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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220424T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220424T163000
DTSTAMP:20260501T001050
CREATED:20220119T235339Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220120T000632Z
UID:32431-1650812400-1650817800@thebatonfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Fear of Black Consciousness
DESCRIPTION:The Baton Foundation\, in partnership with the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History\, will host a virtual lecture about Black consciousness from a leading philosopher. This program is free to the public\, but registration is required. \nAbout the Book\nIn this original and penetrating work\, Lewis R. Gordon\, one of the leading scholars of Black existentialism and anti-Blackness\, takes the reader on a journey through the historical development of racialized Blackness\, the problems this kind of consciousness produces\, and the many creative responses from Black and non-Black communities in contemporary struggles for dignity and freedom. Skillfully navigating a difficult and traumatic terrain\, Gordon cuts through the mist of white narcissism and the versions of consciousness it perpetuates. He exposes the bad faith at the heart of many discussions about race and racism not only in America but across the globe\, including those who think of themselves as “color blind.” As Gordon reveals\, these lies offer many white people an inherited sense of being extraordinary\, a license to do as they please. But for many\, if not for most Blacks\, to live an ordinary life in a white-dominated society is an extraordinary achievement. \nInformed by Gordon’s life growing up in Jamaica and the Bronx and taking as a touchstone the pandemic and the uprisings against police violence\, Fear of Black Consciousness (Farrar\, Straus and Giroux\, 2022)\, is a groundbreaking work that positions Black consciousness as a political commitment and creative practice\, richly layered through art\, love\, and revolutionary action. PURCHASE BOOK HERE. \nAbout the Author\nLewis R. Gordon is an Afro-Jewish public intellectual\, academic\, and musician (jazz\, blues\, rock\, reggae\, hip hop\, etc.). He teaches at UCONN\, where he is Professor and Head of the Philosophy Department\, with affiliations in many academic units\, including Caribbean Studies and Jewish Studies. He lectures and is involved in political and artistic projects across the globe and holds appointments in South Africa\, Jamaica\, India\, and France. He is the author of many books for which he has received accolades\, which include the Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award for Outstanding Work on Human Rights in North America. His most recent book is Fear of Black Consciousness\, which was listed on Literary Hub’s Most Anticipated Books of 2022. He is this year’s recipient of the Eminent Scholar Award from the Global Development Studies division of the International Studies Association. \nRegister Here for Zoom Lecture
URL:https://thebatonfoundation.org/event/fear-of-black-consciousness/
CATEGORIES:Virtual Lecture
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://thebatonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2022/01/FOC-Program.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220403T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220403T163000
DTSTAMP:20260501T001050
CREATED:20211207T011610Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220401T003116Z
UID:32338-1648998000-1649003400@thebatonfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Reimagining Liberation: Black Women\, Citizenship & the French Empire
DESCRIPTION:The Baton Foundation\, in partnership with the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History\, will host a virtual lecture about the decisive role Black women played in the decolonial movements of the mid-twentieth century. This program is free to the public\, but registration is required. \nAbout the Book\nBlack women living in the French empire played a key role in the decolonial movements of the mid-twentieth century. As thinkers and activists\, these women lived lives of commitment and risk that landed them in war zones and concentration camps and saw them declared enemies of the state. \nIn Reimagining Liberation: How Black Women Transformed Citizenship in the French Empire (University of Illinois Press\, 2020)\, Annette K. Joseph-Gabriel mines published writings and untapped archives to reveal the anticolonialist endeavors of seven women. Though often overlooked today\, Suzanne Césaire\, Paulette Nardal\, Eugénie Éboué-Tell\, Jane Vialle\, Andrée Blouin\, Aoua Kéita\, and Eslanda Robeson took part in a forceful transnational movement. Their activism and thought challenged France’s imperial system by shaping forms of citizenship that encouraged multiple cultural and racial identities. Expanding the possibilities of belonging beyond national and even Francophone borders\, these women imagined new pan-African and pan-Caribbean identities informed by Black feminist intellectual frameworks and practices. The visions they articulated also shifted the idea of citizenship itself\, replacing a single form of collective identity and political participation with an expansive plurality of forms of belonging. PURCHASE BOOK HERE. \nAbout the Author\nAnnette Joseph-Gabriel is an Associate Professor of Romance Studies at Duke University. Her research focuses on race\, gender\, and citizenship in the French-speaking Caribbean\, Africa\, and France. Her book\, Reimagining Liberation: How Black Women Transformed Citizenship in the French Empire\, was awarded the MLA Prize for a First Book. She has published articles in peer-reviewed journals including Small Axe\, Slavery & Abolition\, Eighteenth-Century Studies and The French Review\, and her public writings have been featured in Al Jazeera and HuffPost. She is a recipient of the Carrie Chapman Catt Prize for Research on Women and Politics. She is also the managing editor of Palimpsest: A Journal on Women\, Gender\, and the Black International and production editor of Women in French Studies. \nRegister Here for Zoom Lecture
URL:https://thebatonfoundation.org/event/reimagining-liberation-black-women-citizenship-the-french-empire/
CATEGORIES:Virtual Lecture
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://thebatonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2021/12/Reimagining-Liberation.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220320T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220320T163000
DTSTAMP:20260501T001050
CREATED:20211215T234302Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220109T205822Z
UID:32389-1647788400-1647793800@thebatonfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Being La Dominicana: Race and Identity in the Visual Culture of Santo Domingo
DESCRIPTION:The Baton Foundation\, in partnership with the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History\, will host a virtual lecture about the representation of Dominican women. This program is free to the public\, but registration is required. \nAbout the Book\nIn her book\, Being La Dominicana: Race and Identity in the Visual Culture of Santo Domingo (University of Illinois Press\, 2021)\, Rachel Afi Quinn investigates how visual media portray Dominican women and how women represent themselves in their own creative endeavors in response to existing stereotypes. Delving into the dynamic realities and uniquely racialized gendered experiences of women in Santo Domingo\, Quinn reveals the way racial ambiguity and color hierarchy work to shape experiences of identity and subjectivity in the Dominican Republic. She merges analyses of context and interviews with young Dominican women to offer rare insights into a Caribbean society in which the tourist industry and popular media reward\, and rely upon\, the ability of Dominican women to transform themselves to perform gender\, race\, and class. \nEngaging and astute\, Being La Dominicana reveals the little-studied world of today’s young Dominican women and what their personal stories and transnational experiences can tell us about the larger neoliberal world. PURCHASE BOOK HERE \nAbout the Author\nRachel Afi Quinn is an associate professor in Women’s\, Gender & Sexuality Studies and Department of Comparative Cultural Studies at the University of Houston\, where she is the Director of the Graduate Program in Anthropology. She earned her Ph.D. in American Culture from the University of Michigan. Professor Quinn’s transnational feminist cultural studies scholarship focuses on mixed race\, gender\, and sexuality in the African Diaspora. In 2015 she was part of the filmmaking team that produced the documentary film\, Cimarrón Spirit\, about contemporary Afro-Dominican identities. She is committed to feminist collaboration\, and she is a co-founder of the social justice feminist collective South Asian Youth in Houston Unite (SAYHU). She is passionate about Black art and visual culture. Her work has been published in The Black Scholar\, Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture\, and Burlington Contemporary. Being La Dominicana: Race and Identity in the Visual Culture of Santo Domingo\, is her first book. \nRegister Here for Zoom Lecture
URL:https://thebatonfoundation.org/event/being-la-dominicana-race-and-identity-in-the-visual-culture-of-santo-domingo/
CATEGORIES:Virtual Lecture
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://thebatonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2021/12/Being-La-Dominicana.event_.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220220T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220220T163000
DTSTAMP:20260501T001050
CREATED:20220104T170523Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220109T210116Z
UID:32421-1645369200-1645374600@thebatonfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Frederick Douglass and the Emancipatory Power of Science
DESCRIPTION:The Baton Foundation\, in partnership with the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History\, will host a lecture about the emancipatory power of science. This program is free to the public\, but registration is required. \nAbout the Program\nFrederick Douglass is remembered as one of the greatest abolitionists and orators in American history. But his immense intellect—especially his deep engagement with science—is far less appreciated. In this lecture\, Professor Eric Herschthal discusses the subtle and profound ways Frederick Douglass engaged with scientific knowledge\, both critiquing the ways scientists used scientific ideas to oppress racial minorities\, while also arguing for science’s radical potential to liberate Black people and create a more just world. PURCHASE BOOK HERE. \nAbout the Speaker\nEric Herschthal is a professor of history at the University of Utah\, and the author of The Science of Abolition: How Slaveholders Became the Enemies of Progress (Yale University Press\, 2021). His writing has appeared in leading historical journals and his mainstream outlets such as The New York Times\, The Washington Post\, and The New Republic. He received his Ph.D. in history from Columbia University and his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University. \nRegister Here for Zoom Lecture
URL:https://thebatonfoundation.org/event/frederick-douglass-and-the-emancipatory-power-of-science/
CATEGORIES:Virtual Lecture
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://thebatonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2022/01/Science-of-abolition.png
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220206T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220206T163000
DTSTAMP:20260501T001050
CREATED:20211205T153731Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220109T204907Z
UID:32333-1644159600-1644165000@thebatonfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Welcome to the Terror Ship: Slavery and Resistance at Sea
DESCRIPTION:The Baton Foundation\, in partnership with the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History\, will host a lecture about the realities of the slave ship — its role in supporting the Transatlantic Slave Trade\, and as the incubator of Black resistance and culture. This program is free to the public\, but registration is required. \nAbout the Program\nDrawing on his book\, The Slave Ship: A Human History (Penguin Random House\, 2007)\, Professor Marcus Rediker will give a lecture that explores the Middle Passage as an engine of history — in forming the Atlantic plantation system\, the world market\, global capitalism\, and in creating traditions of resistance that would prove crucial to African American culture and politics. The slave ship was a site of violence and horror\, but no less a place of astonishing cultural creativity. PURCHASE BOOK HERE. \nAbout the Speaker\nMarcus Rediker is Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburgh. His “histories from below” have won numerous awards\, including the George Washington Book Prize\, and have been translated into seventeen languages worldwide.  He is the author of The Slave Ship: A Human History (2007) and The Amistad Rebellion: An Atlantic Odyssey of Slavery and Freedom (2012)\, which was the basis for his prize-winning documentary film\, Ghosts of Amistad\, directed by Tony Buba.  He is currently working as guest curator in the JMW Turner Gallery at Tate Britain and writing a book about escaping slavery by sea in antebellum America. \nRegister Here for Zoom Lecture
