Lakeland Mirror

Issue date: 10/29/09 Section: Features

Media Credit: Jim Giese

Five decades. Parents of many Lakeland students have yet to experience fifty years. Holding a single position with the same employer for that length of time is virtually unheard of nowadays. In fifty years a lot is absorbed, a lot is experienced, and a lot is shared. For more than fifty years Lakeland Business Administration Division Chair and Professor of Business Administration, Dr. J. Garland Schilcutt, has relayed endless information to his countless students, and he has been a witness to numerous moments of history.

In a recent interview, Professor Schilcutt took the time to share his perspective of being a young African-American in Sheboygan County in the late '50s and '60s as well as his insights to the role that race continues to play to this day.

Life as an African-American at a small rural campus in Wisconsin during the '50s and '60s was very comfortable for Schilcutt. "I would go to town as often as needed…and was never treated any differently than I would expect to be treated."

One occasion when he thought he may have been mistreated turned out to be a grumpy store employee. He recalls that he purchased a jacket while shopping in Milwaukee and that it required tailoring when he returned to Sheboygan. When he took the jacket to the tailor, he was told by the employee that the store doesn't do the tailoring Schilcutt asked for. He returned to campus and relayed his story to a colleague - who happened to be a sociology professor. Seizing the opportunity, the sociology professor took Schilcutt's jacket to the same tailor. The results were the same. "So the one time I thought I may have been mistreated, I was not treated any differently than anyone else," said Schilcutt.

Schilcutt also recalled an account during a shopping trip to the local Red Owl grocery store. While walking down the aisle, he encountered a woman with her young boy. The young boy said, "Look, Mommy, a man with a black face." Schilcutt smiled as he talked of the mother's quick response to the boy. "Yes, darling, and he's a man just as good as your Daddy." He quickly surmised it was more for his benefit than for the benefit of the young boy's.

Schilcutt stated that he understands the curiosity involved with encountering different races. "If I see someone walking down the street with a green polka dot face, I'm going to…look around and see what that heck that person is doing, and where did he come from, and why is he here. It's just human nature to look."

Continued...

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