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Monday, March 21, 1988 / University Daily Kansan
Freeman
Continued from p.1
Reflecting on his work on the book, Freeman smiled and said, "It was one of the greatest experiences of my life, working with these people — not just the Haitians, but with the Americans who were doing this."
Cathy McGowan, a 1982 KU graduate, worked in Haiti with Freeman on the medical manual and saw clinic patients in primary care.
McGowan, a resident in internal medicine at the University of Arizona, studied with Freeman for two semesters and taught English in Haiti in 1983. She said her experiences in Haiti made her want to return and to visit other third-world countries.
In addition to the medical manual, Freeman has written a Haitian conversation manual, an elementary reader, critical editions of two works of literature in Haitian Creole and editions of two Haitian-Creole to Dutch dictionaries.
He is also working in collaboration with a University of Haiti professor on an U.S. Agency for International Development project to create a spelling dictionary to be used in Haitian schools.
Although Freeman has focused his attention on Haitian medicine recently, his interest in the tiny country's climate made him an area expert on yvonne.
Freeman has been allowed to attended about 40 voodoo services, which are by invitation only.
Because of his understanding of voodoo, Freeman was asked several years ago to testify in an El Dorado trial for a man who killed a state trooper. The man claimed he was in a
voodoo trance when he sped through Kansas at 90 miles per hour. He shot the trooper who stopped him.
"I was called as an expert witness to testify, to try to explain to the jury of 12 good Kansas farmers, what Haitian voodoo was all about and what was perhaps going through the mind of a man who killed a state trooper." he said.
He said the key question he was asked was whether the defendant's actions would have been permitted in Haiti. His answer was no.
The man was sentenced to life
More than a language
Combining language instruction with personal experiences, Freeman passes on his knowledge of the Haitian culture to KU students.
Freeman came to the University in 1971 as a full professor. He became chairman of the French and Italian department from 1971 to 1976.
In 1978, he created and become the sole instructor of KU's Haitian-Creole program. The University of Indiana is the only other university with a similar program.
He said he usually had about 12 students in beginning Haitian Creole and six in the courses after that.
Freeman is teaching six students in intermediate Haitian Creole. He teaches a beginning Haitian-Creole course, giving him semester and year-end courses French.
Freeman teaches in small room which creates a personal atmosphere that matches his teaching style. He and his students sit around a table on the second floor of Wescoe Hall — maps of Hati and posters of France and Italy decorate the walls.
Freeman comments about Haitian history and Haitian current events as his students read Haitian dialogues.
Bryant Freeman
Margarete Dorsch, a graduate student in Freeman's class this semester, said that the class had been an eye-opener for her, and that she had been inspired by Freeman to visit
"He teaches the people that stand behind the language," she said.
Haiti someday.
That teaching technique has inspired several of Freeman's students to pursue careers where they can use Haitian Creole.
Eight to 10 of his students have went to Haiti after taking classes from him.
Since his graduation in 1983, Eric Hausler has worked in Florida as a Haitian interpreter both in a Haitian refugee detention center and also in a hospital emergency room.
Freeman challenged his students, Hausler said.
"He was very interested in giving students something they would be able to use, if not as a professional, something that would set them apart from the rest of the graduates," he said.
Hausler said he wanted to be an ordained minister and help train pastors in Haiti. He also said he might like to teach school in Haiti or work with Haitians in southern Florida again.
Freeman did his own undergraduate work at the University of Virginia at Richmond and then got his master's and doctor's degrees at Yale University where he taught for four years after graduation.
Freeman then spent 10 years teaching at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville.
A love for music
Although traveling and teaching take a lot of his time, Freeman does find time for other things.
The word "CLUMBER" on his license plate indicates one important part of his life: his dogs.
Freeman has been raising Clumber Spaniels for 20 years. He has three of the dogs, which he described as all-white, all-wild version of a St. Bernard.
Music is another of Freeman's hobbies; one that he shares with his
wife, Stephanie, and their 17-year-old son, Timothy.
Throughout high school, college and graduate school, Freeman played the oboe semi-professionally. He plays the contrabassoon for the Lawrence symphony orchestra.
His wife is a violinist and his son plays the bassoon.
Freeman also likes to swim and bicycle. In addition, he enjoys reading history, especially Haitian history.
Freeman plans to continue his Haitian studies. He would like to write a series of literary studies on major Haitian Creole authors. Few copies of Haitian literature are available in Haiti, forcing Haitians to read primarily foreign authors.
"They need to have a sense of their own culture," he said.
Freeman said his own sense of culture had been enhanced by travel and learning foreign languages.
"It's enriched our way of looking at our culture and our life when you have something you can compare it with." he said. "The more cultures that you've studied, and the more you can compare it with, the richer you can become."
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