Author, educator: Set, work for goals

Would that I could stand on a busy street corner, hat in hand, and have passers-by give me their wasted hours.

Damon Fordham could identify with the sentiment, first espoused by art historian Bernard Berenson. Fordham is not one to squander time.

"I did radio before getting into research and teaching," says the Mount Pleasant resident, an instructor of English and African-American studies at the recently established Virginia College in North Charleston. "One of my mottoes is stick to the facts and don't bore people. You learn to get to it and not beat around the bush. Why waste people's time."

Most know Fordham as a historian, researcher and teacher earlier associated with the Trident Literacy Association and the College of Charleston's Avery Research Center for African-American History and Culture. He is also the author of "Voices of Black South Carolina: Legend & Legacy," its companion piece "True Stories of Black South Carolina" and, as co-author, "Born to Serve: History of the WEMBC" (Women's Educational and Missionary Baptist Convention).

His books document the voices of black South Carolinians who are not well-known in the history books, and he wrote them by doing independent research into old newspapers and other archives.

His fourth book, "Mr. Potts and Me," a semi-autobiographical story loosely based on the stories told him by his father, is well under way.

Meanwhile, Fordham "moonlights" twice a

month teaching African-American history at Springfield College, also in North Charleston. He seems to accommodate the workload with relative ease.

"I don't have a problem with it because the things I'm teaching are things that I enjoy, and once you enjoy something it's not really work," says Fordham, who earned degrees from the University of South Carolina and the College of Charleston. Virginia College opened its doors on Rivers Avenue in October, transforming the former Sam's warehouse store. Fordham was there from Day One. His is a general studies curriculum, but the majority of classes taught at the college are geared toward the medical field.

"I had been teaching a GED class at the Charleston County jail for the past three years. Following some cuts in that program, my hours were reduced as a result, and it just so happened that at that time they were looking for someone to fill a teaching position at Virginia College. I heard about it, applied and here I am."

Making inroads

Fordham's years working with inmates as director of the Trident Literacy Association's GED program at the Charleston County Detention Center had been productive. He managed to help 28 get their GEDs. But he is no less enthused about his new students at Virginia and Springfield, believing his role there to be every bit as vital.

"Being able to expose students to this information and being able to assist them in their studies is gratifying for me," Fordham says. "It's important to understand that anyone who's gotten anywhere in this world had help, whether from a parent or a teacher. And we're living in a time where a lot of these young people may not have role models at their immediate disposal. This is where we as teachers come in.

"One of the things I most like to do, especially with history, is to use it to show students how it relates to them, perhaps as a guide to bettering their own situation. In a sense, it's history being used practically, in a sort of therapeutic fashion."

The majority of courses at Virginia College deal with such areas as surgical technology, massage therapy and medical coding and billing, cosmetology and related subjects.

"But the very idea of education is to broaden you and make you a more well-rounded individual," says Fordham, "so it only makes sense that they get a little bit from those of us who teach general studies. You need it all to get on in this world. The more you know, the better you do. And in a world in which so much information comes from questionable sources, providing people with well-researched, correct information is my goal."

One of the primary lessons Fordham tries to impart to his students is the importance of working toward specific goals, and from the moment they are formulated.

"You see plenty of examples of what happens to people who don't set goals or who don't work toward them. You don't want to fall into that category. At the same time, you have to keep things in perspective. To quote Theodore Roosevelt, you have to keep your eyes on the stars but your feet on the ground."

The quest

Fordham grew up in Mount Pleasant but actually was born in Spartanburg in 1964. He was immediately put up for adoption. From age 10, when Fordham was told he was adopted, he began wondering about his origins. Despite being well-loved by his adoptive parents, Abraham and Pearl Fordham, the need to discover the truth nagged at him.

"Although I was adopted by good parents, and have a great relationship with my sister, Barbara, who lives in North Charleston, I still searched 12 years to find my biological family. I finally found them in 2000. That was one of the major issues of my life. As any adopted person knows, to go through life wondering at night who is your family, where you are from, where are they, is something you don't wish on other people. The secrecy aspect of it is the worst part. It was horribly difficult for me growing up. Although I had a good upbringing by my adoptive parents, it was something that tore at me for many years."

Some tried to persuade him not to pursue it, which Fordham saw as another roadblock he had to overcome. Eventually, he learned that his biological parents had died, but he found aunts, uncles, cousins and a measure of his past.

"Aside from helping a lot of young people and writing books, I would say that this was the No. 2 achievement of my life."

On 'Mr. Potts'

"Mr. Potts and Me," the novel Fordham is working on, centers on a young, confused boy who gets through life thanks to these stories from a wise older gentleman in his community.

"I have taken real people and made composites out of them and taken some events of my life and placed them in a different order to make for a better story," says Fordham.

Its principal theme, not surprisingly, is the vitality of storytelling.

"My father, and my mother to an extent, told me many interesting stories. Some of the stories are from the oral tradition, and some were based on events they witnessed."

The book reflects Fordham's lifelong fascination with history, which he finds as compelling as ever.

"A lot of times, people today think their problems are unique to themselves or unique to the group they happen to be a member of. But one of the things that studying history has helped me to understand is that, like everyone, I have faced adversity, and what matters is how you respond to it. While there are many people out there who are very bitter, I refuse to be one of them. And that is another thing I try to impart."

Reach Bill Thompson at bthompson@postandcourier.com or 937-5707.