October 1997
In Depth With Trotter Institute Director James Jennings
Last week, James Jennings, director of The William Monroe Trotter Institute, was mulling over how to open the panel discussion at the latest Forum for the 21st Century, where he moderated the discussion on "Boston's Racial Divide: What Is It, and How Can It Be Overcome?" Although his opening statement was not yet precisely worded, Jennings said that he wanted to use an idea he remembers hearing from noted author and Duke University Professor Emeritus of history John Hope Franklin.
"Franklin made mention of how race relations reflect continuity and change," said Jennings. "So I intend to ask the panelists 'How have race relations in Boston changed? How have they remained the same?'" It is a big question, and yet it is one to which each panelist, whatever their background, should be able to speak.
Jennings is not afraid to tackle big questions. As director of the Trotter Institute since 1991, he has guided the Institute's mission of public service, research, technical assistance, and dissemination of information primarily to the black community. The Institute's activities speak volumes about looking at the big picture.
They have conducted studies and published papers and reviews on topics such as media images of black communities, the black church, violence in the black community, affirmative action, the information superhighway and communities of color, and the politics of white racism in Great Britain.
"The Trotter is focused on race and race relations, and those subjects cannot be limited to one discipline," says Jennings. "It is interdisciplinary, and that explains our broad agenda. We achieve a balance through community members on our advisory board, and more and more, our agenda reflects the imput of faculty associates and researchers from around the country," he adds.
Increased interest in the work of the Trotter Institute, according to Jennings, has been due in part to the widening reputation of the Institute's main communication tool, The Trotter Review. While the Institute has had increased requests from academics who wish to spend time there as research associates, and the Institute is developing initiatives with the African countries of Namibia, Cape Verde, and South Africa. The Institute recently sponsored a visit by Dr. Carlos Veiga, Prime Minister of the Republic of Cape Verde to our campus.
Collaborations with other UMass Boston Institutes is also high on the list of important activities -- and one where Jennings says we have unique opportunities. "Collaboration is something we have to be about -- it is a priority, and I could list the activities we're partners in with other institutes and groups -- conducting research and creating grant proposals," he says.
"In fact, if you look at how much we collaborate with other institutes on campus, it really could be a model. There probably are not that many institutions where you can find 3 or 4 institutes of color that work as closely as we do. In the wake of the Rodney King incident in Los Angeles, there were many questions out there about how to communicate across communities, and we need to learn how to share what we do and how to market it," says Jennings.
A political scientist, Jennings earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University, where he wrote his dissertation on "Puerto Rican Leadership Patterns in New York City." He has researched the politics of African Americans and Puerto Ricans, especially in American cities, and also written on economic development, the nature of poverty, and urban education. A longtime teacher, he has worked with students from day care centers to universities. Before coming to UMass Boston in 1983, he was a teacher or administrator at Long Island University, SUNY Albany, Action for Boston Community Development, and Harvard University. Jennings won the prestigious Gustavus Myers Award for best book on human rights in 1992 for The Politics of Black Empowerment: Transformation of Black Activism in Urban America.