URL:https://thebatonfoundation.org/event/welcome-to-the-terror-ship-slavery-and-resistance-at-sea/
CATEGORIES:Virtual Lecture
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://thebatonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2021/12/Terror-Ship.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220105T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220105T200000
DTSTAMP:20260501T001050
CREATED:20211216T222320Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220104T163947Z
UID:32398-1641405600-1641412800@thebatonfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Hosea Williams: A Lifetime of Defiance and Protest
DESCRIPTION:The Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History\, in collaboration with Hosea Helps\, A Cappella Books and The Baton Foundation\, is honored to host a virtual lecture and on-site lecture and book signing to recognize Hosea L. Williams’ 96th birthday (January 5\, 1926). Dr. Rolundus R. Rice will discuss his latest publication\, Hosea Williams: A Lifetime of Defiance and Protest (University of South Carolina Press\, 2022). This event is free to the public\, but registration is suggested. Masks are required. You may register here. \nAbout the Book\nWhen civil rights leader Hosea Lorenzo Williams died in 2000\, U.S. Congressman John Lewis said of him\, “Hosea Williams must be looked upon as one of the founding fathers of the new America. Through his actions\, he helped liberate all of us.” \nIn this first comprehensive biography of Williams\, Dr. Rice demonstrates the truth in Lewis’ words and argues that Williams’ activism in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was of central importance to the success of the larger Civil Rights Movement. Rice traces Williams’ journey as a local activist in Georgia to becoming a national leader and one of Martin Luther King\, Jr.’s chief lieutenants. He helped plan the Selma-to-Montgomery March and walked shoulder-to-shoulder with Lewis across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on “Bloody Sunday.” \nHosea Williams played the role of enforcer in SCLC\, always ready to deploy what he called his “arsenal of agitation.” While his hard-charging tactics may have seemed out of step with the more diplomatic approach of other SCLC leaders\, Rice suggests that it was precisely this contrast in styles that made the organization so successful. Rice also follows Williams’ career after King’s assassination\, as he moved into local Atlanta politics. While his style made him loved by some and hated by others\, readers will come to appreciate the central role Williams played in the most successful nonviolent revolution in American history. \nAndrew Young Jr.\, former SCLC executive director\, U.S. Congressman\, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations\, and mayor of Atlanta\, provides a foreword. \n“Hosea Williams is the definitive study of one of America’s most gifted civil rights activists and political mavericks. Rice brilliantly traces the pioneering path of the talented movement strategist and protest provocateur—from his legendary association with Martin Luther King\, Jr. and Jesse Jackson\, to his transformative work for the poor\, and his sublime agitation as a uniquely styled politician.” — Michael Eric Dyson\, author of Entertaining Race: Performing Blackness in America. \nAbout the Author\nRolundus Rice holds a Ph.D. in history from Auburn University. He currently serves as vice president of academic affairs at Rust College in Holly Springs\, Mississippi. \nNOTE: Limited free parking is available in the parking lot directly behind the library. All other parking is paid. \nVirtual Options\nClick Here for Zoom \nClick Here for Facebook
URL:https://thebatonfoundation.org/event/hosea-williams-a-lifetime-of-defiance-and-protest/
LOCATION:Auburn Avenue Research Library\, 101 Auburn Avenue NE\, Atlanta\, GA\, 30303\, United States
CATEGORIES:Lecture & Book Signing
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://thebatonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2021/12/010522-Hosea-Williams-A-Lifetime-of-Defiance-and-Protest-.png
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211205T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211205T163000
DTSTAMP:20260501T001050
CREATED:20210926T202946Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20211127T144849Z
UID:32288-1638716400-1638721800@thebatonfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Ground Crew: Honoring Unknown Civil Rights Activists
DESCRIPTION:The Baton Foundation\, in partnership with the Atlanta Preservation Center and the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History\, will host a virtual event to celebrate the winners of the Ground Crew student essay contest. Author Kate Clifford Larson (above right)\, and Baton Foundation founder and president Anthony Knight will engage the contest winners in conversation. This program is free to the public\, but registration is required. \nProgram Narrative\nLike Annell Ponder (above left)\, thousands of Black women\, men and children engaged in activities to help secure civil and human rights for Black people in the United States during the Civil Rights Movement (1954-1968). In ways both small and grand\, they fought\, persevered\, and endured indignities and physical violence few of us alive today could possibly imagine. And while so-called leaders emerged\, those elevated to positions of prominence would not have been able to carry out their work\, much less sustain themselves\, were it not for the determination\, support\, and guidance from those in their communities and across the nation. In the years since the Civil Rights Movement\, schools\, media\, and cultural organizations have lionized the names and works of Dr. Martin Luther King\, Jr.\, Rosa Parks\, Congressman John Lewis\, and a select few\, and rightly so. However\, there were multitudes of others. \nThe Baton Foundation’s newly created essay contest\, Ground Crew: Honoring Unknown Civil Rights Activists\, challenges Atlanta youth in grade 8-12 to research and write about those unknown or lesser-known Black Americans. Now\, and in the years to come\, the students’ essays will help us bring to the fore the names and stories of those whose lives were relegated to the blank pages of history. This program celebrates contest winners. \nAbout Kate Clifford Larson\nDr. Kate Clifford Larson (above right) is a bestselling author of critically acclaimed biographies including Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman\, Portrait of an American Hero and Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter. Her latest work\, Walk with Me: A Biography of Fannie Lou Hamer\, tells the remarkable story of one of America’s most important civil rights leaders of the 20th century. Praised for her research and insights as a biographer\, Larson digs deep into Hamer’s history\, uncovering her family roots\, personal life\, and reclaims Hamer’s faith as a centerpiece of her survival and appeal. Larson accessed recently opened FBI records\, secret Oval Office tapes\, new interviews\, and more\, to reveal never-before seen details about Hamer’s life. An award-winning consultant for feature film scripts\, documentaries\, museum exhibits\, and public history initiatives\, Larson is frequently interviewed by national and international media outlets. Dr. Larson is a Brandeis University Women’s Studies Research Center Visiting Scholar. \nAbout Anthony Knight\nAnthony Knight is the Founder\, President & CEO of The Baton Foundation—a Georgia nonprofit organization that serves the emotional\, intellectual\, and cultural needs of Black boys ages 10-17. Before founding the Foundation\, Mr. Knight worked as a museum educator and consultant. Mr. Knight has extensive experience with and interest in Black history and culture\, public and living history\, informal education\, and Black youth. Mr. Knight’s work with The Baton Foundation reflects his ongoing interest in the issues and practices related to the collecting\, preservation\, and interpretation of information about and material culture from the African Diaspora. Mr. Knight’s undergraduate work was in Spanish and English (Ohio Wesleyan University)\, and his graduate work was in museum education (The George Washington University). Mr. Knight also holds a degree in Spanish-to-English translation from the Núcleo de Estudios Lingüísticos y Sociales\, Caracas\, Venezuela. \nPhoto Credit: Builder Levy\, Chrysler Museum of Art \nRegister for Zoom Lecture Here
URL:https://thebatonfoundation.org/event/ground-crew-honoring-unknown-civil-rights-activists/
CATEGORIES:Virtual Lecture
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://thebatonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2021/09/Annell-and-Kate.png
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211121T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211121T163000
DTSTAMP:20260501T001050
CREATED:20210810T134141Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210810T134141Z
UID:32264-1637506800-1637512200@thebatonfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Satirical Racism: Afro-Brazilian Activism
DESCRIPTION:The Baton Foundation\, in partnership with the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History\, will host a lecture about Afro-Brazilian satirical racism. This program is free to the public\, but registration is required. \nAbout the Program\nThis lecture presents satire\, irony\, and parody as a means to contest racist structures through media production. Specifically\, the lecture will examine the Is That OK With You? YouTube Series\, as it presents a break from traditional relationships between humor and race in Brazil by turning attention toward systemic racism. Professor Gillam theorizes “satirical antiracism” as a way to understand how Afro-Brazilians deploy satire to make visible the contradictions and inconsistencies of the racial order. Satirical antiracism is a form of activism that invokes the tension of contradictory subjects\, such as humor and racism in communicating its message. \nAbout the Speaker\nReighan Gillam is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Southern California. Her research examines the ways in which Afro-Brazilian media producers foment anti-racist visual politics through their image creations. \nRegister for Zoom Lecture Here
URL:https://thebatonfoundation.org/event/satirical-racism-afro-brazilian-activism/
CATEGORIES:Virtual Lecture
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thebatonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2021/08/Reighan-Gillam-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211107T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211107T163000
DTSTAMP:20260501T001050
CREATED:20210901T233023Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20211008T205817Z
UID:32281-1636297200-1636302600@thebatonfoundation.org
SUMMARY:In Pursuit of Knowledge: Black Women and Educational Activism in Antebellum America
DESCRIPTION:The Baton Foundation\, in partnership with the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History\, will host a lecture about the struggle Black women and girls faced in Antebellum America to secure their educational rights. This program is free to the public\, but registration is required. \nAbout the Book\nIn In Pursuit of Knowledge: Black Women and Educational Activism in Antebellum America (New York University Press\, 2019)\, Dr. Kabria Baumgartner explores the lives of Black girls and women who campaigned for their educational rights at a time when Black education was under siege in the nineteenth-century North. \nThese ambitious\, purposeful\, and thoughtful Black girls and women not only fought to democratize education by reversing policies of racial exclusion at schools and in the teaching profession\, but also they sought to open up educational pathways for themselves and others. In doing so\, they transformed public education in the North. PURCHASE BOOK HERE. \nAbout the Author\nKabria Baumgartner is the Dean’s Associate Professor of History and Africana Studies at Northeastern University. She is a scholar of nineteenth-century African American history with a particular focus on women and education. Baumgartner’s first book\, In Pursuit of Knowledge: Black Women and Educational Activism in Antebellum America has won four book prizes\, including the 2020 Outstanding Book Award from the American Educational Research Association. \nProfessor Baumgartner has also published numerous scholarly articles and book chapters\, and her op-ed pieces and other popular writing have been featured in The Washington Post and Historic New England Magazine. Dr. Baumgartner is writing her second book on the Black struggle for civil rights in nineteenth-century Boston. \nRegister for Zoom Lecture Here
