During the summer of 2017 I was selected as one of twenty undergraduate students to conduct paid research. My project focused on reading Mary White Ovington’s novel The Shadow and reading it in the context of the Harlem Renaissance. I performed research alongside this provided by the scans from the Wayne State University library as well as reading secondary texts. Alongside my faculty mentor, Derek Adams,  I edited his introduction as well as began writing my preface. I also designed a course, with both one credit and three credit options, and hope to teach the one credit version one day.

Mary White Ovington was a remarkable woman who is not taught as widely as she should be. A founder of the NAACP and an esteemed journalist, Ovington spoke widely about race relations and the importance of integration. Ovington served as an officer for over forty years with the NAACP and wrote children’s books in addition to the novel I studied.

Below are the links to my website that acted as my portfolio and the poster I made for our conference.

Balzano Summer Scholar Website

Balzano The Shadow Poster