Aesthetic Realism and Education: The People of Clarendon County Performed in Washington, DC

Sunday, October 25, 2009

The People of Clarendon County Performed in Washington, DC

"The People of Clarendon County"--a Play by Ossie Davis, was performed on October 21, 2009 at the Congressional Auditorium located in the U.S. Capitol Visiters Center, in Washington, D.C. I was present at this moving performance of the play. Written by Ossie Davis in 1955 and performed only once by Davis, Ruby Dee and Sidney Poitier, it was unearthed by Alice Bernstein, journalist and Aesthetic Realism Associate, and published with Ossie Davis's blessing. The play chronicles the courageous fight of black citizens living in Clarendon County, South Carolina to get schools and an education for their children equal to white children. It is stirring and inspiring to see how the battle fought by these ordinary citizens, unsung heroes of the civil rights movement, led to the landmark decision in Brown vs. the Board of Education in 1954. Also contained within this work, are photographs and historical documents from that time in Clarendon County and essays on how the philosophy of Aesthetic Realism, founded in 1941 by poet and historian Eli Siegel, can end racism.

Featured in this presentation, and in the book by Alice Bernstein, is the Aesthetic Realism Teaching Method. This method, which I used for more than 30 years in New York City public high schools, enables students to learn the subject successfully and become deeper, kinder, more just individuals. Elementary educator, Monique Michael, gave a lesson on this historic evening about sameness and difference in birds--how they are made with similar AND different physical structures which enable to thrive in their environment. This diversity among living things is beautiful and persons in the audience--who were called on to participate--felt that the world would be less interesting without it. This is also true, Mrs. Michael pointed out, about human beings. She shows that we, too, are a thrilling and sensible relation of difference and sameness that should be honored, celebrated and respected without limit. You can view the program for this event by clicking above on "The People of Clarendon County."

Name: Rosemary Plumstead

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Other related Resources: Visit the Aesthetic Realism Foundation Home Page and the page of vitally important links about the Aesthetic Realism Teaching Method on the Aesthetic Realism Foundation Web site.

Read Rosemary Plumstead's seminar paper on Environmental Science titled, "The Aesthetic Realism Teaching Method Shows Education Is Ethics!"

And my colleague Dr. Arnold Perey writes on the need for Aesthetic Realism method in anthropology, on his Web site Aesthetic Realism: A New Perspective for Anthropology. One of his articles, "Teaching Indian Culture in the U.S." is about the way Aesthetic Realism combats racism and was reprinted in numerous Indian newspapers.

Photographer Len Bernstein writes on the Aesthetic Realism Viewpoint as to Photography.

See the important, broad approach to religion provided by Wayne Plumstead's blog "The Aesthetics of Religion." Rev. Plumstead, a United Methodist Minister, also wrote in the Circuit Rider and hosted, at the Park United Methodist Church in Bloomfield, NJ, a successful Parenting Workshop with speakers from the Aesthetic Realism Foundation. Also see the article by Rev. Plumstead on the cause of the Columbine High School shootings.

Jack Plumstead (Father of Rev. Wayne Plumstead), writes in "Friends of Aesthetic Realism--Countering the Lies." And in the Aesthetic Realism Foundation Faculty Biographies you can see a bio of Rev. Wayne Plumstead, who is an Aesthetic Realism Consultant.

Lynette Abel writes on Aesthetic Realism as to on art, economics, and love. On her Web site she has reprinted the important essay by Eli Siegel, "The Ordinary Doom."

And visit The Aesthetic Realism Theatre Company and its outreach program.

Donita Ellison Aesthetic Realism Associate & Art Educator, has posted, among other things, a joint article with myself (a science educator) showing the unity of science and art as we saw it in our own classrooms. Also see the Web site of

Lois Mason, Aesthetic Realism Consultant & Social Studies Teacher On the subject of Aesthetic Realism and self-expression--how it can be encouraged and what interferes with it--

Miriam Mondlin writes a personal narrative on her own success in this field. Eli Siegel's classic and urgent essay on the place of aesthetics in understanding the human mind is titled "Is a Person an Aesthetic Situation?" and was, first, an interview with Anthony Lewis of the New York Times Book Review.

You can see links about Aesthetic Realism, by persons who study it, on Aesthetic Realism Resources, an up to date compilation.

The Terrain Gallery, with its copy of "Is Beauty the Making One of Opposites?" by Eli Siegel, is on this link: The Terrain Gallery / Aesthetic Realism Foundation

For up-to-date honesty about the current events, read the international periodical of the Aesthetic Realism Foundation, The Right of Aesthetic Realism to Be Known (TRO), edited by Ellen Reiss, the Class Chairman of Aesthetic Realism.