Kudos to the University of Southern Maine Department of History and Political Science and the USM Chamber Singers for an enlightening evening at the Gendron Franco Center on Feb. 2. The evening presentation was on Becoming American: W.E.B. DeBois and the Meaning of Race and Citizenship in the Jim Crow Era.

The program was a call for remembering the struggles for justice in light of amendments to the Constitution that guarantee rights for all Americans, despite the color of the skin, in an era where it did not matter, despite the guarantees as stated.

In addition to Dr. Leroy M. Rowe’s outstanding presentation, Dr. Joyce Gibson, Dean of the USM Lewiston-Auburn College, brought to the audience’s attention what it was like for her family during the Jim Crow era in Mississippi. The brilliant USM Chamber Singers, under the direction of Dr. Nicolas Alberto, Director of Choral Studies at the USM School of Music, gifted the audience with the most beautiful sounds of Kalinda, and Rockin’ Jerusalem.

I thank them for that important evening of reflection.

Bette Swett-Thibeault, Lewiston