Pandemic Sparks Autobiography for Delaware State Professor | Delaware News
By MIKE FINNEY, Delaware State News
DOVER, Del. (AP) — Like many people, Dr. Charlie Wilson was scared at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. He had a vast collection of memories and anecdotes that he wanted to leave to his four sons.
However, it turned out he managed to avoid an unwanted encounter with COVID-19, which he called “the virus bug.” But it provided the impetus for what turned into “the writing bug.”
Dr. Wilson, associate dean of the College of Agriculture, Science and Technology at Delaware State University, published his first book “During Racism’s Remission: From Colored Fieldworker to Black Professor” on April 11.
The desire to write his autobiography came because of the pandemic.
political cartoons
“In the fall of 2020, I started writing part of my life story for my sons, just in case something happened to me with the virus,” Dr. Wilson said. “I didn’t want my personal history to be lost with me. The list of events, situations, and memories began to grow, and as I began to flesh out the narrative, it was clear to see that an autobiography was developing.
“At the start of 2021, I abandoned the project as things were starting to look more optimistic with the expected availability of a vaccine, and it lay dormant for the vast majority of the year. In December 2021, I decided to complete the manuscript and have it published.
In his autobiography, Dr. Wilson shares stories of his journey from rural poverty while growing up on Minner Street in Houston, Delaware, with 11 siblings, to undergraduate years at Delaware State College, life in the Corps of Marines, completion of graduate school at the University of Delaware, and nearly 25 years of teaching and working at DSU.
Dr. Wilson received a bachelor’s degree in biology from Delaware State in 1984 and a doctorate in molecular biology from the University of Delaware in 1994. He has been a faculty member at DSU since 1997, when he arrived in as assistant professor of biological sciences.
The 60-year-old professor said: ‘Events in my life are examined through the prism of race relations – and at times race tensions – of a 50-year period that I describe as America’s cancer remission, racism.
“Years of optimism in the search for an ultimate cure with justice, equality and harmony as the results now seem threatened by signs of relapse in the cultural health of the nation. The questions surrounding the race in the years leading up to 2020 are also discussed.
It also tells stories of working in the hot mid-Atlantic fields, talking with mountaintop monks in China, guarding the gates of Pearl Harbor, and walking the streets of Hiroshima, in Japan, as well as the trials and tribulations he faced in overcoming obstacles. find personal and professional fulfillment.
Dr. Wilson’s nearly 300-page (80,000-word) work is now available on Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, and several other retailers in e-book form. Hardcover and softcover versions are also available.
Writing a book wasn’t something that was on his radar until he joined others in being locked inside his house due to the pandemic.
Suddenly, Dr. Wilson discovered a new passion.
“It was my first literary endeavor and I really enjoyed the process,” he said. “The ancillary activities of author-specific editing, formatting, cover design, submission for publication, advertising, website development and social media extended my rather steep learning curve into the world of book production,” he said.
“Although I’ve managed to avoid the viral bug so far, I have to admit that the writing bug has caught me, and I look forward to two or three more books in the future.”
Dr. Wilson is already working on his second book, which he says is about being more and not being limited to just one thing in life.
“I’ve done a lot of things over the years – like I was an undergrad and quit when I joined the Marine Corps, I went to graduate school to work as a teacher now” , did he declare.
“And when I leave the state of Delaware, I plan to continue writing and doing theater and stuff. There’s always another challenge just around the corner.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.