by: E. Richard Walton, an Upstate writer + editor.
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Dr. Cherie Maiden started at Furman 30 years ago. She’s credited with being Furman University’s first black faculty member. For Dr. Maiden, it’s been quite a quiet journey. Maiden is direct, frequently underwhelming.
“I was looking for a job,” uttered the St. Louis native.
“Furman knows how to court candidates,” she said with a smile. The university wanted her, she came to understand. Apparently, there was no obvious pressure from agitators or pre-Black Lives Matter folks of that era. David Shi was Furman’s president at the time.
Scholars can blend in:
You see, Maiden is a literature scholar and speaks French. She could be easily mistaken for “Ms. Everyday Greenville” and blend in if you stood in with her at Publix. She teaches African and French literature, and her expertise is teaching black African writers.
Listen to her tell it:
“I know more about (black) African writers than I know about my own (African American writers).”
Or, “I get paid to teach in French and authors that I like to read.” Cool beans right!
She almost drifts into another reality while discussing her daughter, Rie, and, grand-daughter, Adalia. Both became Manhattanites three years ago.
Cherie was first in her family to attend college. Her wise, hardworking mother set the tone. She said that she didn’t realize that until much later.
Mom routinely forced her first child to focus on the opportunities placed before her, and not to complain. Mom raised three children. Looking back, Dr. Maiden said she isn’t certain how she did with a pre-high school education.
Dr. Maiden says she was inspired to earn a doctorate after meeting another person who looked like her and had one. Her pivotal moments were spending a semester in France as an undergrad, with a variety of trips and a sabbatical in Africa, the motherland.
Educators make lifelong impressions:
Dr. Maiden has taught an estimated 3,000 students, which is the number of athletes competing in South Korea.
As anyone would guess, Maiden is a trendsetter but doesn’t envision herself one. It doesn’t sound like she struggled to figure out how her seriousness during her student days, and adhering her mother’s wisdom has yielded such fruit.
She kinda gets it, but says things like: “Just as this came to me in ways I would never imagine,” she explains about some her good fortune. As though she’d somehow been visited by an oracle.
Fewer doctorates earned:
Like Barack Obama, she was the only person of color in most of her classes. There are other parallels with him as well. Her focus is one. So, then-- and now-- she’d have few peers. After all, how many African American women have earned a Ph.D.? The numbers have improved dramatically since the 1980s. Most are required at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Dr. Maiden said.
One report said that the number of doctorates awarded to African Americans (both sexes) rose dramatically between 1994 and 2014. The figure went from 4.1 percent to 6.4 percent. These figures provide a perspective on the number of black people earning a terminal degree like this.
Like Furman, many colleges, businesses, and public employers in Upstate are paying attention to diversity. It’s no longer the right thing to do, it just makes good corporate sense.
Dr. Michael Jennings started as Furman’s chief diversity officer over the summer. He said that he’s working to increase the number of diverse students, faculty, and staff.
Furman said this academic year, it has increased its diversity of both students and faculty by 20 percent.
February is Black History Month, but Dr. Maiden didn’t mention it. This weekend, she plans to do what any self-respecting African American is doing. She’ll see “Black Panther” movie, the Marvel Studios nod to black superheroes. “I’ll make sure the class I teach in English sees it,” she said.
