On the heels of a successful event on Friday with adjunct instructor Joseph Williams, Black History Month programming will continue with a pair of great events this upcoming week. Dr. Touré Reed will join the College of Staten Island community on Tuesday, February 22, for his presentation entitled, Toward Freedom: The Case Against Race Reductionism, and on Thursday, February 24, the CSI Black Student Union will invite attendees to a seminar entitled Examining the Black Experience on Campus through Digitized Student Publications.  Both events will be held virtually on Zoom.

Toward Freedom – The Case Against Race Reductionism will feature a discussion and Q&A led by Dr. Touré Reed, a fourth-generation African American educator and third generation professor, whose research interests center on race, class, and inequality. Dr. Reed earned his BA in American Studies from Hampshire College and his PhD in History from Columbia University.  In the age of runaway inequality and Black Lives Matter, there is an emerging consensus that our society has failed to redress racial disparities. But who is the culprit? Dr. Touré’s discussion will dive into the question and explore the potential answers.

Toward Freedom will be held at 6:30pm on Tuesday, February 22, and requires registration.  This event is a partnership between the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the Office of Student Life – Pluralism & Diversity, funded by the Campus Activities Board using Student Activity Fees.  For more information please contact john.arena@csi.cuny.edu.

On Thursday, February 24, from 3:30pm-5pm, the Black Student Union on campus will team with the Archives and Special Collections unit of the Library to present Examining the Black Experience on Campus through Digitized Student Publications.  The event will showcase the collection of student newspapers digitized by the Archives and Special Collections, discussing some of the issues gleaned from these newspapers and reflect on the current racial tension in the United States today.  The event, also to be held virtually on Zoom, will also require registration and holds CC CLUE credit for attending students.

The events come on the heels of a terrific event held Friday at the College called No Force in Nature is Lost: Black Club Women and the Production of Religious Thought, a virtual event hosted by Joseph Williams, PhD candidate in the Department of History at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, and Adjunct Instructor in the Department of History at the College of Staten Island. The program explored how Black club women frequently convened across the country to discuss the divine, the afterlife, and other abstract ideas during the Progressive Era. This talk explored the subversive and pluralistic dynamics of their religious thought. As religious thinkers, Black women challenged the racial and gendered status quo and forged a unique intelligentsia in the Black community. The event was part of the Spring 2022 History Department Lecture Series.

For a full lineup of Black History Month programming, follow their Webpage.