Thomas Acampora is leading the way. As a senior fellow, he is pursuing a unique and largely unexplored line of research that fits with his majors in history and English. He said his topic, "Homosexuality and Colonialism in the British Empire: 1850-1950," explores "an emerging field with few primary sources and without much secondary literature."
Faced with the challenge of finding original data, Thomas decided to go right to the source: London. For three weeks, Thomas scrutinized personal diaries, letters and official documents archived at the British Library and Public Record Office. By combining an investigation into the lives and actions of ordinary people with literary and historical analysis of famous personalities, Thomas hopes to use the context of colonialism to define past public and private attitudes toward homosexuality.
That examination of attitudes also has a place in Thomas's current life. His senior fellowship project relates strongly to his own activism on campus as a leader with the Coalition for Social Justice, Rainbow Alliance and Amnesty International.
"While on campus, I've become more politically active, and I've become a more political person," Thomas said. "Finding the most meaningful ways to help future generations means changing the structure of laws and funding and helping people. That's how I plan to live my life."
Part of that plan may include joining Teach for America, where he can combine political action with work as an educator in an urban community. Thomas explained, "In high school, I taught writing to seventh- and eighth-graders, bringing in Shakespearean literature, and reading through about 80 papers each night! I also worked at a summer youth enrichment program in New York City, and with a research center for children at Yale. When you set high standards for kids, you would be surprised at how far they can go." The same can be said of Thomas.