URL:https://thebatonfoundation.org/event/in-pursuit-of-knowledge-black-women-and-educational-activism-in-antebellum-america/
CATEGORIES:Virtual Lecture
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211029T233000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211030T000000
DTSTAMP:20260501T001050
CREATED:20210924T190516Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210926T203054Z
UID:32293-1635550200-1635552000@thebatonfoundation.org
SUMMARY:"Ground Crew" Essay Contest
DESCRIPTION:CONTEST NARRATIVE \nFor more than half a century\, the Civil Rights Movement has been remembered\, in large part\, by the narratives schools\, media\, and cultural institutions have promulgated with regards to the Movement’s icons. Dr. King and Rosa Parks often are at the center of those narratives\, and for good reason. The struggle to secure the benefits of full citizenship for Black people in the United States\, however\, covers many more than just a paltry 14 years (1954-1968)\, and its foot soldiers number in the hundreds of thousands. \nIn ways both small and grand\, everyday men\, women and children began fighting for Black civil and human rights on the shores of Africa. They continued the fight on the ships that carried them to this country and\, once here (during and after enslavement)\, they fought under circumstances few of us alive today could possibly imagine. And while so-called leaders always emerged\, those elevated to positions of prominence would not have been able to carry out their work\, much less sustain themselves\, were it not for the determination\, support\, and guidance from those in their communities and across the nation. \nWe will never know all the names of the legions of courageous woman men\, and children who fought for justice and equality for Black people in this country. We can\, however\, try to do so. \nThe Baton Foundation’s newly created essay contest\, Ground Crew: Honoring Unknown Civil Rights Activists\, challenges Atlanta youth to research and write about those unknown or lesser-known Black Americans. Now\, and in years to come\, the students’ essays will help us bring to the fore the names and stories of those whose lives were relegated to the blank pages of history. \nELIGIBILTY & REQUIREMENTS \nEligibility \nThe Baton Foundation Ground Crew Essay Contest is open to Atlanta students in grades 8-12. This applies equally to students in public schools\, private and/or parochial schools\, alternative schools and students who receive instruction at home. All entrants must live in the Atlanta Metropolitan Area (specifically\, Clayton\, Cobb\, Dekalb\, Douglas\, Gwinnett\, Henry\, Fayette\, & Fulton Counties). Students enrolled in The Baton Foundation’s Cultural Heritage Program and children of Baton Foundation board members may not participate. \nRequirements \n\nThe deadline to submit essays is Friday\, October 29\, 2021\, at 11:59pm EDT (Late entries will not be accepted).\nSubmit essays to Anthony Knight (aknight@thebatonfoundation.org).\nTyped essays should be a minimum of 700 words\, but no more than 1100 words (citations and bibliography are not included in the total word count).\nEntrants MUST create original work (without influence from or written by teachers\, parents\, siblings\, mentors\, etc.)\nWell-known Civil Rights icons are not eligible subjects for essays (i.e.\, Dr. Martin Luther King\, Jr.\, Coretta Scott King\, Rosa Parks\, Malcolm X\, Congressman John Lewis\, Fannie Lou Hamer\, Ambassador Andrew Young\, etc.). If in doubt\, please contact us.\nEssays must identify an unknown or lesser-known Black Civil Rights activist working during 1954-1968 (the year Dr. King was assassinated). The essay must address the person’s life before s/he became socially active\, the event(s) that led to the individual’s active participation in the Civil Rights Movement\, the specific way(s) in which that person’s work impacted her/his community\, region\, or nation; and the work in which the person was involved following Dr. King’s death.\nEssays about well-known Civil Rights Movement leaders will be disqualified.\n\nSource Materials \n\nEssays must list at least 3 source materials.\nAll entrants must cite the source materials they use. Please use parenthetical citations (not footnotes) to reference source material.\nBibliographies must be included with each essay. Please use Kate A. Turabian’s A Manual for Writers of Terms Papers\, Theses\, and Dissertations. Chicago: University of Chicago Press\, 2007.\n\nRECOGNITION AND AWARDS \n\nThe first-place winner will receive a $250 cash award and a copy of Kate Clifford Larson’s book\, Walk With Me: A Biography of Fannie Lou Hamer (Oxford University Press\, 2021). The winner will also participate as a speaker in a virtual public program with Ms. Larson and Baton Foundation president Anthony Knight on Sunday\, December 5\, 2021.\nThe second-place winner will receive $150 cash award and a copy of Kate Clifford Larson’s book\, Walk With Me: A Biography of Fannie Lou Hamer (Oxford University Press\, 2021).\nFirst- and second-place winners will be notified on November 22\, 2021.\nFirst- and second-place winners will be announced via email to all entrants by November 29\, 2021.\n\nWe respectfully ask that you not call The Baton Foundation for information regarding the status of your essay. Thank you.
URL:https://thebatonfoundation.org/event/ground-crew-essay-contest/
CATEGORIES:Community Engagement
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211024T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211024T163000
DTSTAMP:20260501T001050
CREATED:20210808T163805Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210812T192824Z
UID:32261-1635087600-1635093000@thebatonfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Philip Payton: The Father of Black Harlem
DESCRIPTION:The Baton Foundation\, in partnership with the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History\, will host a lecture about real estate entrepreneur Philip Payton and the intersection of race\, self-advancement\, social justice and capitalism. This program is free to the public\, but registration is required. \nAbout the Book\nAt the turn of the early twentieth century\, Harlem—the iconic Black neighborhood—was predominantly white. The Black real estate entrepreneur Philip Payton played a central role in Harlem’s transformation. He founded the Afro-American Realty Company in 1903\, vowing to vanquish housing discrimination. Yet this ambitious mission faltered as Payton faced the constraints of white capitalist power structures. \nIn Philip Payton: The Father of Black Harlem (Columbia University Press\, 2021)\, Kevin McGruder explores Payton’s career and its implications for the history of residential segregation. Payton stood up for the right of Black people to live in Harlem in the face of vocal white resistance. Through skillful use of print media\, he branded Harlem as a Black community and attracted interest from those interested in racial uplift. Yet while Payton “opened” Harlem streets\, his business model depended on continued racial segregation. Like white real estate investors\, he benefited from the lack of housing options available to desperate Black tenants by charging higher rents. Payton developed a specialty in renting all-Black buildings\, rather than the integrated buildings he had once envisioned\, and his personal successes ultimately entrenched Manhattan’s racial boundaries. McGruder highlights what Payton’s story shows about the limits of seeking advancement through enterprise in a capitalist system deeply implicated in racial inequality. \nAt a time when understanding the roots of residential segregation has become increasingly urgent\, this biography sheds new light on the man and the forces that shaped Harlem. PURCHASE BOOK HERE. \nAbout the Author\nKevin McGruder is Associate Professor of History at Antioch College\, Yellow Springs\, Ohio. He received his B.A. in Economics from Harvard University\, a M.B.A. in Real Estate Finance from Columbia University\, and a Ph.D. in History from the Graduate Center of City University of New York. Before pursuing doctoral studies\, he worked for many years in nonprofit community development. He is author of the 2015 book\, Race and Real Estate Conflict and Cooperation in Harlem\, 1890-1920. \nRegister for Zoom Lecture Here
URL:https://thebatonfoundation.org/event/philip-payton-the-father-of-black-harlem/
CATEGORIES:Virtual Lecture
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211010T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211010T163000
DTSTAMP:20260501T001050
CREATED:20210808T162715Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210812T192458Z
UID:32258-1633878000-1633883400@thebatonfoundation.org
SUMMARY:How the Streets Were Made: Housing Segregation and Black Life in America
DESCRIPTION:The Baton Foundation\, in partnership with the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History\, will host a lecture about housing segregation and Black life in the United States. This program is free to the public\, but registration is required. \nAbout the Book\nIn How the Streets Were Made: Housing Segregation and Black Life in America (University of North Carolina Press\, 2020)\, Dr. Bailey looks at the creation of “the streets\,” not just as physical\, racialized spaces produced by segregationist policies\, but also as sociocultural entities that have influenced our understanding of Blackness in America for decades. Drawing from various disciplines–media studies\, literary studies\, history\, sociology\, film studies\, and music studies\, How the Streets Were Made engages in an interdisciplinary analysis of the how the streets have shaped contemporary perceptions of Black identity\, community\, violence\, spending habits\, and belonging. PURCHASE BOOK HERE. \nAbout the Author\nYelena Bailey\, Ph.D. is a writer\, researcher\, and former professor of English and cultural studies. She enjoys writing about race\, power\, policy\, and culture. She is currently the Director of Education Policy at the State of Minnesota’s Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board. \nRegister for Zoom Lecture Here
URL:https://thebatonfoundation.org/event/how-the-streets-were-made-housing-segregation-and-black-life-in-america/
CATEGORIES:Virtual Lecture
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210926T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210926T163000
DTSTAMP:20260501T001050
CREATED:20210808T161735Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210812T192010Z
UID:32255-1632668400-1632673800@thebatonfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Walk with Me: Fannie Lou Hamer’s Challenge to America
DESCRIPTION:The Baton Foundation\, in partnership with the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History\, will host a lecture about famed civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer. This program is free to the public\, but registration is required. \nAbout the Book\nKate Clifford Larson brings a stirring reappraisal of Fannie Lou Hamer’s life and impact on the Modern Civil Rights Movement. Based on her research for her new biography\, Walk with Me: A Biography of Fannie Lou Hamer (University of Oxford Press\, 2021)\, Larson reveals Hamer’s interior life\, shaped and fortified by family and faith\, and illuminates the forces that made her an electrifying presence when she walked onto stages across the country during the Modern Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. \nFannie Lou Hamer was an extraordinary American activist whose fight for basic human\, civil and political rights helped change the course of the movement. A powerful speaker\, she riveted audiences with her calls to stand up and fight for equality and justice. Her style of grassroots activism tested the patience of powerful civil rights leaders who found her unworthy of their respect. Her life story reminds us that some trailblazers\, especially women leaders\, rise up from the most unlikely places and against tremendous odds. PURCHASE BOOK HERE. \nAbout the Author\nDr. Kate Clifford Larson is a bestselling author of critically acclaimed biographies including Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman\, Portrait of an American Hero and Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter. Her latest work\, Walk with Me: A Biography of Fannie Lou Hamer\, tells the remarkable story of one of America’s most important civil rights leaders of the 20th century. Praised for her research and insights as a biographer\, Larson digs deep into Hamer’s history\, uncovering her family roots\, personal life\, and reclaims Hamer’s faith as a centerpiece of her survival and appeal. Larson accessed recently opened FBI records\, secret Oval Office tapes\, new interviews\, and more\, to reveal never-before seen details about Hamer’s life. An award-winning consultant for feature film scripts\, documentaries\, museum exhibits\, and public history initiatives\, Larson is frequently interviewed by national and international media outlets. Dr. Larson is a Brandeis University Women’s Studies Research Center Visiting Scholar. \nRegister for Zoom Lecture Here
