Charlene F. Bletson and Augustus C. Brown (College of Arts)

This is a project Hillary Curd created as an intern with the Black Faculty and Staff Association. It is a poster part of a campus walking tour of early black faculty members so that students might be able to connect with the history of black faculty.

CHARLENE F. BLETSON Charlene F. Bletson was an actress and an Associate Professor of Theater at the University of Utah. She was originally from Los Angeles and came to the U in 1973 as an Assistant Professor in Theater. A year earlier she had received her M.F.A. from Yale. Charlene eventually left the university to continue to act. She eventually died on stage during a performance at age 44. SOCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS Bletson was dedicated to black theater. She was described as being “almost militantly concerned with the Black theater” by one of her advisors (Engar, 1973). She was also the first black actor in Utah’s Shakespeare Festival in 1968. She continued to contribute to and act in the festival while in Utah and became the first black director in the festival in 1977, directing Romeo and Juliet. ACADEMIC CONTRIBUTIONS In her time at the U, Bletson worked on and taught many plays. She worked with the students in the Black Studies Program and worked in the Ethnic Studies Department. She gave her all to advancing the black theater and to teaching actors and actresses at the University of Utah. AUGUSTUS C. BROWN Augustus C. Brown came to the University of Utah from Pittsburgh in 1974. The university was looking to fill this position and wanted to hire Brown because of his experience in teaching art and in painting and design. He recieved his B.F.A. at Carnegie Mellon University and his M.A. at the University of Pittsburgh. He then worked as an elementary art teacher before coming to the U. SOCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS Brown was not explicitly involved in much Civil Rights work or work within the University other than his teaching as an instructor of art. However, his presence in the department was impactful alone, especially as he expressed his desire to add courses on AfroAmerican Art to the university. It takes new and diverse faculty to expand what students can learn at the U and Brown was certainly advocating for that. Being in the department meant that his opinions were being shared with fellow, and mostly white, colleagues. It also meant that students could interact and be inspired by a person of color in the Arts. ACADEMIC CONTRIBUTIONS Brown had experience teaching prior to the University and he was a great professor because of his knowledge of both art history and of art itself. Brown was also knowledgeable about African American art and was eager to teach about it. Most of his research and his dissertation were on Renaissance art. BIBLIOGRAPHY “CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY MONTH”. UTAH SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL. FEBUARY 4, 2021. HTTPS://WWW.BARD.ORG/NEWS/CELEBRATINGBLACK-HISTORY-MONTH/. “FORMER U. THEATER TEACHER DIES ONSTAGE IN N.Y.” THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, MAY 2 1990. FROM UNIVERSITY OF UTAH HISTORICAL FACULTY FILES, ACC. 526, CHARLENE F. BLETSON, UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES AND RECORDS MANAGEMENT. UNIVERSITY OF UTAH, J. WILLARD MARRIOTT LIBRARY. SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH. UNIVERSITY OF UTAH HISTORICAL FACULTY FILES, ACC. 526, AUGUSTUS C. BROWN, UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES AND RECORDS MANAGEMENT. UNIVERSITY OF UTAH, J. WILLARD MARRIOTT LIBRARY. SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH. UNIVERSITY OF UTAH HISTORICAL FACULTY FILES, ACC. 526, CHARLENE F. BLETSON, UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES AND RECORDS MANAGEMENT. UNIVERSITY OF UTAH, J. WILLARD MARRIOTT LIBRARY. SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH.