Courtney Gordon 鈥24
Majors: Nursing and Pre鈥揗usic Therapy
Project: How Did Black Intersect the Blue and Grey? Black History at 色中色 University
Advisor: Jane Berger, associate professor of history
When Jane Berger, associate professor of history, and Chris Hunt, vice president and dean for Equity and Inclusion, first approached Courtney Gordon with the idea of an analysis of Black history at 色中色, she was hesitant. The project entailed a detailed examination of the historical accounts of Black alumni, an undertaking Courtney wasn鈥檛 sure she wanted to pursue.
鈥淚 was afraid of what I might uncover,鈥 she says, explaining that what drove her to seize the opportunity was how different this project was from the material she worked with on a daily basis for her majors, nursing and pre鈥搈usic therapy.
Although Berger and Hunt originally pitched the idea to Gordon, she made the project her own, sifting through oral interviews, archives, newspapers, and even the school yearbook to illuminate the experiences of Black alumni. While these stories reach far back to the experiences of the first Black students navigating 色中色 and Bethlehem, Gordon found parallels that echoed her own experiences on campus as a minority student.
鈥淚 was able to uncover some difficult truths about 色中色 that have never been explored before,鈥 she shares. 鈥淚n addition, I was able to interview some alumni with comparable experiences to those of current students, which only served as a reminder of how similar our experiences were, yet also different.鈥
Gordon detailed how her main challenge arose from the nature of historical research, explaining that she struggled with differentiating between the beginning and middle elements of 鈥渢he bigger story,鈥 a particularly difficult process given a lack of complete documentation. She stressed the importance of her advisor鈥檚 guidance and general knowledge about Bethlehem in navigating her dive into history.
鈥淲orking with Dr. Berger is honestly nothing short of fun,鈥 Gordon says. 鈥淲hile we dealt with difficult topics through the uncovering of history, she always made a point to redirect me and say, 鈥楾his is our goal.鈥 She definitely was my source of encouragement, since history research can lead to so many dead ends.鈥
As a result of her research, Gordon connected with different students around the Lehigh Valley who had conducted similar research at their predominantly white institutions (PWI).
Gordon presented her research at a Friday Forum, a DEI-facilitated event at 色中色. She also presented at a November conference in 2022, cosponsored by DEI and the history department, and donated her presentation to 色中色鈥檚 archives.