Observing the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, the symposium will be both commemorative and forward-looking.

Hosted by the Clarice Smith Center, in partnership with the UMD School of Public Policy and the UMD School of Public Health, the symposium is the launch of The National Civil War Project at the Center. With the Civil War as the genesis of the Civil Rights Movement in this country, scholarly presentations and stimulating artistic experiences will examine issues of the Civil War through the lens of our nation’s civil rights struggles. It will place the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in its historic context, both as the culmination of the struggle since the Emancipation Proclamation and as the stage-setting for a new generation of civil rights issues that reveal the important— but often hidden — inequalities of our time.

Throughout the symposium, ‘visual journalist’ Ellen Lovelidge will capture salient points using artistic interpretation. Able to see ideas from an innovative perspective and present them to audiences with a combination of words and pictures, Lovelidge’s work will allow symposium attendees to interpret and embrace new concepts. The pieces created as part of the symposium will be displayed in the lobby and samples will be available to attendees as artistic documentation of their experience.

Thursday, September 5, 2013

6 – 6:45PM
Opening reception

7 – 8:15PM
Keynote: Why the March on Washington Still Resonates Today

Julian Bond, speaker
Introduction by UMD student Jazz Lewis

Fifty years ago, and 100 years following the Civil War, more than 250,000 people gathered on the National Mall in Washington, DC to mount a peaceful protest for jobs and freedom for African Americans. One of the largest rallies for human rights in our history, it fueled support for the Civil Rights Movement and led to the passage of legislation that transformed our nation. Civil rights leader and activist Julian Bond was at the March and has devoted his career to fighting for human equality.

His speech will explore the goals of both the 1963 march and the August 24, 2013 march, giving consideration to the civil rights movement then and now. Mr. Bond will recount his own history and experiences at both marches, making the connection to the significance of the recent Trayvon Martin case and the Voting Rights Amendment.

8:30 – 9PM
Creative framing

Liz Lerman, choreographer, speaker and author
Vincent Thomas, choreographer, dancer and educator

What does change look like today? Are our actions relevant? How do we keep ourselves going? What feeds us? Our bodies are both a source of knowledge and a tool for inquiry. Liz Lerman and Vincent Thomas, experts on embodied learning, will draw on participants' observations, experiences, and ideas about the issues addressed in the symposium, and then reflect on and synthesize what's happening and what might be possible. Requiring only curiosity, expect to engage, witness, listen, imagine and make art together.

Friday, September 6, 2013

10 –11:30AM
TerpTalks: Jobs and Freedom: How Far Have We Come?

Preceded by creative framing for the day with Liz Lerman, choreographer, speaker, MacArthur fellow; Vincent Thomas, choreographer, dancer and educator; and Donald F. Kettl, Dean, UMD School of Public Policy, Dean, UMD School of Public Policy

Despite the successes of the March on Washington and the Civil Rights Movement, we are still striving to achieve the principles behind the movement: equality, peace, and freedom. African-Americans continue to struggle disproportionately against poverty and to gain equal access to education and health care. Our TerpTalkers will speak for 15 minutes followed by the opportunity for audience members to ask questions.

REV. CEDRIC A. HARMON: “Creating a More Perfect Union”

Rev. Harmon is Co-Director with Ann Thompson Cook of Many Voices, a Black Church Movement aimed at growing and nurturing gay and transgender justice.

HOWARD SMEAD: “Racial Violence as the Defining Truth of White Racism”

Dr. Smead teaches in the History Department and Honors College at UMD and is the author of Blood Justice: The Lynching of Mack Charles Parker, which recounts an all but forgotten lynching in Poplarville, Mississippi in 1959, and Don’t Trust Anyone Over Thirty, a history of the Baby Boomer generation.

PERLA M. GUERRERO : “Reactions to a Diversifying U.S. South”

Dr. Guerrero is Assistant Professor of American Studies & U.S. Latina/o Studies at UMD. She is in the process of writing Asians and Latinas/os Remaking Arkansas: Race, Labor, Place, and Community, which traces the arrival and racialization of refugees and immigrants in the last quarter of the 20th century.

