For Black History Month, Kent State Today is spotlighting students, alumni, faculty and staff in our university community who are taking an active role in making history and creating positive change in the world.
Bertice Berry, MA 鈥�86, Ph.D. 鈥�88, has earned a long list of descriptors, including sociologist, educator, lecturer, author, television host, podcaster, humorist and storyteller. She also is a 黑料网 alumna who has been awarded the university鈥檚 Oscar Ritchie Distinguished Alumni Award.
In addition to the Ph.D. she earned at Kent State, Berry has been awarded more than 10 honorary doctorates and Savannah Technical College named their Change and Transformation classrooms in her honor.
She has won numerous awards for her presentations and her best-selling books, both fiction and non-fiction. But she doesn鈥檛 consider herself a celebrity.
鈥淚鈥檓 not a celebrity; I鈥檓 just hardworking,鈥� Berry said.
Berry spoke with Kent State Today about one of her books that has a connection to the university, 鈥淏lackWorld,鈥� which captures her memories of her time in Kent and Kent State鈥檚 place in history.
The Historical 鈥� and Feverish 鈥� Origins of 鈥楤lackWorld鈥�
Berry lives just outside of Savannah, Georgia, in an area that鈥檚 rich in history and inspiration for her imagination and her writing. Henry Ford lived here, and Berry shares the local tales of how Ford and George Washington Carver worked together on growing plants to make paint. 鈥淛ust down the road from me, there鈥檚 the old house where Ford built a clinic for colored children because they weren鈥檛 allowed to go to a hospital,鈥� she said.
Berry鈥檚 friend purchased the house and turned it into an art shop. When she passes the house now, Berry says she imagines Carver saying, 鈥淗ere are the herbs and the things that you can use to heal others.鈥�
鈥淚 live on land that was the original 鈥�40 acres and a mule鈥� allotment 鈥� [I imagine] Harriet Tubman just yonder over the river,鈥� Berry said.
鈥淏lackWorld鈥� was born from these inspirations in combination with a bad bout with the flu. 鈥淚t was before the pandemic and it was one of those flus that probably kills most people,鈥� Berry said. 鈥淚 knew I was dying; I was on my way out. I couldn鈥檛 get myself together, I couldn鈥檛 move, I couldn鈥檛 do anything.鈥�
鈥淚 felt like: if this is it, I want to say something,鈥� she said. So, she wrote a short book, in a handwritten draft and said, 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 die.鈥�
鈥淢y literary agent asked, 鈥極h, could you make it longer?鈥� And I was like, 鈥榶eah, but in all fairness to me, I thought I was going to die,鈥欌€� Berry said.
鈥楤lackWorld鈥� and Its Connection to Kent State
鈥淏lackWorld,鈥� as described by Berry is a corner of heaven where the living and the dead can converse, for counsel and advice and ask for help. People can visit BlackWorld to spend time with people who have passed on. It鈥檚 a way for the living to know people they didn鈥檛 know personally and use what they knew then, today, to be hopeful about the future.
鈥淭his is an aspect of wanting to share Black history in a way that is hopeful,鈥� she said.
VIDEO: Berry鈥檚 fictional characters in the story encounter the same real Kent State faculty members who were admired by Berry when she attended Kent State, including Betsy Justice, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus Edward Crosby and Elizabeth Mullins.
Rose, the main character in 鈥淏lackWorld鈥� is working on her doctoral dissertation at Kent State. Berry said that she didn鈥檛 realize how much the experiences of other characters in the story paralleled her own experiences while she studied at the university, until people who know her read the book and told her. 鈥淎ll of them have some aspects,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like Jung said: 鈥楨verybody in your dream is you.鈥� And I鈥檓 pretty sure I was delirious when I came up with this corner of heaven.鈥�
She added, 鈥淏ut people who don鈥檛 know me so well say that her experiences feel like theirs. And that鈥檚 the goal to make the reader feel that this story is your story.鈥�
Berry said that you don鈥檛 have to be Black to visit BlackWorld, 鈥渂ut it helps.鈥� She said that she called it BlackWorld to create a positive association, 鈥淏ecause then you have to say 鈥楤lack鈥� to go to a good place.鈥�
She said that people can get to BlackWorld through meditation, by listening to certain music or whatever works for them. 鈥淪omebody told me they put on Nina Simone and the next thing they knew, they were in BlackWorld,鈥� Berry said. 鈥淚n the book, the way you get to BlackWorld is through [W.E.B.] Du Bois鈥� double consciousness. The way the world sees you, the way you see yourself. And then the third portal is the way God sees you, which is the truth about who we are, that we鈥檙e all beautiful and amazing and marvelous. And once you recognize that about yourself, going in and out of BlackWorld is a nonstop, daily occurrence 鈥� except time is only a construct there.鈥�
鈥榃e鈥檙e In It Together鈥�
When Berry attended Kent State, she said that May 4 seemed like 鈥淜ent鈥檚 dirty little secret.鈥� She thought it was something that the university 鈥渟hould brag about鈥� because 鈥渋n places like Berkeley and other institutions where children were going to school, meaning NOT middle America, they were holding deans hostage, they were shutting down operations,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he National Guard, Nixon, the rest of 鈥榚m decided we need to stop this. We need to stop this rioting.鈥�
Berry said that the students at Kent were not doing the same kinds of things. 鈥淎nd yet they became the target because they were working-class middle America folks that those in power felt that they could make an example for the rest of the nation, using Kent State, which makes us the marginalized people,鈥� she said.
鈥淪adly,鈥� she said, 鈥減eople on the margins don鈥檛 recognize enough what they can do. Folks who are owning and controlling the means of production can make the rest of us feel like we鈥檙e separate and apart from each other; not the same. In the eyes of the 1%. We鈥檙e all the same 鈥� and until we recognize that we are, you鈥檙e my brother, we鈥檙e not going to move the needle. We鈥檙e in it together.鈥�
鈥楢ll Roads Lead to Kent鈥�
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think people think of a few things when they think of Kent State,鈥� Berry said. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 think of the brilliance and the kind of rigorous study in academic endeavors and liquid crystal. They don鈥檛 tend to think of those things; but it鈥檚 all right there.鈥�
Berry encourages students at Kent State to embrace their experiences. 鈥淵ou can either be here on the 鈥業鈥檓 just getting my degree thing.鈥� Or you can be here on the 鈥淜ent: this is a pivotal point in my life. And everything from this point on will be determined by who I am here and how I live and how I walk through life and what I do.鈥� It鈥檚 amazing.鈥�
When Berry attended graduate school at Kent State, she and her housemate were the 36th and 37th Black women in the world to earn Ph.D.s in sociology. She has fond memories of her time in Kent, except for the cold winters (鈥淚 don鈥檛 play in the cold anymore,鈥� she said.) and the retail clothing options (Berry is a talented designer and makes most of her own clothing). 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 the place to look for stores with the best clothes,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the best place to look for the best education for the rest of your life.鈥�
Berry also taught sociology at Kent State.
About a year ago, when Berry was in New York she was returning to her hotel and heard someone call her name. 鈥淚 turn and it鈥檚 one of the kids whose hair I used to braid from Kent, and I鈥檓 like 鈥榃hat are you doing here?鈥� She鈥檚 like 鈥業 just got back from Paris.鈥� I said, 鈥極f course you did 鈥� all roads lead to Kent!鈥欌€�
Special thanks to Jody Kovolyan, senior project and traffic manager, 黑料网 Communications and Marketing, and Kris Palcho, who are Kent State alumni and friends of Bertice Berry, for their assistance in creating this story.
