Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 14, 1990 TAG: 9004140129
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TRACY VAN MOORLEHEM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But then she begins to speak, and her thick Russian accent becomes cause for surprise.
Mensah, 22, is the first black Russian to attend college in the United States, studying English at the University of the District of Columbia. She was in Roanoke to speak at the Harrison Museum of African American Culture at an educational forum Friday night titled, "The African Diaspora: A Russian Relation," sponsored by the Lucy Addison Heritage Association.
Mensah's grandfather, George W. Tynes - son of a Roanoke preacher - went to the Soviet Union from Norfolk in 1933 under a contract to teach Soviet agricultural workers.
A combination of the Depression and American bigotry influenced Tynes' decision to go to the Soviet Union, where he built farm machinery and became an expert in raising poultry. He eventually married and became a citizen of the Soviet Union.
Tynes spent the rest of his life in the Soviet Union, never regretting his decision to stay. His three children were reared there, but he dreamed until his death that one of his grandchildren would be educated in the United States.
Two years ago, while visiting family in the United States, Mensah and her mother, Emilia - a teacher of chemistry and biology in Moscow - called an old family friend in Washington, D.C., for help.
Anastasia wanted to study in America, but like many Americans, she could not afford the tuition without a scholarship.
Within 24 hours the friend, Roanoke native William B. Davis, took Anastasia and her mother to see the president of the University of the District of Columbia. The school president said that somehow, somewhere, a scholarship would be found.
The matter was turned over to Barbara C. Patterson, another Roanoke native, who serves as the director of international and multicultural programs for the university. She arranged for a scholarship from the alumni association, and Anastasia started packing.
She is almost finished with her first year at the university, where she has achieved a 3.4 grade point average.
Anastasia wants to study in the United States to strengthen ties with American relatives and to study the language. She plans to be an English teacher in the Soviet Union when she finishes, and has already trained at a teaching institute there.
Black citizens in the Soviet Union are rare, Anastasia said, but being an oddity has not been a bad experience for her. In fact, Soviets are much less color-conscious than Americans, she said.
"Here, I notice that blacks socialize with blacks and whites socialize with whites. In the Soviet Union, there are some people who are prejudiced, but not over race."
At home, she has friends of many different ethnic backgrounds, she said.
Davis tells the story of the time he took her to a luncheon of the U.S. Committee on U.S.-Soviet Relations. When introduced to her, a Soviet delegate didn't believe she was Russian until he heard her speak. Anastasia said Russian-Americans are often surprised that she is Russian because she is black.
She credits Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev with opening doors that made her education here possible. "He does his best," she said, "I think he'll make it. He tells people to be patient."
College students in the Soviet Union take their education more seriously than Americans, she said, but both seem to be attracted to the same types of fun activities. In Moscow, she said, students go to movies, museums and discos for entertainment.
"I came first to study here so I take it very seriously," she said. "But I do like to have fun, too."
She loves Washington, preferring it to the other U.S. city she has visited: New York.
by CNB