Photo by frank mckenna on Unsplash
Yesterday, March 26, 2020 at 12 noon I defended my dissertation prospectus, “Forgotten Girlhoods: The Education and Needlework Embroideries of Black Schoolgirls in Antebellum Philadelphia” via Zoom. I gave a 20 minute Powerpoint presentation on my proposal. Then I had questions from my committee. I exited the teleconference call so that the committee could discuss my proposal. I was invited back in and told that, I passed!!! Then I received final words from each member and it ended. It took almost exactly 2 hours. Praise God.
Now, in all my excitement and tiredness, I texted some family and friends, emailed Bishop Rapha the news, then ate lunch and took a nap. I had hardly slept the night before due to all kinds of thoughts running through my mind. Some were related to ways to improve my presentation and others were random thoughts about songs, people, and other events happening in life right now. What a moment we are living in under these stay-at-home orders due to COVID-19. Through it all, I am grateful to have come to this point in my PhD career. I have passed another milestone. I received constructive feedback from my dissertation committee about my proposal, the focus of my research, ideas for organizing my chapters so its not just 3 case studies, and for productive ways to enter the archives so that I come away with fruitful information. I am beginning with online archives I can access in the coming months since travel is restricted. I want to press forward to learn all that I can to understand Black girls of the 19th century US who have been silenced, erased, or ignored, to give voice to them, and share the beautiful works they produced with all that will witness. On to the next milestone!!!