The Belfield Banter Black History Month
Issue IV
The St. Anne’s-Belfield Student Newspaper
artwork by Taja Carey
Book Discussion SEEKing Curiosity
Remembering the People Who Built UVA
by Lovissa Price
by Sebastian Laza
A few weeks ago, Dr. Graves hosted a discussion about this book and what role curiosity could play to transform human understanding in our lives. In the beginning of the conversation, we went around the room to introduce ourselves and tell the origin story of our names. What struck me was that each person had a unique anecdote that let everyone in the room get a sense of who they are, where they come from, and maybe even a slight sense of what has influenced them to become the person they are. This type of curiosity is just a small example of what Scott Shigeoka discusses in SEEK and, as it was in our discussion, it can be the beginning of forging deeper understandings and connections.
During the tour, the guide spoke on Thomas Jefferson designs for the lawn which attempted to hide the enslaved laborers from the public eye. On the lawn, the largest houses are the professor’s buildings and the second largest are the student buildings, under the professor’s buildings in a basement hidden from view of the main lawn, were the slave quarters. Page 1
— Often when I hear about self-help books, the image that comes to mind is some mystical guru trying to preach their path to enlightenment, but Scott Shigeoka’s SEEK takes a refreshingly different approach. Throughout this book, Shigeoka uses storytelling of their life experiences to demonstrate the concept that they are discussing and to exhibit the overall theme of being curious about each person’s journey. When the audience views their stories, we see examples of why this curiosity is necessary to come closer to understanding someone’s full character.
— The Sophomore class experienced tours of either Women’s or Black history at the University of Virginia during their most recent grade-level experiences. On the Black History grounds tour, our guide mentioned the UVA memorial for the enslaved people that built the campus. The memorial commemorates these people by writing each one of their names on a circular wall surrounding a patch of grass with a water feature running in between the path and the grass. Sadly, many names are not recorded on the wall because their names could not be identified due to the lack of their record. In these cases, a line is etched into the stone to ensure they are still commemorated. The memorial concluded construction in the Spring of 2020, and a public dedication was held in April of 2021 which was then postponed a year due to the COVID pandemic.