A WFDD Original
Being the Change: James Shields on Community, Slavery, and the Power of Education
James Shields is the Director of the Bonner Center for Community Service and Learning at Guilford College. He's also an actor and an expert on the history of the Underground Railroad in Greensboro. Radio Camper Ethan Campbell-Brown learned more about James Shields and his work.
I met James Shields on the patio of Founders Hall at Guilford College. He was very nice and had a voice perfect for a radio interview. We talked about the concept of slavery and his work. We also talked about Pathways to Freedom, a play he's currently acting in.
It's so important too that we treat each other as human beings, and that's probably the main theme of Pathways to Freedom is that, as the Quakers say, there's a light of God in everyone, and so if that's true, then we shouldn't be enslaving people and we shouldn't just see a human being as cattle or as property. Certainly now in 2014, we know that that's not right, but slavery still exists in this world.
James later talked about how much he enjoys being the director of the Bonner Center for Community Service and Learning and the department's purpose.
We help our students gain the skills and experience that they need if they really want to make a difference. You know, you hear a lot about "be the change you wanna see in the world," but in order to be the change, you have to have some knowledge, you have to have some skills, you have to have experience, and that's part of what we do. So I love seeing our students get involved in the community and help them to graduate, and that's really the coolest thing that I like.
I learned that James has a lot of talent. When he acts, he wants the audience to feel like the slaves did. He also cares about other people and wants to teach his students about the struggles of their history. For 88.5
WFDD Radio Camp, I'm Ethan Campbell-Brown.
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