Donald “Field” Kizza-Brown, born and raised in Mississippi, vividly recalls the moment literature’s power first struck him. As he prepared to enter high school, he was assigned summer reading: Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. There was an enticing offer of extra credit if his parents read it too, and they eagerly joined in. The assignment required him to interview them about their reading experience, sparking some of the deepest conversations he had ever shared with them. They opened up about their own upbringing in the Jim Crow South, revealing layers of their lives he had never fully appreciated before. This eye-opening experience ignited a passion within Field—a desire to teach literature and create environments where others could embark on similar journeys of self-discovery and understanding through meaningful dialogue. His academic journey took him from earning a Bachelor’s degree at Mississippi State University to achieving a Master’s at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, and finally a PhD in English at Harvard. His dedication to teaching was recognized by the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning due to his outstanding student evaluations.
