Albanian Karen-Baynes Dunning reflects on time with Maya Angelou

ALBANY — With the death of Maya Angelou, Albanian Karen Baynes-Dunning has been reflecting on a semester at Wake Forest University nearly 30 years ago where the renowned poet, author and teacher had a profound impact on the life of an impressionable college junior.

Baynes-Dunning, the wife of Albany State University interim President Arthur Dunning, who spent four years at Wake Forest in the 1980s, said getting the opportunity to learn first hand from one of her childhood heroes likely changed the course of her life.

Simply hoping to have the opportunity to take a class from Angelou impacted her decision to attend the university in the first place.

“I chose to go to Wake Forest because she was a visiting professor there,” said Baynes-Dunning. “I wanted to take a class from her, but I didn’t realize until I got there that she only taught one class a year.”

Baynes-Dunning then learned that just 12 students were chosen for each class on a first-come, first-serve basis, greatly diminishing her chances of getting in. By her junior year, however, Baynes-Dunning made the cut.

“Back in those days we didn’t have online registration, we actually had to go stand in line to get registered,” said Baynes-Dunning. “That year I actually volunteered to help with registration so I was able to basically register for classes a little early and that was the first class I signed up for.”

In the fall of 1987 she was able to have the life changing experience of taking Angelou’s humanities course called African Culture and Its Impact on the United States.

Baynes-Dunning said the class was always somewhat informal with the author teaching and leading a discussion, then breaking into poetry or song to inspire creativity. Often conducted in Angelou’s home, Baynes-Dunning remembers days in class when “Roots” author Alex Haley dropped by to visit; and days when songwriters Ashford and Simpson and folk artist Odetta would spend time with the class.

As exciting and entertaining as taking the class with Angelou was, Baynes-Dunning said the most important things she learned during that time were things about world culture and humanity, things that forever changed the course of the undergrad’s life.

“She based the course on a quote by the Roman playwright Terence, ‘I am a human being, I consider nothing that is human alien to me,’” Baynes-Dunning shared. “The class was also right after she had published her book ‘All God’s Children Need Travelling Shoes’ which chronicles her time in West Africa.”

Baynes-Dunning was so moved by the things she learned from Angelou that she decided to travel to Africa and study in Liberia, something her parents did not think was a good idea.

“My parents weren’t exactly on board,” said Bynes-Dunning. “But she took the time to send my parents a copy of the book and a handwritten note letting them know it was an important opportunity for me.”

Upon returning from Africa where she spent nearly six months studying the culture, Baynes-Dunning became active on campus, eventually becoming president of the campus’ Black Student Union where she again saw the impact Angelou had on the world around her.

Wake Forest’s international studies department was considering an exchange program with the University of Capetown in South Africa. Due to that country’s practice of apartheid, students at Wake Forest called for school to abandon the idea, but were met with resistance.

According to Baynes-Dunning, she was at a meeting held between school officials and campus groups where it was decided the school would move forward with the program after being assured by University of Capetown officials that if an African American student from Wake Forest were in the program they would be treated as “an honorary white person.”

“Despite all the objections they were going forward with the program,” said Baynes-Dunning. “Then in the middle of this meeting the doors opened and Maya Angelou filled the frame. She said, ‘I spoke with my friends at the ANC (African National Congress) and they say no.’ And that was the end of the program. That’s the kind of impact she had.”

“She was just an amazing woman,” said Baynes-Dunning. “She challenged us as young people to make a difference in our communities. She had a way of making you stretch. That really changed the trajectory of my career to use my law degree to help families and communities.”

Not only did Angelou inspire Baynes-Dunning’s career as an attorney, she helped Baynes-Dunning get into law school, having written letters of recommendations for her after she earned her undergraduate degree in politics.

Baynes-Dunning eventually settled on the Boalt Hall Law School at the University of California at Berkeley, where she earned her Juris Doctorate in 1992. Baynes-Dunning then made hers a career of service, serving as associate juvenile court judge for seven years before becoming Associate Director of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia.

Baynes-Dunning has also served as an associate professor at the University of Alabama and is currently serving as one of two federal monitors overseeing the Department of Family and Children Services in Georgia to help improve the state’s foster care system.

Baynes-Dunning said she has spent most of her life since her days at Wake Forest, trying to make an impact in the world around her and put the lessons first learned from Angelou to good use.

“After hearing the news I have been reflecting on that time,” Baynes-Dunning said. “It inspires and motivates me to have that same kind of impact. She had a way of expressing herself and standing up for what was right and just.”