Since the historic election of the nation's first African-American president, individuals, groups and even officials at the highest levels are engaging the subject of race more often than ever before. But in Baltimore, race is rarely easily discussed.
OSI-Baltimore has boldly begun that conversation, adding "race" to its agenda of important topics to tackle by cosponsoring a speaker series, Talking About Race. The series, sponsored with the Enoch Pratt Free Library, probes how we in the United States talk (or do not talk) about race from several different perspectives, and why it is imperative that this subject be discussed openly and thoughtfully.
To submit your own story about race, visit www.storiesaboutrace.org.
Below is a full list of events in the series:
Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness? What It Means to Be Black Now
Monday, December 5, 2011, 7:00 p.m., Enoch Pratt Free Library
Author Touré discusses his provocative new book Who’s Afraid of Post-Blackness? What It Means to Be Black Now with special guest commentator Michael Eric Dyson. Touré’s book was acclaimed by the New York Times as “one of the most acutely observed accounts of what it is like to be young, black and middle-class in contemporary America.”
Breaking the Barriers: Helping Black Males Achieve Academic Success
Thursday, October 20, 2011, 7:00 p.m., Enoch Pratt Free Library
Ivory Toldson, associate professor at Howard University, and Raymond Winbush, director of the Institute for Urban Research at Morgan State University, talk about what educators, parents and families can do to ensure that African American boy succeed. Shawn Dove, campaign manager for the Open Society Campaign for Black Male Achievement, serves as moderator.
Do White Americans Get Better Health Care than People of Color?
Thursday, September 15, 2011, 7:00 p.m., Enoch Pratt Free Library
Michelle Gourdine, physician and author of Reclaiming Our Health: A Guide to African American Wellness, and Thomas LaVeist, director of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Disparities Solutions, discuss the inequities that exist in our current medical care system and offer solutions for change.
Refugees in Their Own Country: Race and the Great Migration
Wednesday, January 12, 2011, 7:00 p.m., Enoch Pratt Free Library
For almost 55 years, thousands upon thousands of black Americans from the South left their homes in search of a better future for themselves and their children. Sherrilyn Ifill, Civil Rights lawyer and OSI-Baltimore board member, interviewed Isabel Wilkerson, author of The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration.
Truth and Reconciliation: A Community Comes to Grips with Its Past
Thursday, November 4, 2010, 7:00 p.m., Enoch Pratt Free Library
Commissioner Rev. Mark Sills and Rev. Nelson Johnson and his wife Joyce Johnson discussed the lessons learned from the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The conversation was moderated by U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Judge Andre Davis.
Is Justice Possible in a Race Biased Society?
Tuesday, April 20, 2010, 7:00 p.m., Enoch Pratt Free Library
Bryan Stevenson founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative, and professor at New York University School of Law, and Renée Hutchins, professor at the University of Maryland Law School, discussed how race affects attitudes and outcomes in the criminal justice system.
Is America Really Post-Racial? A Screening of New Muslim Cool
Tuesday, March 2, 2010, 7:00 p.m., Brown Center, Maryland Institute College of Art
An interactive spoken word performance, film screening, and panel discussion, this event examined the emerging worldview of a new generation of Americans. After the screening of New Muslim Cool, Bakari Kitwana, author of The Hip-Hop Generation, moderated a panel discussion. The panel included Nura Maznavi, staff attorney from Muslim Advocates; filmmaker Jennifer Taylor; and independent hip-hop artist MC Hamza—the subject of the film.
"Across the Divide: Stories about Race in Baltimore" Radio Series on WYPR
September 2009 - February 22, 2010, "Maryland Morning" 88.1 FM
A series of short segments entitled "Across the Divide: Stories about Race in Baltimore," produced by WYPR, aired on "Maryland Morning." The series featured personal stories told about experiences around race issues that changed individuals' lives. The series included stories from a number of prominent people as well as from listeners who submit their own stories online.
Stoop Stories
Monday, February 22, 2010, 7:00 p.m., CENTERSTAGE
In partnership with OSI-Baltimore, Stoop Stories, a theme-based performance series produced by Laura Wexler and Jessica Henkin, presented "Across the Divide: Stories about Race in Baltimore," a show about being black and white in Baltimore. The show featured seven storytellers who got seven minutes each to tell a true, personal story about a specific theme. Audience members also got a chance to participate. Listen to stories from the event.
How Does White America Talk About Race?
Tuesday, December 1, 2009, 7:00 p.m., Enoch Pratt Free Library
Why is race still an uncomfortable subject to talk about in the United States? At this event Rich Benjamin, author of Searching for Whitopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of White America, and Tim Wise, author of Between Barack & A Hard Place: Racism & White Denial in the Age of Obama, discussed white America's struggle to talk about race.
Can We Talk About How Race Affects our Classrooms?
Monday, November 2, 2009, 7:00 p.m., Enoch Pratt Free Library
Beverly Daniel Tatum, president of Spelman College and author of Can We Talk About Race? And Other Conversations in an Era of School Resegregation, which discusses how American schools are experiencing increasing and underreported resegregation, spoke with David Hornbeck, former Philadelphia Superintendent of Schools and author of Choosing Excellence in Public Schools: Where There's a Will, There's a Way, about how race plays out in our classrooms.
Do We Still Need to Talk About Race?
Wednesday, September 16, 2009, 7:30 p.m., Enoch Pratt Free Library
With the election of President Obama, some say race is no longer an obstacle to success and that the "American Dream" is more reality than not. At this discussion, Ben Jealous, executive director of the NAACP, and Gerald Torres, professor at the University of Texas Law School and co-author of The Miner's Canary: Enlisting Race, Resisting Power, Transforming Democracy, challenged this assumption.
Talking About Race Now: How to Build Success Without Forgetting the Struggle
Thursday, June 4, 2009, 7:00 p.m., Enoch Pratt Free Library
Gwen Ifill of Washington Week and The News Hour and Sherrilyn A. Ifill, civil rights lawyer and law professor at the University of Maryland School of Law, discussed this pivotal moment in American history and its potential for advancing equity and social justice.
Film Screening: The Black List: Volume Two
Tuesday, April 28, 2009, 7:00 p.m., Brown Center, Maryland Institute College of Art
In partnership with MICA, the Maryland Film Festival, and the Enoch Free Pratt Library, the Open Society Institute-Baltimore presented The Black List: Volume Two, an HBO documentary featuring dramatic portraits of some of today's most fascinating and influential African Americans, who share their stories and insights into the struggles and triumphs of black life in the United States. Filmmakers Timothy Greenfield-Sanders and Elvis Mitchell introduced the film and participated in a Q & A session.