Dr. Judith Hamer, a Westporter for 37 years, was the guest speaker for the club’s February luncheon. Judith, an educator with degrees from Cornell, Smith and Columbia, has taught at City College of New York, Columbia University, and New York University. As part of her Club Day presentation, Judith shared a talk on “Two-Ness”, her perspective on society’s judgements based on skin color, gender, etc. Pictures of Judith’s ancestors, some now featured at the Smithsonian Institution, provided a personal face to their past struggles: as freed slaves in Virginia, her grandparent’s challenge of owning Brooklyn property, her parents’ determined efforts to receive advanced educations, and prejudice encountered finding jobs and housing from her own firsthand experience. Strong family values, dating from slavery to the present day, have sustained these generations of Judith’s family.
