This workshop will focus on the work of Black Poets Speak Out (BPSO) whose hashtag video campaign on Tumblr featured hundreds of videos from Black poets reading in response to the grand jury’s decision on November 24, 2014 not to indict Darren Wilson, the police officer who murdered Mike Brown. According to organizer Mahogany Browne, the project’s purpose “is to centralize in one space hundreds of poems, songs, prayers and testimonies speaking on behalf of black mothers, black fathers, black brothers and sisters—thousands of voices insisting on justice. BlackPoetsSpeakOut videos are a collective outcry for our black lives.”
This series of workshops, co-presented with the Laundromat Project, are developed based on cultural and social engagement. The workshops and lesson plans, developed for secondary school educators (all are welcomed to attend), demonstrate how social studies can serve as a connective tool to empower educators to use books, writing, and reading to further engage students.
All programs are free and open to the public.
The Laundromat Project amplifies the creativity that already exists within communities by using arts and culture to build community networks, solve problems, and enhance our sense of ownership in the places where we live, work, and grow.
Literary Freedom Project seeks to restore the importance of social and cultural identity through reading.
Cost: FREE
