Where Black Education Lives: The Convergence of History, Community, Policy, and Practice

Join Dr. Elizabeth Todd-Breland and Dr. Bianca J. Baldridge for this timely and important discussion. Dr. Todd-Breland is author of the award-winning book A Political Education: Black Politics and Reform in Chicago since the 1960s (UNC Press, 2018), associate professor of history at the University of Illinois-Chicago, and a member of the Chicago Board of Education. Dr. Bianca Bladridge is author of the award-winning book, Reclaiming Community: Race and the Uncertain Future of Youth Work (Stanford Press, 2019), associate professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and former 20-year youth worker. Dr. Michelle A. Purdy, Wash U associate professor of Education and affiliated faculty with African and African-American Studies and Urban Studies, will serve as moderator.

The detrimental effects of COVID-19, protests and calls for racial justice, and critiques of Critical Race Theory continue to illuminate persistent systemic inequities in the United States. Yet, the current historical, political, and social moment also demonstrates the multi-faceted reality of where Black Education lives. Historically and presently, Black Education lives in Black students of all ages, parents and families, teachers, leaders of community-based educational spaces, community members, organizers, and more as they navigate their realties, thrive and succeed, and create anew. This moderated discussion features two extraordinary scholars in conversation about “Where Black Education Lives” and what it means to research with and about Black people, to participate in community endeavors to advance healthy and positive policies and practices, and to imagine new possibilities for Black education.

Sponsored by the Department of African and African-American Studies Intellectual Life Series and the Department of Education, Washington University in St. Louis