Building Human Connection Across Time and Space
In this unusual time of social isolation and fear of an invisible enemy, the Race and the American Story Project aims to remind us all of the antidotes for these ills: human solidarity and love for one another. Isolation and fear are, after all, not new enemies; they are perennial obstacles to the practice of democracy and the achievement of justice. Those who study and live the story of race in America know this perhaps better than anyone. The events of our annual symposium highlight and explore this story from many angles, guided by distinguished scholars.
Each year, the students and faculty involved in the course participate in a two-day immersive symposium held at a location of significance for the history of race in America. The goal is to engage in illuminating conversations, listen to unique presentations, encounter local history and culture, and build our community by getting to know one another.
Last year the COVID-19 pandemic required a reconfiguration of the concept and the Race and the American Story Symposium 2020 – originally scheduled at the the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, March 20-21 – became Zoomposium 2020. The 2021 symposium will also be virtual, repeating the safety protocol
This year, with the COVID-19 pandemic still raging, we will hold the annual symposium via Zoom, with plans to resume in-person spring of 2022.
Our Third Annual Race and the American Story Symposium will take a hard look at issues of race in the US today through the dual lenses of foundations and aspirations. Grappling with the past reveals the ground beneath us; looking to the future illuminates the long road ahead. During two sessions, RAS faculty and students will engage in these two perspectives – the first session will reflect on the foundational constructions of race and identity; the second session will consider the contemporary climate and culture, and will offer aspirations for the future. The Symposium will culminate in a unique opportunity: a post-screening discussion of the critically acclaimed movie Princess of the Row with Edi Gathegi and other cast members.
Spring 2021
Via Zoom Technology
EXECUTIVE SESSIONS
- April 23 Third Annual Race and the American Story Symposium Day 1
9:30 – 12:15 pm PT / 11:30 – 2:15 pm CT / 12:30 – 3:15 pm ET
Session 1 | Foundations: The foundational constructions of race and identity
Session 2 | Aspirations: The contemporary climate, culture, and aspirations for the future
Register here: http://ow.ly/2zxJ50EsEZ6 - April 24 Third Annual Race and the American Story Symposium Day 2
11:00 – 2:00 pm PT / 1:00 – 4:00 pm CT / 2:00 – 5:00 pm ET
Session 1 | Film screening of Princess of the Row
Session 2 | Post-screening Q&A with producer and actor Edi Gathegi
Register here: http://ow.ly/tlaK50EsEJu - Date TBD Summit on Race and Higher Education
Topic 1 | Our Campuses: Campus Climate on Issues of Race and Diversity
Topic 2 | Our Classrooms: Curriculum and Student Learning
OPEN SESSIONS
Dates and Topics TBD
Spring 2020
Via Zoom Technology
EXECUTIVE SESSIONS
- March 27 Summit on Race and Higher Education
Topic 1 | Our Campuses: Campus Climate on Issues of Race and Diversity
Topic 2 | Our Classrooms: Curriculum and Student Learning
OPEN SESSIONS
- April 3 Thomas Jefferson’s Story
1:00 – 2:30 pm PT / 4:00 – 5:30 pm ET
A conversation featuring Annette Gordon-Reed, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family, and Thomas Jefferson Foundation Professor Emeritus Peter S. Onuf, co-authors of the New York Times Bestseller Most Blessed of the Patriarchs: Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of the Imagination.
Watch on YouTube
- April 17 Race and American Sports
1:00 – 2:30 PT / 4:00 – 5:30 ET
A conversation featuring Aram Goudsouzian, Professor of History at the University of Memphis and author of King of the Court: Bill Russell and the Basketball Revolution, and Scott Brooks, Associate Professor in the T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics as well as Director of Research for the Global Sport Institute at Arizona State University.
Watch on YouTube
- April 18 Race and American Music
1:00 – 2:30 PT / 4:00 – 5:30 ET
A conversation featuring Charles Hughes, Director of the Lynne and Henry Turley Memphis Center at Rhodes College and author of Country Soul: Making Music and Making Race in the American South.
Watch on YouTube
- April 24 Race and the COVID Crisis
1:00 – 2:30 PT / 4:00 – 5:30 ET
A conversation featuring Donna Patterson, Director of Africana Studies at Delaware State University and author of Pharmacy in Senegal: Gender, Healing, and Entrepreneurship, and Andre Perry, a Fellow in the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings and author of the forthcoming book Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities.
Watch on YouTube
- April 28 The Story of the James Baldwin-William F. Buckley, Jr. Debate
12:00 – 1:30 PT / 3:00 – 4:30 ET
A conversation featuring Nicholas Buccola, Director of the Frederick Douglass Forum at Linfield College and author of The Fire is Upon Us: James Baldwin, William F. Buckley, Jr., and the Debate over Race in America.
Watch on YouTube
