82 years after he became Albion College’s second Black graduate, Dr. James L. Curtis’s name now anchors one of the college’s most visible commitments to equity and justice.
According to Albion College’s website, Curtis earned a degree in biology from Albion in 1944 – 40 years after James A. Welton, alumnus 1904, Albion’s first Black graduate, earned his degree. Curtis went on to receive his master’s degree from the University of Michigan in 1946.
In 2021, Albion College’s James L. Curtis Institute for Social Change (Curtis Institute) was established by Executive Director of Special Programs Ari McCaskill with what he said was a “generous” gift from Curtis himself.
“He provided resources to establish an institute in order to inform society of social issues,” McCaskill said. “The Curtis Institute is one of our marquee institutes on campus that focuses on arts and humanities as vehicles for social change.”
‘Cultivation of the Imagination’ in Social Justice
According to Chicago junior Sarynete Holmes, the Curtis Institute’s mission has worked to help students “see things from a different view.”
“It’s definitely opened my eyes academically and also opened my eyes to where I can travel and see things, understand things from different people’s point of view,” Holmes said.
The Curtis Institute works in two parts: the co-curricular, which Interim Faculty Director of the Curtis Institute and professor of religious studies Peter Valdina said is “mostly” run by McCaskill, and the curriculum.
Valdina added that contributing to social change on campus at the Curtis Institute involves students’ “own kind of experiences” and “how they’re thinking about it.”
“It’s using cultivation of the imagination as a way of including different voices and finding a way to collaborate on what we want the culture of Albion to look like,” Valdina said.
According to Chicago junior Tatiyana Oliver, social change is “not just about race.”
“It’s about how you honestly want to change things within the world,” Oliver said. “How can you benefit from making a difference?”
Some co-curricular activities include various forms of travel, ranging from “day-to-day” trips to the Detroit Opera House or going to see the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Holmes said.
In January, the Curtis Institute sponsored a trip for “about a dozen students” to visit New Orleans for a “cultural tour,” according to the institute’s website.
“(The Curtis Institute) has given me the opportunity to travel and see places I’ve never been before,” Holmes said. “It’s become one of those staple institutes for me that’s actually helping me to do things. It’s helped push me in the right direction of what I want to do.”
The Value of the Arts, Humanities
The Curtis Institute aims to “equip and empower its members to recognize and affirm the rich, unexpected resources available both inside and outside themselves to effect equitable social change,” according to their mission statement.
Previously, the Curtis Institute was called “The Curtis Institute for Race and Belonging.” However, McCaskill said the “issue” was that “race and belonging” was “loosely tied to social justice and STEM.”
“The problem was that race and belonging didn’t have tangible academic delivery,” McCaskill said. “So with resource issues and lack of structural issues, it was restructured to focus on arts and humanities.”
Valdina said the Curtis Institute is currently in the process of developing a concentration.
“When you look at how the institutes are structured, there isn’t really an institute that serves the arts and humanities as the focus of it,” Valdina said.
The college’s other five institutes focus on the environment, teacher development, leadership and public policy, business and management and medicine.
“For prospective students, it will be a home for people who are interested in issues of social change,” Valdina said. “But the focus that we’re proposing for the concentration is really around the imagination.”
At the end of a student’s four-year term, McCaskill said the goal is for them to be able to “create something” of their own medium.
“Protest art is born out of the idea that literature, sculpture, paintings, etc. can be strong ways to communicate social justice or injustices, illustrating that these things are impacting people,” McCaskill said.
Making a Difference
According to Valdina, the Curtis Institute helps students “empathetically understand” others around them.
“A lot of it is about narratives and stories,” Valdina said. “So what kind of story do you bring to Albion? What kind of a story do you want to imagine in the culture of Albion?”
Being in the Curtis Institute allows students to work alongside “other like-minded students,” according to McCaskill.
“I think knowledge itself is the most powerful tool of liberation,” McCaskill said. “And it puts you in good company of others who want to understand through observing, reading, writing, and then they want to make a meaningful impact on society.”
According to Oliver, social change looks like “stepping out of your comfort zone.”
”You can’t make a difference if you’re going to be silent,” Oliver said. “Something I learned from Ari is you can’t be silent and expect for change to happen.”
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