In 1968, civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer called for Americans to “wake up” if they wanted to “make democracy a reality.” Today, as Black communities continue to face challenges built on centuries of discrimination, her plea is increasingly relevant. Based on her newest book to be published in February, Dr. Keisha N. Blain offers critical insights on how we can create a more equitable political future. In addressing our most pressing issues and providing key takeaways, this talk serves as a blueprint for the steps we can take right now, and in the years to come.

Over the past few months, several state legislatures and governors have targeted “critical race theory”—a high-level legal and academic discipline. These attacks have provided justification for banning books by Black scholars and other writers of color. While the obsession over “critical race theory” is a new manifestation, it represents long-standing efforts to keep Black history—and the perspectives of Black writers—out of the classroom. The attack on “critical race theory” is often rooted in a desire to shield children from the uncomfortable aspects of history and evade “sensitive” topics, such as racism, white supremacy and inequality. In this talk, Dr. Blain argues for the importance of Black perspectives in the classroom and offers solutions for how parents, educators and concerned citizens can resist attempts to whitewash curricula in schools.

Anti-racism is the active process of identifying and eliminating racism in society. At a fundamental level, anti-racist work represents an ongoing commitment to dismantling systems of oppression and challenging structures, policies, practices and attitudes that perpetuate legacies of racism. In this talk, Dr. Blain discusses the importance of anti-racist principles to the larger goals of dismantling structures of inequality in the United States and redressing past harms and injustices. The talk draws upon lessons from history to highlight various strategies and solutions to current challenges in American society.

The struggle for Black political rights has reshaped the United States in fundamental ways. For centuries, Black people in America have resisted the social constraints and legal frameworks that have attempted to bar their political engagement. These activists, from diverse backgrounds and in various locales, have called upon everyone in the United States to play an active role in building an inclusive democracy—one that lives up to the ideals on which the nation was founded. In this talk, Dr. Blain provides a historical overview of some of the icons of the long struggle for Black political rights. The talk highlights the many strategies Black people employed to ensure that they would have full rights as citizens of the United States.

While mainstream historical narratives tend to focus on the political work of men such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and John Lewis, Black women played instrumental roles in shaping the Civil Rights Movement. These women were community organizers and leaders, sustaining the movement as it grew from local communities into a national struggle. Black women, such as Ella Baker, Diana Nash, Jo Ann Robinson and Fannie Lou Hamer, were central to the movement’s success. In this talk, Dr. Blain highlights the significance of these women’s activism during the 1950s and 1960s and brings to light some of the resistance they encountered as women organizing in male-dominated spaces. The talk also emphasizes solutions for how we can confront some of the persistent challenges of sexism and misogyny today.

The history of human rights is often told through the ideas of White men. However, Black women throughout U.S. history have been at the forefront of challenging racism and white supremacy on the global stage. From Ida B. Wells to today’s Black Lives Matter leaders, Black women have effectively used the language of human rights to address racial injustice in the United States and abroad. Although Black women were largely shut out of the formal halls of power for much of United States history, they utilized a range of strategies and tactics to agitate for the rights of all people. In this talk, Dr. Blain offers a new history of human rights thinking and activism by recounting how Black women in the United States, in various locales and from diverse social backgrounds, fought for the rights and dignity of all.