In conjunction with the Springfield College Legacy Alumni of Color, the Springfield College community has set aside Thursday, March 25 for A Day to Confront Racism, featuring workshops and conversations to confront racism, power, privilege, and prejudice. This date also is the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and Transatlantic Slave Trade, the impetus for this daylong event.
At the conclusion of the four webinars, we will transition from A Day to Confront Racism to welcoming noted antiracist scholar and bestselling author Ibram X. Kendi, and hearing about his antiracism work as the featured speaker at the Springfield College Arts & Humanities Speaker Series lecture at 7 p.m.
The Past is Present: How the historical legacies revealed by the 1619 Project impact our professions and communities, 9:25-10:40 am
Panelists: Keisha Green, PhD, Samantha Hamilton, and Kareem White
Springfield College Moderator: Rebecca Lartigue, PhD, Professor of English, Director of the Honors Program
The 1619 Project (texts and a podcast series published at the end of 2019), powerfully demonstrated the painful legacies of our country's “defining contradiction” that the freedom of some was built upon the enslavement of others. In this panel discussion, professionals in the fields of education, journalism, and the environment and healthcare will speak about the long-lasting legacies of white supremacy and racial disparities uncovered in the 1619 Project in their disciplines and in our communities, and how we can work to overthrow those legacies. The presentation will include time for a moderated question-and-answer session.
About the Panelists
- Green is a community-engaged scholar and critical teacher educator with research interests in English education, youth literacy practices, critical literacy, and critical pedagogy. She currently serves as an assistant professor of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies at the UMass Amherst College of Education, where she is the co-founder and co-director of the Center of Racial Justice and Youth Engaged Research and co-editor of the highly acclaimed journal of Equity & Excellence in Education.
- Hamilton manages the Public Health Institute of the Western Massachusetts Live Well Springfield Coalition. Through this initiative, she leads the Climate Change and Health Equity Initiative, which engages policy and advocacy to create strategies that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve health outcomes for those of marginalized communities based in cities and towns directly impacted by climate change, and to dismantle systemic racism.
- White has worked as talent producer at ESPN for eight years specializing in the NBA, music, and entertainment. His responsibilities include booking the guests for all 27 studio shows. Previously, he worked as part of the ESPN production research staff, and in media relations/community relations for the Denver Broncos and Jacksonville Jaguars.
Join the Webinar
To learn more about the other webinars that are apart of this event, click here.
