While private efforts such as those of the Ford Foundation and the Mellon Foundation will continue to be somewhat effective at attracting and supporting under-represented minorities to enter the professoriate, the concern is that they will produce fewer Ph.D.s of color than when they previously targeted specific under-represented groups. The low production of masters, Ph.D.s and M.D.s by Blacks, Hispanics and American Indians in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields only increases the dilemma for a nation that is fighting to remain competitive as a world power in those fields.

Lydia Lum’s “Careers in the Classics” provides a fascinating look at how Black scholars have been making unique contributions with teaching and research in the classics. From groundbreaking research by the University of Chicago’s Dr. Danielle Allen, Penn State’s Dr. Leah Johnson and Duke University’s Dr. Grant Parker (all Black Issues Emerging Scholars) to inspiring teaching by Purdue University’s Dr. Patrice Rankine, African-Americans continue a defiance to naysayers that dates back to the 1800s when Black scholars first achieved prominence in the field over the relevancy of the classics.

What’s needed by Americans overall is a more thorough comprehension of how the classics — the ancient Greek and Latin languages and literature as well as history and philosophy from those ancient cultures — is an important field of study for understanding Western society in the modern world. Having an intellectual affinity for and connection to the ancient world is not something that Americans need dismiss as esoteric or trivial. As these scholars demonstrate, an education in the classics would reveal how ideas and discoveries from the ancient Greek and Roman societies are vitally alive today.

Hilary Hurd Anyaso
Editor