“Faith in the Shadow of the Plantation: The American Social Sciences and the Problem of the Souls of Black Folk
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Tag Archives: Humanities and Social Sciences
The Penn Center in Beaufort, SC is hosting a Civil Rights Symposium this Friday and Saturday
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Penn Center Civil Rights Symposium, 1862-2014
November 21-22
Beaufort, St. Helena Island, South Carolina
http://penncenter.com/articles/2014/11/penn-center-civil-rights-symposium
Since 1862, the Penn Center has been a historic site education that established a school to protect, defend and advance freedom for all citizens, newly freed and those already protected. The Penn Center is organizing a conference to facilitate greater state and regional understanding of this history and developing a network to continue network development and organization. A longer term goal is to utilize this opportunity to launch the Penn Center Civil Rights Institute, the first of several regional institutes for commemoration and facilitation of civil rights discourse, organization and planning.
The Penn Center is situated to lead the contemporary effort to secure a quality education and voting rights for all students. As such, the Penn Center is inviting key stakeholders in this movement to speak, including Dave Dennis, Bob Moses, Connie Curry, Cleve Sellers, Chuck McDew, Emory Campbell, Millicent Brown, Hayes Mizell, Jim Campbell, Myrtle Glascoe and other key civil rights activists who participated in the Penn Center’s involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. This can only be possible with local experts on the topic such as Emory Campbell, Victoria Smalls, and Maria Benac. Invited scholars and activists will address issues around the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the repeal of key components of federal protection of the right to vote, the re-segregation of public schools and the school to prison pipeline, the role (and peril) of historically black colleges and universities in today’s society, and the role of museums and programs of social justice for the contemporary civil rights movement.
As part of the conference, the Penn Center will also facilitate the participation of youth and young in workshops and panels on police violence and strategies around achieving a quality public education. This includes working with Dave Dennis, civil rights organizer from 1961-1965, and Algebra Project organizer since 1990, and Bob Moses, civil rights organizer from 1960-1965 and Algebra Project and Young People’s Project founder, 1990. There will also be screenings of recent documentaries on he Civil Rights Movement and issue facing our communities, such as: Freedom Summer, Freedom Riders, The Corridor of Shame, etc.
The outcome and benefit of the conference and launching the Civil Rights Institute at Penn Center is to further inform the local, state, and regional understanding of this very crucial history. This further develops the role of the Penn Center and Beaufort in the growing regional and national visibility of an area vital to ongoing discussions of quality public education in the country. This, as noted, will also develop the content and professional development of teachers, leadership development of youth and young people, and will contribute to enhancing the vitality of education throughout South Carolina.
“Black Students and Black Studies: A Founding History, 1966-1970” by Ibram Kendi
Alternative Fall Break
Richard Porcher: Lecture & Book Signing
Richard Porcher’s long-awaited magnum opus “The Market Preparation of Carolina Rice” was published in the summer of 2014 by the University of South Carolina Press.
A botanist by training, Porcher has brought all his academic expertise together with the passion of a lowcountry native to provide a comprehensive history of the rice industry in South Carolina from its beginnings in the 1680s to its demise in the early twentieth
century. In partnership with the Lowcountry Rice Project, the CLAW program will host a lecture and book-signing by Dr. Porcher on Tuesday, September 16th at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the new Science Building at the corner of Calhoun and Coming Street, with a reception following in the Addlestone Library.
“Pestilence in Paradise: Dr. William Hillary’s Epidemiology in Colonial Barbados.”
Film Screening, The New Black (March 27 at 6 p.m.)
Film Screening: The Alliance for Full Acceptance and (AFFA) & the Avery Research Center present the South Carolina premier of “The New Black” and a discussion with the film’s producer, Yvonne Welbon. “The New Black” is a powerful story of Black families and churches grappling with gay rights and civil rights in the midst of the fight for marriage equality.
Date/Time/Location: Thursday, March 27, 2014, 6:00pm, 125 Bull Street, Charleston, SC. Free and open to the public.
Avery Research Center Hosts One of the First Conferences of its Kind
Black sexuality and gender identities have traditionally been taboo topics – until recently. This fall the College of Charleston’s Avery Research Center will host one of the first academic conferences to explicitly focus on these topics and more. “Unleashing the Black Erotic: Gender and Sexuality – Passion, Power and Praxis” will include panels ranging from “Women, Sex, and Hip Hop” to the “State of the Field,” which will feature nationally influential scholars. Renowned journalist and feminist author, Joan Morgan will deliver the keynote address on Thursday, September 19, 2013 at 4:00 p.m., and this event is free and open to the public. The entire conference will be held from September 18 through 21, 2013 at the Avery Research Center (125 Bull St.). View registration information and full schedule here.
Read a Chronicle of Higher Education article on the rise of black sexuality.
For the second year in a row, the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture’s annual conference is breaking ground. Last year’s Black Power conference also drew national attention, including an article in USA Today, and brought international scholars to the College’s campus.
“It is so important that we talk about these issues now, and it is so important that we talk about them here, in Charleston, South Carolina,” says Patricia Lessane, director of the Avery Research Center. “We want to host work that is interesting, work that is being done around the world, and yes, work that is edgy.”
The late African American poet and civil rights activist Audre Lorde argued that the “erotic” involves various forms of personal pleasure, from sexuality and physical appearance to art, music, poetry, and performance. During the 1970s, Lorde advocated for African American women to empower themselves by embracing the erotic as part of the black feminist movement. Conference organizers highlighted Lorde’s definition of the erotic in their call for papers and panels, which yielded a record number.
Consuela Francis, College of Charleston professor of African American studies explains, “We will come together to examine what it means to be black, female, male, gay, straight, and anything in between. In doing so, we acknowledge our agency and power, and collectively unleash the black erotic.”
“This conference is very unique,” Lessane adds. “The interdisciplinary nature of ours, and the focus on different black sexualities really makes this conference one of the first of its kind.”
In addition to the panels, there will also be a dramatic performance by E. Patrick Johnson that is free and open to the public. The one-man-show is entitled “Sweet Tea: Stories of Gay Black Men in the South.”
This conference is hosted jointly by the Avery Research Center and the African American Studies program at the College of Charleston. For more information, contact averyconferences@gmail.com or 843.953.7609.