By Brittney Bruner

Inspired nearly 30 years ago by the TV mini-series “Roots,” the Saturday Academy is a program that has allowed Louisvillian’s the opportunity to learn more about black history through the University of Louisville.
Though the program took a while to win over the public, it eventually took off through the Duvall Education Center nearly 13 years after it was conceived. However, the program was abruptly ended in 2002; recently, Dean of Arts and Sciences, J. Blaine Hudson has helped to “take this old idea and put it back on the table.”
“As soon as we stopped it, everybody wanted to bring it back,” said Hudson. Therefore, the academy re-opened back up to the public in February of 2006 through the College of Arts and Sciences at U of L.
However, with all the different budget cuts taking place on campus and around the state, the college has had a difficult time finding ways to finance the various programs in Arts and Sciences.
So yesterday, in order to raise funds for the Saturday Academy, the College of Arts and Sciences hosted a luncheon celebrating Dean Hudson’s birthday.
“If it helps then I am certainly willing to let my birthday be used for that purpose,” said Hudson.
Just days before the celebration of his 59th birthday, the dean was able to provide some insight into how the Saturday Academy became such a hit with Louisvillian’s and how he manages to juggle the academy along with the other demands of his career.
“We had to have a needs assessment because people talk about wanting things, but whether they’re really going to show up or not is another question,” said Hudson.
According to Hudson, Saturday Academy is still focused on African world history and culture, with the day divided into two sessions, including Hudson teaching an informal class in the early session.
“It’s been fun,” said Hudson. “It’s given me a chance to stay more active in terms of teaching.”
The Saturday Academy has granted Hudson the opportunity to interact more with not only students at U of L but also people throughout the community.
“It has drawn a very faithful audience, a lot of folks from the community,” said Hudson. “Some come all the time; some come every now and then. It’s really attracted much more of an audience than I anticipated, which is a good problem to have.”
With such a diverse group of people, Hudson said he has to keep the program exciting and interesting.
“Information that we deal with can be liberating. We’re not trying to preach or push a particular political position,” said Hudson. “It is more about helping people become acquainted with what actually happened in the past when those resources aren’t available to them.”
Many who have gone through the academy have gone on to make a difference in the city of Louisville because of what they learned. This is most likely due to Dean Hudson’s standpoint on learning, which he passes onto his students: “Beyond just knowing something, what’s the next step? How do you translate your knowledge into expression of your values and your beliefs?”
The next step for several of these participants has been to form separate organizations, including the W. E. B. Du Bois Society, while others have been known to support past political figures of Louisville such as Louis Coleman.
However, aside from his accomplishments with the Saturday Academy and as Dean of Arts and Sciences, Hudson’s career has a side that is often times outside of the job description.
“This job is really a lifestyle choice,” said Hudson. “It’s something that is just going to take up a lot of your time. So, if you enjoy it and things are going pretty well, then that’s not a bad trade-off.”
And doing a variety of different things has granted Hudson that opportunity.
“One of the more unusual aspects of my career has been the breadth and diversity of all interests and one of the reasons I’ve enjoyed being in Pan-African Studies so much is that it is a multi-disciplinary department. I’m basically a historian and combination of social scientist doing cultural stuff as well.”
In addition he enjoys dedicated time to writing poetry, doing research, being outdoors, and spending time with his family. His wife, Boni, helps run the second session program at the Saturday Academy and was one of Hudson’s students during the academy’s earlier years.
“This birthday celebration was really her idea as a way to raise money for the Academy,” said Hudson.
And although juggling between his personal life and work can be difficult, there are other demands of being the Dean that Hudson would consider more conflicting.
“The most difficult part has to do with recognizing the degree to which you are responsible for what happens to an awful lot of people,” said Hudson. “Some of the decisions you make, even if they’re clearly the right decisions and you know you’d make them the same way if you had the same situation 100 times, those decisions can impact people in ways that can be negative and that I think is something that sort of stays with you.”
“I learned a long time ago that putting off hard choices doesn’t make them easier it just makes them worse so I do what I have to do when I have to do it.”