Minority Fellowship Program Testimonials: David Cort

I have struggled with belonging and feeling accepted for most of my life, and this was especially true at the beginning of my academic career. It’s not something I’ve fully conquered. However, I’ve been fortunate to find succor and comfort in a few pipeline programs specifically designed for underrepresented students and scholars. At the top of the list of those programs is ASA’s Minority Fellowship Program (MFP). I can safely say that the MFP literally plucked me from obscurity and gave me the opportunity to develop strategies for combatting the debilitating feelings of alienation with which I continue to struggle.

To appreciate the impact of the MFP on my life, it is important to know my background. I am a first-generation immigrant (from Guyana and Dominica). My parents surrendered significant social status and economic security for a chance at a new life and advanced education in the United States, a country that I am still learning to understand. We arrived when my parents were in their mid-thirties, giving them little time to acquire social capital. The most important tasks were earning money and enrolling in school. While I was fortunate that my parents could quickly enter graduate school, we were simultaneously learning the types of skills necessary to navigate U.S. higher education. Sometimes I learned from them and at times, they learned from me. Importantly, while this learning phase allowed for the acquisition of hard skills, it did little to impart the soft skills necessary to ease the constant feeling of never being fully “part of the club.”

Fortunately, I decided to attend a Historically Black College & University (HBCU). There, I encountered an environment where the professors made it their business to build up my selfesteem, and the self-esteem of students who looked like me. I was constantly told I was smart, exceptional, and a credit to my community. I desperately needed this encouragement. However, this newfound confidence was tested when I arrived at graduate school. Everyone seemed smarter, the environment was whiter, and the students were more financially privileged and more knowledgeable about academia than I was. I distinctly remember one of my classmates saying that they were a “Reedy,” or a product of the prestigious Reed College. I’d never heard of the place. It was also emotionally debilitating to realize that many of the people I knew and respected in graduate school had never been to the deep south or had never even heard of HBCUs.

Despite these experiences, I had one important resource that has continued to offer support throughout my career. I was an MFP Fellow. In this group were members who shared many of my lived experiences in one way or another. As a member of the MFP family, I never had to explain myself or the difficulties I was experiencing. More importantly, the MFP imparted a sense of belonging within a meritocratic system that can be unforgiving. It has been wonderful to know that some of the leaders in our discipline have been MFP Fellows and have a background similar to my own.

While imparting a sense of belonging has been crucial to my development as a scholar, the most important benefit of being an MFP Fellow is the fact that this program gave me an opportunity to launch a career when I didn’t have the tools to do so in the most effective way. When I won the fellowship, I was a skinny kid from a small, resourced-starved HBCU who didn’t know very much about sociology or his place within it. But the generous supporters of the program and the scholars who read my files saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself. They saw a budding scholar worthy of investment. In thinking about the 50th anniversary of the MFP, I would be remiss if I didn’t take this opportunity to thank the program and its supporters. You have done and continue to do good and noble work in the lives of young aspiring scholars. The ASA must continue to invest in this program. It has paid dividends in the past and will continue to do so in the future.