Rising from the Segregated South with Dr. Helen Benjamin
03/25/23 • 56 min
Dr. Helen Benjamin is the president of HSV Consulting, a company that provides board and management development, strategic planning, and equity, diversity and inclusion services to community colleges. She’s had a long career in education: With a master’s degree and doctorate from Texas Woman’s University, Helen began as a teacher, and has also held positions as a professor, dean, chancellor and president during her more than 30 years in administration for community colleges in Texas and California. She retired in 2016 and is living in Dallas, TX, though retirement for her looks like sitting on the board of several organizations, serving through HSV Consulting, and writing and editing books.
Helen and I met at the Feathered Pipe Ranch in summer 2022, where she attended a retreat hosted by San Diego-based yoga teachers Lanita Varshell and Diane Ambrosini. She signed up hoping to find peace and respite, and as she shares in this conversation, she was able to access it—in the innate beauty and tranquility of the Ranch, the movement classes, and the like-minded people she met.
Born in 1950, Helen grew up in Alexandria, Louisiana, in the heart of the segregated South, when African Americans were forbidden by law to attend certain schools, restaurants, churches, shops and other public places. Of course we learn about slavery and racial segregation in history books, but how often do you have the chance to hear from someone whose early life was so directly affected by the fear that upheld these beliefs?
This history isn’t as old as we might imagine, and at age 73, Helen speaks of her upbringing, how she found inspiration, community and love despite the bigotry that surrounded her family and friends. She’s a similar age to many in the founding group at the Feathered Pipe Ranch, but her reality during the “hippie era” we speak of so mystically and magically was drastically different than that of our founders—and that’s why we want to highlight this story.
I ask her about her inner process of alchemizing the feelings that can stem from injustice, her spiritual path and ability to find peace and freedom within, and the importance of documenting the stories of her community and preserving history in order to move forward.
We talk about her recent book, How We Got Over: Growing up in the Segregated South— a memoir of 24 personal accounts from African Americans who graduated from Peabody High School in Alexandria, LA in 1968. This book captures the essence of Black life in the Deep South during Jim Crow laws and was born out of an epiphany Helen had while attending a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion workshop. She realized that where she grew up, between the railroad tracks, was systematically set up through redlining, and that her rise to where she sat now—in a leadership role for a college in New York—defied all odds. The stories of her and her classmates, who also went on to live full and accomplished lives, had to be told.
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Dr. Helen Benjamin is the president of HSV Consulting, a company that provides board and management development, strategic planning, and equity, diversity and inclusion services to community colleges. She’s had a long career in education: With a master’s degree and doctorate from Texas Woman’s University, Helen began as a teacher, and has also held positions as a professor, dean, chancellor and president during her more than 30 years in administration for community colleges in Texas and California. She retired in 2016 and is living in Dallas, TX, though retirement for her looks like sitting on the board of several organizations, serving through HSV Consulting, and writing and editing books.
Helen and I met at the Feathered Pipe Ranch in summer 2022, where she attended a retreat hosted by San Diego-based yoga teachers Lanita Varshell and Diane Ambrosini. She signed up hoping to find peace and respite, and as she shares in this conversation, she was able to access it—in the innate beauty and tranquility of the Ranch, the movement classes, and the like-minded people she met.
Born in 1950, Helen grew up in Alexandria, Louisiana, in the heart of the segregated South, when African Americans were forbidden by law to attend certain schools, restaurants, churches, shops and other public places. Of course we learn about slavery and racial segregation in history books, but how often do you have the chance to hear from someone whose early life was so directly affected by the fear that upheld these beliefs?
This history isn’t as old as we might imagine, and at age 73, Helen speaks of her upbringing, how she found inspiration, community and love despite the bigotry that surrounded her family and friends. She’s a similar age to many in the founding group at the Feathered Pipe Ranch, but her reality during the “hippie era” we speak of so mystically and magically was drastically different than that of our founders—and that’s why we want to highlight this story.
I ask her about her inner process of alchemizing the feelings that can stem from injustice, her spiritual path and ability to find peace and freedom within, and the importance of documenting the stories of her community and preserving history in order to move forward.
We talk about her recent book, How We Got Over: Growing up in the Segregated South— a memoir of 24 personal accounts from African Americans who graduated from Peabody High School in Alexandria, LA in 1968. This book captures the essence of Black life in the Deep South during Jim Crow laws and was born out of an epiphany Helen had while attending a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion workshop. She realized that where she grew up, between the railroad tracks, was systematically set up through redlining, and that her rise to where she sat now—in a leadership role for a college in New York—defied all odds. The stories of her and her classmates, who also went on to live full and accomplished lives, had to be told.
