Events

Holocaust testimony is typically associated with the oldest among us. This program asks us to do something counterintuitive: to listen to young people and hear—and respond to—how they find or at least seek hope amid tragedy. Let’s take some time to discuss how the youngest generations are affected by the atrocities of the Holocaust by listening as they bespeak their relationship to the events of the past. How have they have grown up encountering the responsibility (or “response”-ability) to keep intact the long chain of witness. During this intergenerational conversation, we invite our elders to listen to young people as they learn how to connect with their ancestors’ history.

An open rehearsal of DESEGREGATION REMIX: 3 Women Sing the Borders, with text by JANICE A. LOWE and LEE ANN BROWN and Music by Janice A. Lowe is a multimedia play with music that explores the well-meaning altruism of 3 friends who link up to renovate an apartment for a family of recent immigrants to Brooklyn. Emotional brambles surface and intersect when the women, all transplants to New York City, morph into their child selves, meet on a surreal plane and negotiate their shared backgrounds of having lived in the southern U.S. as court ordered busing to achieve integration of public schools was taking effect in the 1970s. The piece evolves into an audience participatory and in-the-moment sound installation interacting with the questions: Do you remember when you were one of a few? How did it feel to be the only one? Performers include Janice Lowe & Namaroon, DJ Manny Ward, Olithea Anglin, Lee Ann Brown, Melanie Dyer, Aliria Johnson, Bi Jean Ngo and Yohann Potico.

Professor Jeffrey Shandler, Chair and Professor of Jewish Studies at Rutgers University

What happens when Holocaust survivors perform in Yiddish while recording videos of their life stories?  The USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive—the largest collection of videotaped interviews with Holocaust survivors—includes hundreds of interviews conducted entirely or partially in Yiddish. During dozens of these recordings, survivors sing a song or recite a poem in Yiddish.  Interview excerpts featuring some of these remarkable performances illustrate the survivors’ powerful commitment to demonstrating the creative power of Yiddish in the midst of recalling widespread destruction.  [Illustrated with video clips]

Ritchie Bryant, Lecturer, National Technical Institute for the Deaf

The existence of a distinct Black Deaf culture has often gone unnoticed in the predominately white Deaf community. Ritchie Bryant, a native ASL user and interpreter, discusses the many artistic and linguistic contributions of Black Deaf people to the wider society.

Maya Wiley presents the Higginbotham Lecture.

Join us for a book talk with Kehinde Andrews, Associate Professor in Sociology in the School of Social Sciences at Birmingham City University.  Free and open to the public.  Refreshments will be served.

Join us for a book talk with Michael Hanchard about his book, "The Spectre of Race: How Discrimination Haunts Western Democracy."  Light refreshments will be provided.  This event is free and open to the public. If you require reasonable accommodations, please provide at least 5 days notice.

Amber Hikes & Jovida Hill discuss the lack of understanding, the unsafe feelings, the harassment of women, minorities, and those in the LGBT community, as well tips on how to respond and, perhaps, how to end street harassment.

Africana Studies Faculty Colloquium presents: The Case for an Aesthetics of Black Aliveness by Kevin Quashie, professor in the Department of English at Brown University. He is the author of three books, most recently The Sovereignty of Quiet: Beyond Resistance in Black Culture (2012).

Dr. Sorenson will discuss how views on sexual assault have changed during the past 50-years with a particular focus on the role of college campuses.  The hour will be split between her talk and a conversation about what might be next.