all celebrated to ensure academic and overall success for members. As soon as I discovered the site, I knew that the DBLAC might fill the existing vacuum of Black writing communities here at Pitt.
DBLAC was founded in May 2016 at the Digital Media and Composition Institute (DMAC) at The Ohio State University. Today, two out of the six founders—Drs. Louis Maraj and Khirsten Scott—are both on the Composition faculty at the University of Pittsburgh. These two individuals solidified a digital platform and launched DBLAC’s website. This past semester I was able to sit down and talk to Maraj about DBLAC in a more in-depth manner.
I first heard about DBLAC when I was conducting research on racial representation within the Writing Center. The way I conceptualized "racial representation" hinges on the specific racial diversity we have within a space. Diversity is so much more than race, and luckily a lot of writing centers do have diversity in the general sense of the word, but we continue to lack the representation of Black and African American people working in these spaces. I knew from what I saw on DBLAC’s site that Dr. Maraj would be just the right person to talk to so I could gather more insight on how to successfully complete and implement my research.
When I sat down with Dr. Maraj, we began our conversation by talking about DBLAC broadly. Instead of probing on specifics, I let him give me a general overview of some things they have been working on. He talked about the ties DBLAC has made far beyond the Pitt bubble—reaching out, for example, to “undergraduate students from HBCUs (historically Black colleges and university) and organizations that focus on students interested in language.” He went on to talk about other forms of engagement DBLAC undertakes that are based on community involvement. DBLAC is one partner out of many that work with Pitt's Community Engagement Centers in Homewood and the Hill District as part of the University's neighborhood commitment program. A description of the Homewood Community Engagement on the program’s site reads: “Homewood is a neighborhood of deep roots, strong family ties, and a common bond based on decades of shared efforts to renew.” Aside from working with Pittsburgh neighborhood residents, DBLAC also works with the All of Us , a national research initiative with local programs dedicated to studying health needs on the ground. Dr. Maraj wrapped up our conversation by talking about DBLAC’s emphasis on listening, empathy, and awareness, as well as on linguistic code meshing/switching and how to talk about microaggressions.
From the email list I was put on and DBLAC’s news site, I have been able to learn about some extraordinary events they've organized. For example: When, on June 19, 2019, DBLAC officially became an incorporate non-profit (DBLAC Inc), they rang in this milestone on Juneteenth or Freedom Day, staying true to DBLAC’s roots. Last spring, when Pittsburgh (and Pitt English) hosted the annual Conference on College Composition and Communication (4Cs), DBLAC organized several events, including a communal writing workshop centered on accountability and support. The description of the event states, “We are increasingly aware of the collective and universal need for community, especially in intellectual pursuits. That considered, we strive to share our methods and also to promote supportive communal interactions when possible.” It also sponsored the panel, “'Walk it Like I Talk’: Performance Composition in Black Education and Beyond,” featuring presentations by three national scholars." In addition, another 4Cs 2019 panel, titled “Graduate Student Takeover,” featured Black graduate students who voiced their experiences in higher education; among them was Cecilia Shelton, a doctoral candidate at Eastern Carolina University, who presented her paper, “The Price of the Ticket: Navigating Doctoral Education in Blackness.” At the same convention, DBLAC held an Old School + New School hip-hop party, featuring an official DJ, an energized crowd, and all the other aspects of a celebration. Just another way DBLAC places emphasis on that community bond—the network sees itself as a family.
Having a hands-on community is a bit harder in 2020, given the lack of in-person contact due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately, DBLAC started as an online platform, and those who want to get involved virtually are able to do so. One way is to get involved with their virtual writing sessions that are still currently being held. These virtual writing sessions are designed to encourage motivation and accountability so that folks can meet their writing goals. In addition, time is taken to establish goals, share, and reflect, all with the intent of channeling support and encouragement to those participating. The site even allows you to match your personal calendar with their writing sessions, so you can always find one that suits your own schedule. This apt system just goes to show that community can extend past in-person contact.
In our interview, Dr. Maraj went on to talk about three nodes of awareness he likes to leave members of DBLAC with: “How it feels to enter a space as a Black individual, how to engage with such a space, and what it means to be in such a racialized space.” This level of awareness ties directly to what I discuss in regards in my research project, which I hope to present to my colleagues in the Writing Center when the University opens again, as well as at a national conference for writing center peer tutors scheduled to take place in Pittsburgh this coming fall. It is not always the writing that needs to be discussed—we need to address what it means to be a Black person in a space orbiting around writing. In my time spent working at the Writing Center at Pitt, we often discuss how vulnerable of a subject writing is. Spaces like DBLAC help us open these crucial dialogues on the intersection between writing and race and all that accompanies it. After all, as Dr. Maraj states, “Writing at heart is an exchange of power.”
At the end of the day, the existence of spaces like DBLAC are foundational for marginalized people in countless ways. Writing with Black people is one thing, but building a community of Black people all looking to grow, and to motivate and encourage one another, is a completely different experience. Hopefully in the future, DBLAC’s presence on Pitt’s campus will encourage more Black writers to come forward and get involved. It certainly encouraged me. Maraj ended our interview by talking about how, when it comes to DBLAC, he likes to look to the future and how they can evolve as an organization. I will do the same when it comes to my journey with race, identity, writing, and community—and I hope it evolves for the better with my newfound knowledge of DBLAC and all it achieves as a network.
—Savannah Henry
Savannah Henry is a rising junior at the University of Pittsburgh who loves reading and coffee shops, and is passionate about activism in all forms.