Connect with Feathered Pipe Ranch:
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Previous Episode
The Mystically Untamed Within Us with Stefanie Tovar
Stefanie Tovar is a healing artist, a singer, a yoga teacher, a racial healing facilitator—and so much more. She has over 14 years of facilitating wellness offerings and 20 years of presenting as an international and local performing artist, creating experiences to support healing, awaken awareness, and empower release in Body, Mind, and Heart. Stefanie is also a Recording Artist with Orchard Records and is the founder of a nonprofit called Yena, which is meant to support this work in schools, shelters, and intimate spaces to "honor people in Leading with Purpose, fueled by Heart."
Stefanie visited the Feathered Pipe Ranch this past summer and quickly settled into life at the Ranch during Sonia Azaad’s workshop group. She attended Crystal’s going away party and played singing bowls with our Tibetan friend Tsering Lodoe during collective prayers. She was always blowing bubbles on the lawn and was even part of a group of ladies who did a wild woman moonlit dance on the nature deck then cold plunged in the lake after. She became a close friend in a very short period of time, and I’m so excited to bring this conversation to you.
In this recording, she tells me about her upbringing in Texas, the deep connection she had with singing and nature at such a young age, and the realization that her voice was a gift that she could share to effect change in the world. We talk about the ways that we humans are always receiving messages—what Stefanie calls “scripts”—about who and how to be. Although these messages can feel limiting at times, one of the beautiful aspects of life is that we can choose which scripts we want to follow. Which role we want to take. Which song we want to sing. And writing our own scripts is an option too!
Stefanie’s life experiences have led her to working in wellness, with a mission to lovingly disrupt the status quo of what it’s “supposed to” look like to be a part of this growing industry. As a Latina, she speaks of the importance of diversity in all healing spaces—diversity of race, socioeconomics, religions, belief systems, sexual orientation, abilities and functions. Her work truly highlights the intersection between wellness and social justice, and it’s only growing for here, as she was recently selected as one of 40 cohorts across the nation to be a part of the Culture of Health Leadership Institute for Racial Healing.
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Next Episode
Nature as the Antidote with Adam Schumaker
Adam Schumaker is co-founder of Gray Bear Lodge, a rustic retreat center in Hohenwald, TN, 80 miles southwest of Nashville, that hosts experiential workshops to promote growth, fulfillment and the joy of learning. He’s a certified Watsu aquatic bodywork practitioner, lifelong yogi and potentially one of the kindest people on the planet.
Gray Bear opened in 1996, and the Feathered Pipe Ranch was a big influence on its beginnings, as Adam considered the Ranch one of the “grandfathers of this movement, one of the holders of the seeds.” When he and his partner Diann visited Helena in 1999, India Supera welcomed them with open arms, sharing everything she had learned about running a retreat center—kitchen and cooking details, employee structure, accounting, lodging and more. Adam recalls her saying, “We need places like Gray Bear and the Feathered Pipe. If you’re the generation bringing this up, all the wisdom and all the experience I have, I want to share it with you. Feel free to call any time.” And, he did.
It’s hard to pinpoint themes in this conversation, as we meander gently through many topics. We weave stories with conscious teachings and personal experience with the memories that touch our hearts and open our perspectives. Adam believes stories are integral to learning—he calls it “life teaching life,” the ability to connect with each other outside of the boundaries of any structured tradition or discipline. We talk about the power of nature to remind us what’s important, the necessity of digital detoxing and breaking the modern habit of immediate availability, and how building Gray Bear over the last 30 years has actually built him as the person he is today, a process that has invited in the opportunity for profound personal development, accountability and reflection.
There are many gems in this interview, but one that really sticks with me is a quote from one of his teachers: Live life as if one foot is in the presence of the almighty divine god being imaginable, and your right foot is in a fresh cow patty that you’ve accidentally stepped in. All that to say - don’t take life too seriously. Don’t forget to laugh, and find the lightness in the miracle of being alive.
Gray Bear Lodge Retreat Center
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The Dandelion Effect - Rising from the Segregated South with Dr. Helen Benjamin
Transcript
Dr. Helen Benjamin (00:01):
I have righteous indignation. I believe firmly that there's a moral order to the universe. I don't believe in vengeance. I keep it moving. That's been the theme of my life, is to keep it moving. I cannot wallow in pity. I give myself like 15 minutes and I gotta move on because I know I've seen what it does to people. And I don't wanna be the walking around angry person holding all of this stuff inside me because I think it leads to really bad
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