2021-22 BTC Calendar: Spencer Law

In his first year at JMU, Spencer Law (’20) had a revelation: “History can be emotional, personal, local, relevant and meaningful.” Thereafter, and through relationships with key professors and local leaders, Law anchored his undergraduate education in a deep exploration of Harrisonburg’s Black community and its past. In addition to taking related courses, he worked with the Shenandoah Valley Black Heritage Project and JMU’s Campus History Committee. His primary interest, he says, is “promoting empathy and justice through stories.” A history/media arts and design double-major with Honors College/African, African American and Diaspora Studies interdisciplinary minors, he completed his degree in 3½ years, graduated magna cum laude and begins his M.Div. program in Fall 2021. Yet he isn’t leaving the past in the past: “I’ve been so involved in community history that I can’t imagine getting out of that. I’m excited to go to grad school because it gives me a new community to be a part of and learn about.”