News | On American Soil wins 2007 Horace Mann Award

"ON AMERICAN SOIL" AUTHOR WINS 2007 HORACE MANN AWARD

Annual award honors individuals who "have won victories for humanity"

Jack Hamann, author of "On American Soil," (Algonquin Books, 2005), is a recipient of the the 2007 Horace Mann Award.

Each year, Antioch University Seattle selects at least two individuals to receive the Horace Mann Award, honoring those who have won significant victories for humanity through their work or volunteerism. One recipient is a member of Antioch’s alumni. The other is someone in the community who shares the same values as Horace Mann and Antioch: a commitment to promote social justice, community engagement or lifelong learning.

The 4th Annual Horace Mann Awards will be held March 29, 2007 in the Crystal Ballroom of the Washington Athletic Club. The event benefits the Antioch University Seattle scholarship endowment.

Jack Hamann, a Seattle journalist, dedicated three years of his life to clearing the names of 28 African American soldiers who were wrongly convicted by the United States government during World War II. After learning of a riot and the lynching of an Italian prisoner of war that had occured at Fort Lawton in Discovery Park, Hamann looked beyond the previous press coverage to unearth a botched trial. His painstaking research exposed the underlying prejudices of the government, and led Rep. Jim McDermott to introduce a bill in Congress. As a direct result, the Pentagon has agreed to review the convictions of many of the African American soldiers – bringing to a close 60 years of quiet suffering for survivors and their families.

Wendy Rosen, core faculty for the Center for Programs in Education, has increased the number of Native American teachers in Washington state through her leadership of Antioch's First Peoples' Program. This program, which is a partnership between Antioch University Seattle and the Muckleshoot Tribe, was designed to address the lack of cultural responsiveness that has hindered Native American education programs in the past. It is taught on-site at the Muckleshoot Tribal College in Auburn and prepares a cohort of 20 to 25 Native American prospective educators to teach in Native American communities every two years – a 20% increase over the number of Native American teachers currently practicing in Washington. To accomplish this feat, Rosen has willingly assumed numerous roles that go beyond that of most postsecondary faculty. Rosen serves as recruiter, coach, trusted advisor, fundraiser, cultural ambassador and diplomat.

Susan Warner, M.A. in Education ’99, is the savior of hundreds of teenage girls. As the director of public programs for the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, she founded the Remann Hall Women’s Project to reach out to the young women incarcerated at Remann Hall, Tacoma’s juvenile detention facility, and teach them through the universal language of art. The project has produced large scale installations as well as exhibitions, plays and a book of poetry. More importantly, the program has helped the girls to turn their lives around and has lessened their chances of re-offending. Once the girls leave Remann Hall, they stay connected to the museum through Arts Connect, another program founded by Warner, which brings the girls to the museum for creative and social activities every Wednesday.

Educator and statesman Horace Mann became Antioch University’s first president in 1853, after serving four years as a Massachusetts congressman. His influence went far beyond that state. Mann’s indictments of slavery, efforts to establish hospitals for the mentally ill and visions for public education are legend.

It was Mann who, in the 1830s, spearheaded the creation of the first schools for teacher training and the first free school-district libraries. Mann insisted education was a right for every child and it was a state’s responsibility to provide that education. His work led to the first state law that required compulsory school attendance.

Mann arrived at Antioch College, newly created by the Christian Church in Yellow Springs, Ohio. His goal: at age 56, to put into practice a lifetime of innovative educational ideas.

At the core of Mann’s plan was his belief in nonsectarian education that embraced all religions and welcomed all men and women. In the 1850s, Ohio had 26 colleges, all small and all sectarian. As one historian noted, Mann was “crucified by crusading sectarians," who whittled away at his authority. Antioch’s financial struggles proved to be Mann’s final undoing.

"Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity," he told the class of 1859. Shortly after that famous commencement address, he collapsed from exhaustion. Two months later, Horace Mann was dead. His ideals prevailed, however, and continue to be part of Antioch’s fabric.

2006
Billy Frank, chairman, Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission
Wayne Greer, director, T.T. Minor Marching Band

2005
Marsha C. Botzer, founder, Ingersoll Gender Center
Steven Reed, founder, Infectious Disease Research Institute

2004
Kenneth A. MacDonald, co-founder, MacDonald, Hoague & Bayless
Oliver W. Tuthill, Jr., founder, Autumn Tree Productions

Those previously honored by Antioch University campuses in California and Ohio:

Coretta Scott King
Stephen Jay Gould
PEN Center USA
Human Rights Watch
Eloise Klein Healy
Dr. George Comstock
Dr. Mario Capecci
Lisa Delpit
Prexy Nesbitt
Clifford Geertz
Lillian Pierson Lovelace
A. Leon Higginbotham Jr.
Mitch Thomashow