URL:https://thebatonfoundation.org/event/walk-with-me-fannie-lou-hamers-challenge-to-america/
CATEGORIES:Virtual Lecture
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210912T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210912T163000
DTSTAMP:20260501T001050
CREATED:20210526T212335Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210812T191746Z
UID:32239-1631458800-1631464200@thebatonfoundation.org
SUMMARY:The Ledger and the Chain
DESCRIPTION:The Baton Foundation\, in partnership with the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History\, will host a lecture about the domestic slave trade in the United States—sometimes referred to as the second Middle Passage. This program is free to the public\, but registration is required. \nAbout the Book\nThe terrors inflicted upon Black women\, children and men held in bondage in America are notorious. Much less well-known are the slave traders who trafficked and sold over half a million enslaved Blacks from the Upper South to the Lower South. Although these men and their cruelties have largely slipped into obscurity\, they were essential to the expansion of Black enslavement in America in the decades before the Civil War. Indeed\, their work helped fuel the growth and prosperity of the United States itself. \nIn The Ledger and the Chain (Basic Books\, 2021)\, acclaimed historian Joshua D. Rothman recounts the shocking story of the domestic slave trade by tracing the lives and careers of three men who built the largest and most powerful slave-trading operation in American history. Far from being social outcasts or bit players\, Isaac Franklin\, John Armfield\, and Rice Ballard were rich and widely respected businessmen\, and their company sat at the very center of the capital flows that connected southern fields to merchant houses and banks across the country. \nA sobering story of entrepreneurial ambition and remorseless violence toward the enslaved\, The Ledger and the Chain paints a haunting portrait of the unfathomable brutality and enormous power held by slave traders. This eye opening\, deeply researched book brings to light legacies long held in the dark. PURCHASE BOOK HERE. \nAbout the Author\nJoshua D. Rothman is Professor of History and Chair of the Department of History at the University of Alabama. He is the author of two previous books about slavery\, Notorious in the Neighborhood: Sex and Families across the Color Line in Virginia\, 1787-1861\, and Flush Times and Fever Dreams: A Story of Capitalism and Slavery in the Age of Jackson. \nRegister for Zoom Lecture Here
URL:https://thebatonfoundation.org/event/the-ledger-and-the-chain/
CATEGORIES:Virtual Lecture
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210829T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210829T163000
DTSTAMP:20260501T001050
CREATED:20210516T005602Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210516T005602Z
UID:32232-1630249200-1630254600@thebatonfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Black Language Matters: The Role of Linguistics in Addressing Social and Racial Inequality
DESCRIPTION:The Baton Foundation\, in partnership with the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History\, is excited to offer a lecture about language and social and racial inequity. This program is free to the public\, but registration is required. \nAbout the Program\nWhat role does language play in the Black Lives Matter movement? How can language\, from the words we use to the way our voices sound\, affect the ways in which People of Color (POC) engage with social institutions? In this talk\, Dr. Nicole Holliday will discuss research on language use in Black communities\, language as a tool of empowerment and/or oppression\, and linguistic racial profiling. She will also discuss her own recent research about what it means to “sound Black” and how language is a crucial part of identity\, especially for individuals from historically disenfranchised groups. Finally\, Dr. Holliday will challenge participants to think through the ways in which language affects (in)equality in their own communities. \nAbout Nicole Holliday\nDr. Nicole Holliday is an assistant professor of linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania. She received her Ph.D. in linguistics from New York University in 2016\, where she wrote a dissertation entitled “Intonational Variation\, Linguistic Style and the Black/Biracial Experience.” Her research focuses on what it means to sound Black\, both phonetically and socially\, and from the perspectives of both speakers and listeners. Her work has appeared in scholarly venues such as Journal of Sociolinguistics\, Laboratory Phonology\, and American Speech. She has also made appearances in media outlets such as The New York Times\, The Philadelphia Inquirer\, and The Washington Post. \nRegister for Zoom Lecture Here
URL:https://thebatonfoundation.org/event/black-language-matters-the-role-of-linguistics-in-addressing-social-and-racial-inequality/
CATEGORIES:Arts & Humanities
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210620T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210620T163000
DTSTAMP:20260501T001050
CREATED:20210330T145555Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210524T140722Z
UID:32179-1624201200-1624206600@thebatonfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Slavery\, Fatherhood\, & Paternal Duty
DESCRIPTION:The Baton Foundation\, in partnership with the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History\, is thrilled to offer a special Father’s Day lecture about Black fatherhood throughout the nineteenth century—during and after Black enslavement. This program is free to the public\, but registration is required. \nAbout the Book\nIn Slavery\, Fatherhood\, & Paternal Duty (The University of North Carolina Press\, 2020)\, Libra R. Hilde analyzes published and archival oral histories of formerly enslaved Blacks to explore the meanings of manhood and fatherhood during and after the era of slavery\, demonstrating that Black men and women articulated a surprisingly broad and consistent vision of paternal duty across more than a century. Complicating the tendency among historians to conflate masculinity within slavery with heroic resistance\, Hilde emphasizes that\, while some enslaved men openly rebelled\, many chose subtle forms of resistance in the context of family and local community. She explains how a significant number of enslaved men served as caretakers to their children and shaped their lives and identities. From the standpoint of enslavers\, this was particularly threatening–a man who fed his children built up the master’s property\, but a man who fed them notions of autonomy put cracks in the edifice of slavery. \nFatherhood highlighted the agonizing contradictions of the condition of enslavement\, and to be an involved father was to face intractable dilemmas\, yet many men tried. By telling the story of the often quietly heroic efforts that enslaved men undertook to be fathers\, Hilde reveals how formerly enslaved African Americans evaluated their fathers (including white fathers) and envisioned an honorable manhood. Purchase books here. \nAbout the Author\nLibra Hilde is a professor of history at San José State University. She holds a Ph.D. in history from Harvard and a B.A. in history and Native American Studies from U.C. Berkeley. \nRegister for Zoom Lecture Here\nPhoto Credit for Professor Hilde: Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University
URL:https://thebatonfoundation.org/event/slavery-fatherhood-paternal-duty/
CATEGORIES:Virtual Lecture
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210606T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210606T163000
DTSTAMP:20260501T001050
CREATED:20210428T132350Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210429T135214Z
UID:32189-1622991600-1622997000@thebatonfoundation.org
SUMMARY:En Pointe: A Conversation with Ashton Edwards
DESCRIPTION:The Baton Foundation\, in partnership with CNP and the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History\, is excited to present a facilitated conversation between ballet dancer Ashton Edwards and Daryl Foster. This program is free to the public\, but registration is required. NOTE: All times are Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). You may register here. \nAbout Ashton Edwards\nBallet Dancer Ashton Edwards is originally from Flint\, Michigan. He began dancing at age 4 at the Flint School of Performing Arts. For four years\, Ashton was a member of the Flint Youth Ballet\, the most advanced dance ensemble of the FSPA (Flint School Performing Arts). Over the course of his career\, Ashton has attended summer ballet intensives on full scholarships at The Joffrey Academy of Dance in Chicago\, Houston Ballet School\, and Pacific Northwest Ballet School. In 2018\, Ashton represented his home city of Flint in the NACCP National Afro-Academic\, Cultural\, Technological and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO) competition in San Antonio\, Texas\, and won a bronze medal in the Performing Arts/Ballet category. Currently\, Ashton is training at Pacific Northwest Ballet School (PNB) as a Professional Division student. PNB School’s two-year Professional Division offers advanced instructions for students planning a professional dance career. Acceptance to the program is by invitation only. Ashton is also training en pointe at PNB in hopes of someday having a gender-non-conforming career with a professional ballet company. \nAbout Daryl L. Foster\nDaryl L. Foster began training at the age of 18 as a student at the University of Alabama. As a student\, he secured scholarships to Harvard Summer Dance\, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble\, and two full scholarships to the American Dance Festival at Duke University. Upon completion of his undergraduate degree (BA in dance and English)\, Daryl joined the renowned Dayton Contemporary Dance Company as a Dancer with DCDC2 in Dayton\, Ohio. He also began exploring musical theater as an ensemble member of the University of Southern Indiana’s performance company at the Lincoln Boyhood National Monument. There\, he performed roles in The Music Man\, The Sound of Music\, and the title show\, Young Abe Lincoln. Daryl would later relocate to New York City–dancing in an opera about Nelson Mandela and working in an administrative capacity for Urban Bush Women. \nAfter September 11\, 2001\, Daryl reassessed his professional trajectory and completed an MFA in performance and choreography at Florida State University. Degree in hand\, Daryl took a position to direct and teach dance at Booker Middle School for the Performing Arts before moving to Atlanta in 2006. In Atlanta\, Daryl was offered an adjunct professor position at Kennesaw State University. He also held faculty positions at Spelman College\, Agnes Scott College\, and the University of Georgia. In 2010\, Daryl partnered with Terry Slade to premiere LIFT Men. Dance. Life.\, a showcase featuring male dancers and choreographers working together to discuss and create work about men of color and the issues they face. Daryl also created EMERGING: A New Choreographers Showcase to nurture\, develop\, and present the work of aspiring choreographers. Twice a year\, the EMERGING process takes ten choreographers through an immersive process that culminates in a fully produced performance. A signature component of the program is feedback from industry professionals. \nCurrently\, Daryl continues to write\, produce\, and direct. He also is expanding LIFT to an artist management company. Daryl is from Tuscaloosa\, Alabama. \nAbout the Facilitator\nDarian Aaron has a career in media that spans nearly two decades. His byline has appeared in both print and digital formats. Darian is currently the Communications Director for CNP and Editor-At-Large of The Reckoning\, a CNP online publication and 2021 GLAAD Media Award Nominee for outstanding blog. Darian’s career also includes radio and television news\, most recently as a general assignment reporter for CBS affiliate WRBL in Columbus\, Georgia. \nDarian is the creator of the award-winning blog\, Living Out Loud with Darian—a blog created to provide a platform for stories impacting LGBTQ+ communities of color. Prompted by demand from his loyal followers\, he launched Living Out Loud 2.0 in spring 2020. \nMuch of Darian’s digital and social justice work advocates on behalf of LGBTQ+ people of color\, with a particular focus on the intersection of race\, sexuality and religious intolerance as seen in his previous blog and coffee-table book\, When Love Takes Over: A Celebration of SGL Couples of Color. Additionally\, Darian made history as the first African American Editor-in-Chief of Atlanta’s Georgia Voice newspaper. \nDarian has used his voice in support of LGBTQ+ equality and visibility on television and in print as a contributor to several publications: CLIK Magazine (Staff Writer)\, The Advocate\, The LA Times\, The Huffington Post\, EBONY Magazine\, Project Q Atlanta and The Montgomery Advertiser\, among others. \nIn 2011\, he was one of a dozen LGBTQ+ leaders selected to attend GLAADs first Media institute in New York City. In 2012\, he became one of few openly gay Black men to be profiled in EBONY Magazine in the featured piece Black\, Gay and Christian: Where Spirituality and Sexuality Converge. \nAs an undergraduate student at Alabama State University\, Darian founded AMPLIFIED\, the first LGBTQ+ chartered student organization in the university’s history. He graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2015 with a Bachelor of Arts in broadcast journalism. Darian honed his craft as an intern at WSFA 12 News and WVAS FM 90.7 in Montgomery\, Alabama. \nBefore moving to Atlanta\, Darian was a professional dancer in New York\, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Darian is a native of Montgomery\, AL and a member of The National Association of Black Journalists. \nRegister for Zoom Lecture Here\nPhoto Credit: Pacific Northwest Ballet School Professional Division student Ashton Edwards ©En Avant Photography
