We measure our lives by the events that profoundly change our trajectories. On this date in 1968, Wes was interviewing for his first post -graduate teaching position at a small liberal arts college in Michigan. He left the University of Washington in Seattle tasked by a national humanities program to offer a new class for a participating campus, to design a course of study that had never been offered there.
Wes learned of King’s assassination just before leaving his room at Belmont Manor to dine with students and History Department staff at Baldwin Hall. The next day, his return took him over Chicago where he witnessed the city ablaze. On the flight home to Seattle, he developed a new course, HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NEGRO. He was hired at Albion College on a one year contract. It was a life shift that changed our lives forever after. The Black Studies Movement soon revolutionized curriculums across the country. Wes expanded the course under that exciting period. In a way, the movement was a Phoenix rising from the ashes event. We cannot submit to the current backlash in learning. Never turning back.
WES & LES -- MORE OR LESS 
Wow, that must have been almost surreal to you all. I was about 9 when Dr. King was assasinated, we had to rush my baby brother to the hospital in Richmond VA. The city was burning. My dad told my siblings and me hide under the seats of our old Chrysler stationwagon as we drove through the streets to and from the hospital through the riots. Thanks to Wes and you and others, we better understand the frustration that fueled those tumultuous times. We have to keep exposing the truth and we need to teach our history however painful it is.
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