Sparking Change…One Story at a Time

MUNCIE, Ind. – Two Ball State professors are combining their expertise to tell a story of strength, hope and perseverance.

For Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership, Kendra Lowery, after hearing Sybil Hampton’s story, she felt lead to tell others. Hampton was one of the first African American students to graduate from Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas during desegregation. During this time, Hampton faced discrimination from everyone around her.

From students to faculty, Hampton was looked at as inferior during her whole high school career. “In all her four years at Central, she didn’t have a single teacher talk to her outside of the classroom. The only contact they made was because they were forced,” Lowery said.

Even through Hampton’s struggle in high school, that experience did anything but hold her back. Hampton went on to study at Earlham College, the University of Chicago and eventually earned her doctorate degree in Education from Columbia University. After serving as an educator, she returned to Little Rock to become the President of the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation.

“After hearing Sybil’s story, I felt it had the opportunity to interact with people in many ways,” Lowery said. However, it wasn’t until she met Assistant Professor of Dance, Susan Koper, that she knew how she wanted to spread Hampton’s message – through dance.

“I felt a strong connection to the journey she went on during her time at Central. In my mind, there was a literal connection to her journey and movement through dance,” Lowery said.

After Lowery found Koper, the journey to bring Hampton’s story to the stage began. Both professors began with a transcript of an interview Lowery had conducted with Hampton chronicling her time at Central. After listening to that interview and finding the theme of her journey, a score was composed by Instructor of Dance, Adam Crawley, for the dance to be performed to. Koper commissioned Ball State Dance alum, Rebecca Lomax, to perform the piece.

In a time when everyone seems to get involved in conversations on racism, inequality and injustice, Lomax believes this dance gives the people the chance to put their voices aside and just listen.

“This dance gives people the opportunity to leave their own opinions out of it and just hear her story. It’s through listening that we find understanding,” Lomax said.

For Koper, Lowery and Lomax, it’s through sharing Hampton’s story that they hope others can find ways to better impact their communities. Their goal was never to make the story solely about Hampton but instead to use her story as a medium to spark change.

“Our goal with this project is to start an internal conversation with whoever sees this dance about pushing themselves forward into embracing other people who are different. We want to shift the conversation from blaming others to what can I do in a situation where someone was marginalized,” Lowery said.

So far, Hampton’s story has been performed at an Oral History Conference and at Ball State University, but Lowery is hopeful the project will grow to highlight other stories of hope, inspiration and change.