URL:https://thebatonfoundation.org/event/en-pointe-a-conversation-with-ashton-edwards/
CATEGORIES:Virtual Lecture
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210516T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210516T163000
DTSTAMP:20260501T001050
CREATED:20210428T153847Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210428T155112Z
UID:32216-1621177200-1621182600@thebatonfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Black Boys in the 21st Century: The Importance of Cultural Heritage Training
DESCRIPTION:We must impress upon our children that even when troubles rise to seven-point-one on life’s Richter scale\, they must be anchored so deeply that\, though they sway\, they will not topple. ~Mamie Till Mobley \nIt is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. ~Frederick Douglass \nOrientation Overview\nInitiated in 2016\, The Baton Foundation is excited to host its sixth annual Cultural Heritage Program orientation. This program is free to the public\, but registration is required. You may register here. \nIt is common to hear people say these days\, “This is 2021\, how can (insert social issue here) be happening?” What often is overlooked is the fact that countries\, like people\, have a history\, a story\, a narrative. Black people in the United States have a unique history—one frequently\, although not always\, rooted in enslavement. More broadly\, the story of Black people in the United States often was told by others\, and for reasons not meant to edify or to inspire\, much less to reflect truth. \nThe Baton Foundation’s Cultural Heritage program is designed to give Black boys ages 10-17 opportunities to learn about Black history and culture in an intimate\, supportive environment. In bi-weekly seminars\, students explore various aspects of the Black experience in the United States and around the world. Additionally\, they work with Baton Foundation facilitators to explore notions of self-awareness and self-mastery. The program also provides opportunities for students to explore many of Atlanta’s cultural venues and to engage in educational travel to local and regional historic and cultural sites. \nDuring the orientation\, attendees will learn more about the program and have an opportunity to ask questions of the program’s founder\, Baton Foundation board members\, and Cultural Heritage Program students. \nRegister for Zoom Orientation Here\nPhoto Credit: Adinah Morgan for The Baton Foundation (Cultural Heritage Program students at The National Memorial for Peace and Justice\, 2019)
URL:https://thebatonfoundation.org/event/black-boys-in-the-21st-century-the-importance-of-cultural-heritage-training/
CATEGORIES:Cultural Heritage Program
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210502T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210502T163000
DTSTAMP:20260501T001050
CREATED:20210131T171140Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210203T000600Z
UID:32123-1619967600-1619973000@thebatonfoundation.org
SUMMARY:South to Freedom: Runaway Slaves to Mexico and the Road to Civil War
DESCRIPTION:The Baton Foundation\, in partnership with the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History\, will host a lecture about the confluence of Mexican and United States history during the antebellum era. This program is free to the public\, but registration is required. \nAbout the Book\nSouth to Freedom: Runaway Slaves to Mexico and the Road to Civil War (Basic Books\, 2020)\, tells the story of the enslaved Blacks who escaped to Mexico in the four decades leading up to the U.S. Civil War. Focusing its attention on a not-well-known chapter of U.S. history\, the book contributes to the canon a better understanding of Mexico’s rise as an antislavery republic and its overlooked significance to the United States. \nIn South to Freedom\, Professor Baumgartner tells the story of why Mexico abolished slavery and how its increasingly radical antislavery policies fueled the sectional crisis in the United States. Southerners hoped that annexing Texas and invading Mexico in the 1840s would stop runaways and secure slavery’s future. Instead\, the seizure of Alta California and Nuevo México upset the delicate political balance between free and slave states. South to Freedom is a revelatory and essential new perspective on antebellum America and the causes of the Civil War. PURCHASE BOOK HERE. \nAbout the Author\nAlice Baumgartner is an assistant professor of history at the University of Southern California. She holds a Ph.D. from Yale University and an M.Phil. in Latin American Studies from the University of Oxford where she was a Rhodes Scholar. Her first book\, South to Freedom: Runaway Slaves to Mexico and the Road to Civil War\, was selected as an Editor’s Choice by The New York Times Book Review and as a finalist for the Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize. \nRegister for Zoom Lecture Here
URL:https://thebatonfoundation.org/event/south-to-freedom-runaway-slaves-to-mexico-and-the-road-to-civil-war/
CATEGORIES:Virtual Lecture
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210425T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210425T163000
DTSTAMP:20260501T001050
CREATED:20210402T014649Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210410T121015Z
UID:32196-1619362800-1619368200@thebatonfoundation.org
SUMMARY:It's in the Action: Memories of a Nonviolent Warrior
DESCRIPTION:The Baton Foundation\, in partnership with the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History\, is honored to host a conversation between author Steve Fiffer and Al Vivian about the life and work of his father\, Civil Rights Movement icon Dr. C. T. Vivian. This program is free to the public\, but registration is required. \nAbout the Book\nThe wisdom acquired during C. T. Vivian’s nine decades is generously shared in It’s in the Action: Memories of a Nonviolent Warrior (NewSouth Books\, 2021)\, the civil rights legend’s memoir of his life and times in the movement. Born in Missouri in 1924\, Vivian lived twenty-four years in Illinois before moving to Nashville\, where he earned a degree in theology and joined John Lewis\, Diane Nash\, and others to integrate the city in 1960. After being imprisoned and beaten during the Freedom Rides\, he joined Dr. King at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in Atlanta and played leading roles in integration and voting rights campaigns in Birmingham\, AL; St. Augustine\, FL; and Selma\, AL. Over the next half century\, he became internationally known for his work for education and civil and human rights and against racism\, hatred\, and economic inequality. In 2013\, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Vivian passed away peacefully in Atlanta on July 17\, 2020. \nVivian was never defined by discrimination and hardship\, although he faced many instances of both. The late civil rights leader’s heart-wrenching and inspiring stories from a lifetime of nonviolent activism come just in time for a new generation of activists; similarly responding to systems of injustice\, violence\, and oppression. It’s in the Action is a record of a life dedicated to selflessness and morality\, qualities achieved by Vivian that we can all aspire to. Bearing a foreword from Andrew Young\, the memoir is an important addition to civil rights history and to the understanding of movement principles and strategies. Purchase books here. \nC.T. Vivian was a role model for so many of us in the 1960s era of civil rights activism\, a legendary champion of nonviolence\, and a mighty and indispensable long haul moral warrior for justice. This memoir will give a new generation the chance to learn about his legacy of wisdom and service in his own words. ~Marian Wright Edelman\, Founder & President Emerita\, Children’s Defense Fund \nWe as students in the Nashville movement felt more mature when Dr. C.T.  Vivian was with us. I know what it is like to have your teacher in a jail cell with you for 24 hours. You never miss class. ~Reverend Dr. Bernard LaFayette \nRead Recent Washington Post Review Here \nAbout the Co-Author\nSteve Fiffer is the author of more than a dozen nonfiction books\, including award winning collaborations with Southern Poverty Law Center founder Morris Dees\, human rights activist Dr. Quentin Young\, and former Secretary of State James Baker (a New York Times bestseller). His book\, Jimmie Lee and James: Two Lives\, Two Deaths\, and the Movement that Changed America\, was a finalist for the Harlem Book Fair’s Best Nonfiction Book of 2015. A Guggenheim Fellowship winner\, Fiffer is a graduate of Yale and the University of Chicago Law School. He lives in Evanston with his wife\, novelist Sharon Fiffer. \nAbout Al Vivian\nAl Vivian is President & CEO of the Atlanta-based BASIC Diversity\, Inc. (BASIC)\, the nation’s longest serving diversity & inclusion firm\, founded by his father\, Dr. C.T. Vivian. Over the past 25+ years\, Al has worked actively as a trainer and consultant to numerous Fortune 500 companies\, government agencies\, professional firms\, non-profits and academic institutions. A former Army Captain\, Mr. Vivian specializes in Inclusive Leadership — teaching leaders the skills and competencies to effectively lead across cultures. \nRegister for Zoom Lecture Here
URL:https://thebatonfoundation.org/event/its-in-the-action-memories-of-a-nonviolent-warrior/
CATEGORIES:Virtual Lecture
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210411T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210411T163000
DTSTAMP:20260501T001050
CREATED:20210126T234336Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210202T004605Z
UID:32116-1618153200-1618158600@thebatonfoundation.org
SUMMARY:An African American and Latinx History of the United States
