Galloway, N.J.- Three Stockton University students presented their research in a student panel during the New Jersey Women and Gender Studies Consortium 18^th Annual Undergraduate Colloquium.

Students Jennah Figueroa, Cassius Navarro and Mary Reitmeyer were a part of the “Intersectional Literary Analysis” panel discussion at the colloquium, which was held at The College of New Jersey in March. Reitmeyer was also awarded an Emerging Scholar Prize.

Figueroa, Navarro and Reitmeyer were nominated by Deborah Gussman, professor of American Literature, on behalf of the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies faculty.

The student papers included:

• Jennah Figueroa: Iola Leroy: A Nineteenth-Century Feminist Icon
• Cassius Navarro: The Strategic Depiction of Womanhood in Iola Leroy
• Mary Reitmeyer: The Deconstruction of Stereotypes in Iola Leroy; Or, Shadows Uplifted

“My paper discussed the ways that Iola Leroy (1892), by Frances E.W. Harper, deconstructed three stereotypes about Black women that would have been prominent during the time (these being the Jezebel, the Strong Black Woman and the Mammy),” Reitmeyer said. “I chose this topic because the novel features many different Black women who don't fit the molds that female Black characters of the time traditionally fit into.”

“The most memorable part of the event was hearing my fellow presenters’ perspectives; we all wrote about the same novel but discussed vastly different things, which I thought was very cool,” she said.