Social change often happens at the hands of the people affected by the problem. Martha Southgate’s experience at Hawken School in Ohio inspired a novel about it. The Fall of Rome tells the story of students having to face opposing worlds and the pros and cons of privilege.
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I attended Hawken School in Gates Mills, Ohio from 1974 until 1978. Not only was I one of very few African-American students there—it was also the year the school went co-ed after 59 years as a boys’ school. So the cultural shocks were nonstop. It was a difficult experience in many ways. Being an adolescent (and being the sort of introverted adolescent I was) I spent much of my time there wondering “what’s wrong with me?” and feeling wildly out of place rather than understanding the larger forces that were at work in creating my discomfort.
That said, I am glad that I went to Hawken—I wouldn’t be the person I am, the writer I am, without it. I got a wonderful, rich education and was forced to learn and grow (culturally as well as intellectually) in ways I never would have otherwise. And, I always joke now, I got a novel out of it. My novel The Fall of Rome, while not autobiographical, grew very directly out of my experience at Hawken and is now used in the English curriculum at a number of independent schools. I’ve even been back to Hawken to speak and read from the book. So while I can’t say I look back at high school with unalloyed fondness, it was a profoundly formative experience. And hey, the presence of Prep School Negroes in the White House have reassured me that the fire of this experience—for all its trials–prepares you to do great things!
-Martha Southgate
www.marthasouthgate.com