DESCRIPTION:The Baton Foundation\, in partnership with the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History\, is excited to host a lecture about the consequential role Blacks\, Latinx and Indigenous peoples played in creating the United States. This program is free to the public\, but registration is required. \nAbout the Book\nSpanning more than two hundred years\, An African American and Latinx History of the United States (Beacon Press\, 2018) is a revolutionary\, politically charged narrative history\, arguing that the “Global South” was crucial to the development of America as we know it. Scholar and activist Paul Ortiz challenges the notion of westward progress as exalted by widely taught formulations like “manifest destiny” and “Jacksonian democracy\,” and shows how placing Black\, Latinx\, and Indigenous voices unapologetically front and center transforms U.S. history into one of the working class organizing against imperialism. \nDrawing on rich narratives and primary source documents\, Ortiz links racial segregation in the Southwest and the rise and violent fall of a powerful tradition of Mexican labor organizing in the twentieth century\, to May 1\, 2006\, known as International Workers’ Day\, when migrant laborers—Chicana/os\, Afro-Cubans\, and immigrants from every continent on earth—united in resistance on the first “Day Without Immigrants.” As Black civil rights activists fought Jim Crow laws and Mexican labor organizers warred against the suffocating grip of capitalism\, Black and Spanish-language newspapers\, abolitionists\, and Latin American revolutionaries coalesced around movements built between people from the United States and people from Central America and the Caribbean. In stark contrast to the resurgence of “America First” rhetoric\, Black and Latinx intellectuals and organizers today have historically urged the United States to build bridges of solidarity with the nations of the Americas. \nIncisive and timely\, this bottom-up history\, told from the interconnected vantage points of Latinx and Black Americans\, reveals the radically different ways that people of the diaspora have addressed issues still plaguing the United States today\, and it offers a way forward in the continued struggle for universal civil rights. An African American and Latinx History of the United States won the 2018 PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award. PURCHASE BOOK HERE. \nA concise\, alternate history of the United States…A sleek\, vital history that effectively shows how\, “from the outset\, inequality was enforced with the whip\, the gun\, and the United States Constitution.” —Kirkus Reviews\, Starred Review \nAn epic\, panoramic account of class struggles in the Western Hemisphere. At center stage are the Black\, Latinx\, and Indigenous people who built the “new world.” —Robin D. G. Kelley\, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination \nPaul Ortiz’s “African American and Latinx History of the United States” provides an essential frame for understanding how freedom struggles dating back to the eighteenth century inform today’s entrenched inequality and systemic racism across diasporas. This is a necessary text for reconceptualizing American history\, and Ortiz meticulously establishes historical precedent for multiethnic coalition building that extends beyond geographical borders to restore dignity and architect descriptive and substantive representation. —Sonja Diaz\, executive director of the University of California\, Los Angeles\, Latino Policy and Politics Initiative \nAbout the Author\nPaul Ortiz is director of the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program and professor of history at the University of Florida. He serves on the Faculty Advisory Council for the University of Florida Center for Latin American Studies. \nDr. Ortiz is a third-generation military veteran and a first-generation university graduate. His pathway to academia included years of organizing work with the United Farm Workers\, the Farm Labor Organizing Committee\, AFSCME and many other unions. He is currently president of the United Faculty of Florida-UF (FEA/NEA/AFT/AFL-CIO) the union that represents tenured and non-tenure-track faculty at the University of Florida. In 2013\, he received the César E. Chávez Action and Commitment Award from the Florida Education Association\, AFL-CIO. \nDr. Ortiz co-edited Remembering Jim Crow: African Americans Tell About Life in the Segregated South which received the Lillian Smith Book Award from the Southern Regional Council. He also has published essays in Latino Studies\, The American Historical Review\, Cultural Dynamics\, The Oral History Review\, Truthout\, Southern Exposure\, Kalfou\, the Florida Historical Quarterly\, and many other journals. Additionally\, Professor Ortiz has been interviewed by Agencia De Noticias Del Estado Mexicano\, ARD German Radio and Television\, Newsweek\, Telemundo\, The Guardian\, The Undefeated\, ABC News\, BBC\, Hong Kong Daily Apple\, and a variety of media on the histories of voter suppression\, social movements\, immigration\, Latinx & African American history among other topics. \nProfessor Ortiz received his Ph.D. in history from Duke University in 2000. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the Evergreen State College in 1990 and his Associate of Arts degree from Olympic College in 1988. Currently\, Dr. Ortiz is finishing three books. Among them\, People Power: History\, Organizing\, and Larry Goodwyn’s Democratic Vision in the Twenty-First Century which will be published by the University Press of Florida in 2021. \nRegister for Zoom Lecture Here
URL:https://thebatonfoundation.org/event/an-african-american-and-latinx-history-of-the-united-states/
CATEGORIES:Virtual Lecture
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210321T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210321T163000
DTSTAMP:20260501T001050
CREATED:20210117T224218Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210218T145809Z
UID:32091-1616338800-1616344200@thebatonfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Madam C. J. Walker's Gospel of Giving: Black Women's Philanthropy During Jim Crow
DESCRIPTION:The Baton Foundation\, in partnership with the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History\, is excited to host a conversation about Madam C. J. Walker’s legacy of philanthropy between author Dr. Tyrone Freeman and Erika M. Smith. This program is free to the public\, but registration is required. \nAbout the Book\nFounder of a beauty empire\, Madam C. J. Walker (1867-1919) was celebrated in the early 1900s as America’s first self-made female millionaire. Known as a leading Black entrepreneur\, Walker was also devoted to an activist philanthropy aimed at empowering Blacks and challenging the injustices inflicted by Jim Crow. \nIn Madam C. J. Walker’s Gospel of Giving (University of Illinois Press\, 2020)\, Tyrone McKinley Freeman highlights how giving shaped Walker’s life before and after she became wealthy. Poor and widowed when she arrived in St. Louis in her twenties\, Walker found mentorship among Black churchgoers and working Black women. Her adoption of faith\, racial uplift\, education\, and self-help soon informed her dedication to assisting Black women’s entrepreneurship\, financial independence\, and activism. Walker embedded her philanthropy in how she grew her business\, forged alliances with groups like the National Association of Colored Women\, funded schools and social service agencies led by Black women and enlisted her company’s sales agents in local charity and advocacy work. \nIlluminating and dramatic\, Madam C. J. Walker’s Gospel of Giving broadens our understanding of Black women’s charitable giving and establishes Walker as a foremother of Black philanthropy. PURCHASE BOOK HERE. \nThis is no simple story of Madam Walker’s charitable giving. Instead\, by spanning the course of Walker’s remarkable life from the daughter of enslaved parents to beauty culture mogul\, Tyrone McKinley Freeman’s brilliant and impeccably researched book demonstrates that wealth did not drive Walker to give\, but that she was the embodiment of a much longer\, though often hidden\, tradition of Black philanthropy. This book will forever change the way we understand Walker’s importance and provides a much-needed context for contemporary calls for economic justice. –Tiffany Gill\, author of Beauty Shop Politics: African American Women’s Activism in the Beauty Industry. \nAbout the Author\nTyrone McKinley Freeman is an award-winning writer\, speaker and teacher whose work examines the intersections of philanthropy\, activism\, and race in America. A nationally recognized expert in Black philanthropy\, he writes and speaks about various forms of Black generosity and social change\, past and present. Currently\, Professor Freeman is an assistant professor of philanthropic studies at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis. He also conducts workshops on fundraising and leadership for nonprofit organizations. \nPrior to becoming a professor\, Dr. Freeman was a fundraising professional and raised money for a range of nonprofit organizations in community economic development\, youth and family services\, and higher education. He also served as associate director of the world-renowned The Fund Raising School\, where he wrote curricula and trained fundraisers and other nonprofit leaders across the United States and in Asia\, Africa and Europe. \nProfessor Freeman is author of Madam C.J. Walker’s Gospel of Giving: Black Women’s Philanthropy During Jim Crow (University of Illinois Press\, 2020)\, and co-author of Race\, Gender and Leadership in Nonprofit Organizations (Palgrave MacMillan\, 2011)\, which explores the personal lives and professional challenges of Black and women nonprofit executive leaders. \nA proud HBCU alum\, Professor Freeman graduated from Lincoln University (PA) with a B.A. in English. He earned a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning from Ball State University\, and a M.S. in Adult Education from Indiana University. Dr. Freeman is the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in Philanthropic Studies from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. \nHis work has appeared or been cited in TIME\, O: The Oprah Magazine\, Newsweek\, NewsOne\, Blavity\, Chicago Tribune\, The Conversation\, Black Perspectives\, Chronicle of Philanthropy\, and the Stanford Social Innovations Review. \nAbout Erika M. Smith\n\nErika M. Smith is a creative\, social innovator focused on reinvigorating communities\, cultivating small businesses\, and preserving culture. She leads the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Economic Opportunity work\, including developing the portfolio investment strategy\, providing thought-leadership\, and expanding partnerships\, influence\, and policy work to increase residents’ economic well-being in Atlanta’s Southside. \n\n\nBefore joining the Casey Foundation as a senior associate\, Erika served as Assistant Director of Southside Community and Economic Development with Invest Atlanta\, where she led a regional strategy focused on economic opportunity and mobility in Atlanta’s under-served communities. Previous to Invest Atlanta\, Erika was an External Affairs Manager of Research and Strategic Initiatives with Select Fulton\, where she led the development of the Economic Opportunity strategic plan and initiatives to improve business retention\, address workforce needs\, and nurturing small business growth. \n\n\nErika’s career spans 20 years\, including creating a pre-paid debit card ecosystem in Nigeria\, working in strategic marketing functions at JPMorganChase\, GMAC Insurance\, and Bank of America\, co-creating Uhuru Concepts\, a social innovation and marketing firm. \n\n\nErika is a member of the Board of Directors for the Georgia Micro Enterprise Network and Village Micro Fund and the former Co-Chair of Team Empower Committee for the Beltline Partnership’s AB67\, and former Chair of the Board of Directors for Living Walls\, the City Speaks. She is an alumnus of the ULI Class of 2015 and the United Way VIP Program. \n\n\nShe is a proud graduate of Florida A&M University\, an avid international traveler\, an ardent supporter of the arts\, a lover of hip hop\, and lives in Southwest Atlanta. \n\nClick Here to Register for Zoom Lecture
URL:https://thebatonfoundation.org/event/madam-c-j-walkers-gospel-of-giving-black-womens-philanthropy-during-jim-crow/
CATEGORIES:Virtual Lecture
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210307T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210307T163000
DTSTAMP:20260501T001050
CREATED:20201215T011013Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210202T003431Z
UID:32072-1615129200-1615134600@thebatonfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Nannie Helen Burroughs: A Documentary Portrait of an Early Civil Rights Pioneer\, 1900-1959
