Centering Black Childhoods Speakers Series

We are very excited to share our inaugural Speakers Series event: Centering Black Childhoods: Scholars, Activists, and Communities in Conversation.  This event will feature comments from Dr. Camika Royal, Shakira King, and our very own Gaylene Gordon. It will take place via Zoom webinar on Wednesday, March 9 from 6-7:30 p.m.  Please see the attached PDF Poster for details and be sure to register for the event here: https://rcit.rutgers.edu/apps/payment /register.php?event_id=789

The Speakers Series is funded by the IDEA-Camden Innovation Grant from Rutgers University. The event is open to the public and we hope it provides an avenue to build collaborations and foster ongoing discussions and actions.  Please share WIDELY across communities.  The poster is attached and a weblink will be added shortly to the Childhood Studies Events page.

As background, the Speakers Series emerges out of the Childhood Studies Racial Justice Initiative (CSRJ), a collaboration between Department of Childhood Studies faculty and graduate students that developed in response to the demands of Black Lives Matter and the reinvigorated movement for racial justice in summer 2020. One of CSRJ’s core aims is to challenge the whiteness of childhood studies. In an effort to rectify this problem, we are hosting a series of virtual conversations among scholars and activists centering Black childhoods. Curated by doctoral students and faculty, these virtual conversations will be open to community members, including youth workers and young people. By opening up what is often an isolated academic exercise, these interactions are broadly aimed at increasing the visibility of scholarship and activism centering Black childhoods. 

We want to thank the members of our community who have worked on imaging, developing, and getting funding to support this Speakers Series: Heather, Janene, Anna, Palak, Kat, Kathleen, Kate, and Sarada. We also want to thank Joann for designing the fantastic poster.  It has been a collaborative effort and we welcome additional participation as we plan ongoing Centering Black Childhood Speakers events.