THE MIDDLE PASSAGE AND BEYOND: A STUDY IN HISTORY AND LITERATURE. Yona Harvey and Jamilah Rashid; mentor, Dr. Elizabeth Clark-Lewis Department of History The Middle Passage refers to the voyage made by as few as eight million and as many as sixty million African--the number are still being debated--over the course of four centuries, roughly beginning in the middle of the fifteenth century. The Middle Passage was the most terrifying leg of the triangular slave trade that began with ships sailing with goods from the ports of Europe and then headed for West Africa where the goods were exchanged for captured Africans who were taken to North and South American and the Caribbean Islands. As a result of the pioneering work of W.E.B. DuBois, Carter G. Woodson, and other more recent scholars, the centrality of the slave trade and the Middle Passage has become a significant focus of intellectual inquiry. This inquiry generated the project sponsored by The Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and HIstory, entitled "The Middle Passage and Beyond." The project is a response to cries heard from teachers for meaningful materials and new pedagogical approaches that will stimulate students in today'sin today's classroom. Literature and history together offer a unique opportunity to explore extensively the many aspects of the Middle Passage. The study of slavery has been a contuning source of intrest to teachers and scholars, but the history of how the Africans were brought over --The Middle Passage--has often been overlooked. "The Middle Passage and Beyond" focuses attention on a torturous journey from Africa to the Americas. This interdisciplinary focus led NcNair Mentor Dr. Elizabeth Clark-Lewis to pair Yona Harvey, English major, Jamilah Rashid, history major, to work witrh the project's research. We responsible for coordinating five monthly sessions held on Saturdays, January through May. The session were held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The morning consisted of an opening lecture, followed by discussion, along with a question/answer session. The lectures were organized thematically. Following lunch, the guest lecture, the scholar facilitator, and teacher facilitator acted as resource person as teachers divided up into work- study groups. Prior to each seminar, we gathered and distributed background readings for the teachers. These readings prepared the teachers for guest lectures and stimulated discussion.			The discussion and research led to the support of a national seminar on the Middle Passage. The seminar would discuss how to incorporate lesson into existing inner-city schools in addition to themes explored by our seminar participants who represented several disciplines. Yona Harvey is a recent Howard graduate who majored in English and minored in history. Harvey has a passion for writing and visual art. Her intrest in history stems from her classes as an undergraduate English major which included classes in American literature that led to discussions requiring knowledge of the history, religion, and politics influencing writers from Jonathan Edwards to W.E.B. DuBois to Toni Morrison. Similarly, she became intrested in the historical events that several visual artists allued to in their work. In her desire to remain knowledgeable of artists, she has worked inthe Smithsonian museum shops and The Philips Collection, where she was introduced to Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series. Yona has an intrest in exploring the emerging field of public history which will provide her the framework to expand and combine her knowledge in these areas of concentration. Jamilah Rashid is a major and an education minor and plans to pursue a master's degree in History Education. She aspires to open an Independent School. She is a firm believer that our youth are our future and plans to invest her time and energy in helping our youth reach thier personal and professional goals. She has served as a camp counselor for "For the Love of Children", where innercity youth from Washington, DC to West Virgina stay for two weeks. Jamilah had the privilege of being educator, advisor, parent-away- from-home, and friend to five 13-year-old girls. McNair Alumni