DESCRIPTION:The Baton Foundation\, in partnership with the Auburn Avenue Research Library for African American Culture and History\, is thrilled to offer a lecture about the life and work of civil rights activist Helen Nannie Burroughs. This program is free to the public\, but registration is required. \nAbout the Book\nNannie Helen Burroughs (1879–1961) is one of many Black intellectuals whose work has been long excluded from the literary canon. In her time\, Burroughs was a celebrated Black female activist (or “race woman”)\, educator\, and intellectual. \nNannie Helen Burroughs: A Documentary Portrait of an Early Civil Rights Pioneer\, 1900-1959 (University of Notre Dame Press\, 2019)\, represents a landmark contribution to the Black intellectual historical project by allowing readers to experience Burroughs in her own words. This anthology of her works written between 1900 and 1959 encapsulates Burroughs’ work as a theologian\, philosopher\, activist\, educator\, intellectual\, and evangelist\, as well as the myriad ways her career resisted definition. \nDuring her life\, Burroughs rubbed elbows with Black historical icons such as W. E. B. DuBois\, Booker T. Washington\, Anna Julia Cooper\, Mary Church Terrell\, and Mary McLeod Bethune\, and these interactions represent much of the existing\, easily available literature on her life. \nThis book aims to spark a conversation about Burroughs’ life and work by making available her own tracts on God\, sin\, the intersections of church and society\, Black womanhood\, education\, and social justice. Moreover\, the volume is an important addition to the growing movement toward excavating Black intellectual and philosophical thought and reformulating the literary canon to bring a diverse array of voices to the table. PURCHASE BOOK HERE. \nAbout the Author\nKelisha B. Graves is a higher education educator\, author\, and speaker. She is completing a doctorate in educational leadership with a concentration in higher education. Professor Graves is an interdisciplinary and global scholar whose research interests include educational leadership and administration\, teaching and learning\, culturally responsive pedagogy and assessment\, curriculum planning and development\, educational technology\, socio-cultural knowledges\, critical race theory\, Africana philosophy\, and African American intellectual history. She also maintains interests in global education policy and international development with a specific focus on Africa. Graves has delivered lectures to national and international audiences. She has authored and/or co-authored works in the fields of education\, Black history\, and philosophy. \nClick Here to Register for Zoom Lecture
URL:https://thebatonfoundation.org/event/nannie-helen-burroughs-a-documentary-portrait-of-an-early-civil-rights-pioneer-1900-1959/
CATEGORIES:Virtual Lecture
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210214T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210214T163000
DTSTAMP:20260501T001050
CREATED:20201218T000102Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210201T210956Z
UID:32078-1613311200-1613320200@thebatonfoundation.org
SUMMARY:A Sense of Connection
DESCRIPTION:The Baton Foundation\, in partnership with the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History is proud to present a film screening of A Sense of Connection—a documentary film about the spiritual motivations that influence Black artists in the African Diaspora. Following the screening\, filmmaker Tony Romero will field questions from attendees. This program is free to the public\, but registration is required. NOTE: Times are Eastern Time. \nAbout the Film\nA Sense of Connection (90 mins.) is a documentary that looks at the spiritual motivations in the works of various Black visual artists. It describes a journey marked by a strong African heritage connection. The artists\, from the United States\, Mexico\, Equatorial Guinea\, Spain and Cuba\, share experiences and reflect on the history of the African Diaspora\, Black art and the willingness to write one’s own story. The project’s goal is to build bridges among the entire international Black community. This film was created in collaboration with Spelman College Museum of Fine Art\, Gallery 992\, Sistagraphy\, Projects Foundation Shelia Turner y Spec Turner Music. \nAbout the Filmmaker\nTony Romero is a director\, producer and screenwriter\, trained in the school of Cuban cinema. For twenty years\, he has dedicated his life to film and television\, and worked with producers in Cuba\, Haiti\, Japan and Spain. Romero has taught courses\, workshops\, and presented at conferences. His work has taken him to many of the education\, film and cultural spaces in Spain\, Morocco\, Equatorial Guinea\, the United States among others. Romero is a member of the National Union of Writers Artists of Cuba (UNEAC) and the General Society of Authors and Editors (SGAE). He currently works for the Spanish producer TR Movies. \nClick Here to Register for the Zoom Screening and Talkback
URL:https://thebatonfoundation.org/event/a-sense-of-connection/
CATEGORIES:Virtual Film Screening
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210207T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210207T163000
DTSTAMP:20260501T001050
CREATED:20201215T001814Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210203T000820Z
UID:32065-1612710000-1612715400@thebatonfoundation.org
SUMMARY:The Black Republic: African Americans and the Fate of Haiti
DESCRIPTION:The Baton Foundation\, in partnership with the Auburn Avenue Research Library for African American Culture and History\, is excited to kick off the 2021 program year with a lecture by Professor Brandon Byrd about post-Civil War sentiments U.S. Blacks held toward Haiti. This program is free to the public\, but registration is required. \nAbout the Book\nIn The Black Republic: African Americans and the Fate of Haiti (The University of Pennsylvania Press\, 2019)\, Brandon R. Byrd explores the ambivalent attitudes that Black American leaders in the post-Civil War era held toward Haiti\, the first and only Black republic in the Western Hemisphere. Following emancipation\, Black American leaders of all kinds—politicians\, journalists\, ministers\, writers\, educators\, artists\, and diplomats—identified new and urgent connections with Haiti\, a nation long understood as an example of Black self-determination. They celebrated not only its diplomatic recognition by the United States but also the renewed relevance of the Haitian Revolution. \nWhile a number of Black leaders in the United States defended the sovereignty of a republic whose fate they saw as intertwined with their own\, others expressed concern over Haiti’s fitness as a model Black nation–scrutinizing whether it truly reflected the “civilized” progress of the Black race. Influenced by the imperialist rhetoric of their day\, many Black Americans across the political spectrum espoused a politics of racial uplift\, taking responsibility for the “improvement” of Haitian education\, politics\, culture\, and society. They considered Haiti an uncertain experiment in Black self-governance: it might succeed and vindicate the capabilities of U.S.-born Blacks demanding their own right to self-determination or it might fail and condemn the Black diasporic population to second-class status for the foreseeable future. \nWhen the United States military occupied Haiti in 1915\, it created a crisis for W. E. B. DuBois and other Black activists and intellectuals who had long grappled with the meaning of Haitian independence. The resulting demand for\, and idea of\, a liberated Haiti became a cornerstone of the anti-capitalist\, anti-colonial\, and anti-racist radical Black internationalism that flourished between World War I and World War II. Spanning the Reconstruction\, post-Reconstruction\, and Jim Crow eras\, The Black Republic recovers a crucial and overlooked chapter of Black internationalism and political thought. PURCHASE BOOK HERE. \nAbout the Author\nBrandon R. Byrd is an Assistant Professor of History at Vanderbilt University. His research focuses on nineteenth and twentieth-century Black intellectual and social history\, with a special interest in Black internationalism. He is the author of The Black Republic: African Americans and the Fate of Haiti and he is currently writing a transnational and grassroots history of the post-emancipation United States. \nClick Here to Register for Zoom Lecture
URL:https://thebatonfoundation.org/event/the-black-republic-african-americans-and-the-fate-of-haiti/
CATEGORIES:Virtual Lecture
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20201206T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20201206T163000
DTSTAMP:20260501T001050
CREATED:20201116T145204Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20201116T212046Z
UID:32052-1607266800-1607272200@thebatonfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Remembering Our Future: Relying on Each Other to Restore Hope & Healing
DESCRIPTION:The Baton Foundation\, in partnership with the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History\, is honored to host a lecture on hope and healing by Dr. Joyce E. King. This program is free\, but registration is required. \nAbout the Program\nSankofa (the Adinkra symbol pictured above) teaches us that it is not “taboo to go back and fetch what is at risk of being left behind.” We remember our Ancestors to deepen our sense of identity\, to seek to know\, to clarify\, to remember\, to understand the ways our fathers and mothers carried on the struggle for integrity and freedom in their time. Relying on each other we can restore hope and healing for our children and for future generations. \nAbout the Speaker\nJoyce E. King is the Benjamin E. Mays Endowed Chair for Urban Teaching\, Learning and Leadership and Professor of Educational Policy Studies in the College of Education & Human Development at Georgia State University. \nWidely respected in the fields of urban education and the sociology of education\, King’s research has contributed to the knowledge base on preparing teachers for diversity and curriculum theorizing through her scholarship\, teaching practice and leadership. She served on the Curriculum Commission of the State Board of Education. \nKing has lectured in educational and community organizations in the United States\, Brazil\, Canada\, England\, Mali\, Senegal\, Japan\, Jamaica and New Zealand. She has shared her expertise in diversity transformation as a training consultant with civic and human rights organizations and higher education institutions in the U.S. and abroad. She has served as President of the Board of Directors of Food First (Institute for Food and Development Policy\, Oakland\, California). \nA dynamic leader and visionary teacher/scholar\, King has a wealth of academic\, administrative and leadership experience in public\, private and non-profit settings\, including historical Black and predominately white colleges and universities. She has created numerous opportunities for emergent leaders of diverse backgrounds to progress in their careers. Her accomplishments reflect an emphasis on innovative interdisciplinary scholarship\, culturally connected teaching and learning and inclusive transformative leadership for change often in creative partnership with communities. \nKing’s recent publications include the Harvard Educational Review\, The Handbook of Research on Black Education\, The Handbook of Research on Teacher Education and Voices of Historical and Contemporary Black Pioneers. In addition\, King organized and edited a landmark book\, Black Education: A Transformative Research and Action Agenda for the New Century that was published for the American Educational Research Association (2005). \nDr. King served as the 2015 president of the American Educational Research Association. In 2018 she received the Stanford Graduate School of Education Alumni Excellence in Education Award. \nRegister for the Zoom Lecture Here
URL:https://thebatonfoundation.org/event/remembering-our-future-relying-on-each-other-to-restore-hope-healing/
CATEGORIES:Virtual Lecture
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20201122T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20201122T163000
DTSTAMP:20260501T001050
CREATED:20200926T010405Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20201116T172227Z
UID:32018-1606057200-1606062600@thebatonfoundation.org
SUMMARY:White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity
DESCRIPTION:The Baton Foundation\, in partnership with the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History\, is excited to offer a discussion and Q & A with Dr. Robert Jones about his book\, White Too Long. This program is free\, but registration is required. \nAbout the Book\nDrawing on history\, public opinion surveys\, and personal experience\, Robert P. Jones delivers a provocative examination of the unholy relationship between American Christianity and white supremacy\, and issues an urgent call for white Christians to reckon with this legacy for the sake of themselves and the nation. \nAs the nation grapples with demographic changes and the legacy of racism in America\, Christianity’s role as a cornerstone of white supremacy has been largely overlooked. But white Christians—from evangelicals in the South to mainline Protestants in the Midwest and Catholics in the Northeast—have not just been complacent or complicit; rather\, as the dominant cultural power\, they have constructed and sustained a project of protecting white supremacy and opposing Black equality that has framed the entire American story. \nWith his family’s 1815 Bible in one hand and contemporary public opinion surveys by Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) in the other\, Robert P. Jones delivers a groundbreaking analysis of the repressed history of the symbiotic relationship between Christianity and white supremacy. White Too Long demonstrates how deeply racist attitudes have become embedded in the DNA of white Christian identity over time and calls for an honest reckoning with a complicated\, painful\, and even shameful past. \nDrawing on lessons gleaned from case studies of communities beginning to face these challenges\, Jones argues that contemporary white Christians must confront these unsettling truths because this is the only way to salvage the integrity of their faith and their own identities. More broadly\, it is no exaggeration to say that not just the future of white Christianity but the outcome of the American experiment is at stake. Purchase books here. \nAbout the Author\nRobert P. Jones is the CEO and founder of Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) and the author of White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity. Jones writes regularly on politics\, culture\, and religion for The Atlantic online\, NBC Think\, and other outlets. He is frequently featured in major national media\, such as CNN\, MSNBC\, NPR\, The New York Times\, The Washington Post\, and others. He holds a Ph.D. in religion from Emory University and a M.Div. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author of The End of White Christian America\, which won the 2019 Grawemeyer Award in Religion. \nRegister for the Zoom Lecture Here
URL:https://thebatonfoundation.org/event/white-too-long-the-legacy-of-white-supremacy-in-american-christianity/
CATEGORIES:Virtual Lecture
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20201108T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20201108T163000
DTSTAMP:20260501T001051
CREATED:20200919T002107Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200919T002107Z
UID:32011-1604847600-1604853000@thebatonfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Contagions of Empire: A Conversation With Professor Khary Polk
DESCRIPTION:The Baton Foundation is excited to host an author discussion with Professor Khary Polk about his recently published book\, Contagions of Empire. This program is free\, but registration is required. \nAbout the Book\nContagions of Empire: Scientific Racism\, Sexuality\, and Black Military Workers Abroad\, 1898-1948 (University of North Carolina Press\, June 2020) examines how the movement of Black soldiers and nurses around the world in the early-to-mid twentieth century challenged U.S. military ideals of race\, nation\, and honor. \nFrom 1898 onward\, the expansion of United States militarism and empire abroad increasingly relied on Black labor\, even as policy remained infected both by scientific racism and by fears of contagion. Black men and women were mobilized for service in the Spanish-Cuban-American War (1898) under the War Department’s belief that southern Blacks carried an immunity against tropical diseases. \nLater\, in World Wars I and II\, Black troops were stigmatized as members of a contagious “venereal race” and were subjected to experimental medical treatments meant to curtail their sexual desires. By turns feared as contagious and at other times valued for their immunity\, Black men and women played an important part in the U.S. military’s conscription of racial\, gender\, and sexual difference\, even as they exercised their embattled agency at home and abroad. \nBy following the scientific\, medical\, and cultural history of Black enlistment through the archive of American militarism\, this book traces the Black subjects and agents of empire as they came into contact with a world globalized by warfare. \nAbout the Author\nKhary Oronde Polk is an Associate Professor of Black Studies & Sexuality\, Women’s and Gender Studies at Amherst College. He is a cultural historian of the African diaspora\, a specialist in LGBTQ studies\, and a scholar of race\, gender\, and sexuality in the U.S. military. Polk received his Ph.D. in American Studies from New York University\, and teaches courses on Black sexuality\, military history\, Black European studies\, race & the American imagination\, and queer theory. He has written for the Studio Museum of Harlem\, The Journal of Negro History\, Women’s Studies Quarterly\, Gawker\, and the journal Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly. Polk has also contributed essays to a number of queer of color anthologies\, including If We Have To Take Tomorrow\, Corpus\, and Think Again. \nRegister for the Zoom Lecture Here
URL:https://thebatonfoundation.org/event/contagions-of-empire-a-conversation-with-professor-khary-polk/
CATEGORIES:Virtual Lecture
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20201025T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20201025T163000
DTSTAMP:20260501T001051
CREATED:20200829T162038Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200925T102215Z
UID:31990-1603638000-1603643400@thebatonfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Homemade Citizenship: All But Inviting Injury
DESCRIPTION:The Baton Foundation is thrilled to host an author discussion about American citizenship vis-à-vis the Black experience in the United States. This program is free\, but registration is required. \nProgram Narrative\nEven when they embody everything the nation claims to respect\, Black people cannot count on being treated like citizens. Simply consider the Black soldiers and nurses who served in the Civil War\, WWI\, and WWII only to be disfranchised and denigrated…or consider the Ivy League-educated constitutional lawyer who rose to the office of president only to face demands that he “show his papers\,” his birth certificate and academic transcripts. Though their success will not likely bring them the safety and respectability it should\, Black people seem to cling to all that purportedly makes one an ideal citizen\, including the heteronormative nuclear family and its traditional household. What does this pattern of investing against the odds reveal about Black culture in the United States? The short answer: homemade citizenship. \nAbout the Book\nIn From Slave Cabins to the White House (University of Illinois Press\, August 2020)\, Koritha Mitchell analyzes canonical texts by and about Black women to lay bare the hostility these women face as they invest in traditional domesticity. Instead of the respectability and safety granted White homemakers\, Black women endure pejorative labels\, racist governmental policies\, attacks on their citizenship\, and aggression meant to keep them in “their place.” \nTracing how Black people define and redefine success in a nation determined to deprive them of it\, Mitchell plumbs the works of Frances Harper\, Zora Neale Hurston\, Lorraine Hansberry\, Toni Morrison\, Michelle Obama\, and others. These artists honor Black homes from slavery and post-emancipation through the Modern Civil Rights era to “post-racial” America. Mitchell follows Black families asserting their citizenship in domestic settings while the larger society and culture marginalize and attack them\, not because they are deviants or failures but because they meet American standards. \nAbout the Author\nKoritha Mitchell is a literary historian\, cultural critic\, and associate professor of English at Ohio State University. She is author of Living with Lynching: African American Lynching Plays\, Performance\, and Citizenship\, which won book awards from the American Theatre and Drama Society and from the Society for the Study of American Women Writers.  Professor Mitchell is editor of the Broadview Edition of Frances Harper’s 1892 novel Iola Leroy\, and her articles include “James Baldwin\, Performance Theorist\, Sings the Blues for Mister Charlie\,” published by American Quarterly\, and “Love in Action\,” which appeared in Callaloo and draws parallels between lynching and violence against LGBTQ+ communities. Her second monograph\, From Slave Cabins to the White House: Homemade Citizenship in African American Culture\, was published in August 2020 by the University of Illinois Press. Her commentary has appeared in outlets such as CNN\, Good Morning America\, The Huffington Post\, NBC News\, PBS Newshour\, and NPR’s Morning Edition. On Twitter\, she’s @ProfKori. \nRegister for Zoom Lecture Here
URL:https://thebatonfoundation.org/event/homemade-citizenship-all-but-inviting-inquiry/
CATEGORIES:Virtual Lecture
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200927T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200927T170000
DTSTAMP:20260501T001051
CREATED:20200904T174518Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200923T202928Z
UID:31996-1601218800-1601226000@thebatonfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Wakanda Forever: Remembering the Life and Work of Chadwick Boseman
DESCRIPTION:The Baton Foundation will host a community discussion to celebrate Chadwick Boseman’s life and extraordinary work. This program is free. Registration is required. \nAbout the Program\nThe world seemed to stop\, if only briefly\, when Chadwick Aaron Boseman died on August 28\, 2020. His short life was exceptional and steeped in history. Over the course of five years (2013-2018)\, Boseman played four characters central to the history of the United States and to the Black community\, in particular: Jackie Robinson\, James Brown\, Thurgood Marshall\, and T’Challa. Later this year\, the world will see Boseman in his final role as Levee\, a trumpeter in the film Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom—adapted from the August Wilson play of the same name. \nMany believe Boseman’s life was “touched by the ancestors” — that he was a messenger sent to remind us not only of the tragedies we have faced\, but also to put before us examples of the resilience within each individual and our community’s determination to never be deterred. \nDuring this program\, panelists will help us place Boseman’s work and life within the context of U.S. history and help us think about the role of film with regards to Black representation. Integral to this program will be the thoughts and voices of our community—those in attendance. \nAbout the Panelist\nYema Thomas is a blossoming art historian and visual/performing artist. In her current role as Coordinator of Public Programs at the High Museum of Art Atlanta\, she works to educate and develop programs to showcase the presence of dynamic cultural activities within her community. Before devoting her full-time work to the High Museum of Art\, Yema established a Diasporic dance program called AfroHeat with the City of Atlanta’s Office of Parks and Recreation which furthered her commitment to fostering arts and culture-based programming for the City’s youth\, seniors and adults. \nYema’s professional and personal affiliations speak to her determination to serve as a lifetime cultural liaison and to celebrate the interconnectedness of places and peoples throughout the African diaspora. Her current research explores connections in African diasporic music and movement with a focus on a distinctly relevant “circle of influence\,” beginning with African retentions in the United States and the Caribbean and how those cultural products (i.e. Jazz\, Salsa\, and Konpa) have been reintroduced to Africa\, contemporarily\, in the form of Kizomba and Afro-Zouk. \nYema is interested in explorations of Identity. She firmly believes that no matter how far an individual has travelled from “home\,” there will always be aspects of physical\, spiritual and intellectual ties to reconnect them to their ancestral roots. Yema was thrilled to work as an extra in the film Black Panther. \nKevin Sipp is a visual artist\, writer\, graphic novelist\, curator and arts administrator living in Metro Atlanta. The main focus of his expressive production is to create aesthetic altars to the transcendent consciousness of Africa and the African Diaspora past\, present\, and future. His art often makes references to African and world mythologies\, Afro-futurism\, cultural identity\, colonial history\, past and contemporary music forms\, and comic book culture. \nKevin has lectured at venues such as Brandeis University\, Emory University’s Michael C. Carlos Museum\, The High Museum of Art\, University of Cape Town South Africa\, various arts festivals and comic book conventions. As a featured poet\, he has shared the stage with such luminaries as Amiri Baraka\, Sonia Sanchez\, Saul Williams and the poets of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. \nKevin Sipp currently works as the Project Supervisor for Gallery 72\, a municipal art space for the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs. Gallery 72 is dedicated to presenting stimulating and thought-provoking contemporary art and programs that focus on advancing Atlanta’s art offerings. Gallery 72 seeks to promote cutting-edge contemporary art\, while extending opportunities for artists and art organizations to explore creative expression and compelling idea. \nEric Bomba-Ire is a filmmaker/writer\, and co-founder of cinemATL.com an online platform for southeastern filmmakers. Originally from Ghana\, Eric has resided in Atlanta for the past 22 years. \nRegister for Zoom Discussion Here
URL:https://thebatonfoundation.org/event/wakanda-forever-remembering-the-life-and-work-of-chadwick-boseman/
CATEGORIES:Community Engagement
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