DARIUS GRAHAM: “Cultivating Community Change”

Darius is the founder and director of DC Social Innovation Project, an organization that provides both funding and pro bono services to support the development and launch of innovative community initiatives in Washington, DC.

11:30 – 11:45AM
Break

11:45AM – 12:30PM
TerpTalks, continued

STEPHEN B. THOMAS: “Why Race Matters in Eliminating Health Disparities”

Dr. Thomas is a Professor of Health Services Administration in the School of Public Health and Director of the University of Maryland Center for Health Equity. He is one of the nation’s leading scholars on health inequities and works to eliminate racial and ethnic health disparities.

KALIMA YOUNG: “Mapping the Arts to Transform the Community”

Kalima directs the Baltimore Art + Justice Project in the Office of Community Engagement at the Maryland Institute College of Art. She is also an instructor in LGBT Studies at Towson University.

ANDY SHALLAL: “The Prism of Race in America”

Andy is an Iraqi-American artist and activist, as well as founder of the Busboys and Poets restaurants in the greater Washington, DC area.

12:30 – 1:15PM
And the March Continues

A conversation with UMD student activists Raaheela Ahmed, Ola Ojewumi, Andrew Mulinge and Sarah Ferrell
Facilitated by Truman Scholar and UMD student Mohammad Zia

The new era of civil rights activism is alive and well on college campuses across the nation, including here at the University of Maryland. Join these young visionaries as they talk about the impact that the Civil Rights Movement has had on their work and how it continues to inspire them in their pursuit of social change.

1:15 – 2PM
Lunch

2 – 3:15PM
Rights, Equality and the American Dream

Panel discussion
Speakers:
Judith Browne Dianis, founder of the Advancement Project
Peter Edelman, Center on Poverty, Inequality, and Public Policy at Georgetown University Law Center
The Rev. Dr. Edna Canty Jenkins, Embry Center for Family Life
Stephen B. Thomas, Director of the University of Maryland Center for Health Equity
The Rev. Dr. Christine Wiley, Covenant Baptist United Church of Christ
Kojo Nnamdi, moderator
Introduced by UMD student Ben Simon

The Enlightenment era gave rise to the United States of America and promised great opportunity. The emergence of public libraries and schools, transportation departments, the democratization of elections and the GI Bill guided millions into an upward mobility that seemed without limit. But opportunities have never been universal and African Americans have long been at the end of the line, even as other minority groups have gained access to them faster. Voting rights, education, health, housing and libraries have always been unevenly distributed. Join our speakers in the conversation of why racial inequities are on the rise again and what we can do to address this reality.

3:15 – 3:30PM
Break

3:30 – 4:45PM
Keynote: Still Marching: the Work That Lies Ahead

Marian Wright Edelman, speaker
Preceded by creative framing by Liz Lerman and Vincent Thomas

The March on Washington paved the way for major changes in our country. But the struggle for equality continues in the fight for equal access to health care, education, and a shot at living the American dream. Marian Wright Edelman, a participant in the March and a lifelong activist for racial justice and children’s rights, will consider how far we’ve come and how far we have to go to achieve its goals.

4:45 – 5:30PM
Marching Forward: A Call to Action

Touré, speaker

Generations that have come after the March on Washington know only a transformed America, in which discrimination based on race is prohibited, and equal access for everyone is protected by the law. Writer, commentator and cultural critic Touré will discuss what the movement means to post-Civil Rights generations, and deliver a call to action to continue working toward the movement’s goals.

8PM
Christian McBride Big Band, Harry Belafonte and Heritage Signature Chorale: The Movement Revisited

Christian McBride, Harry Belafonte and Heritage Signature Chorale kick off our 2013-2014 season with a new incarnation of The Movement Revisited, a four-part suire dedicated to four major figures of the Civil Rights Movement: Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Separate tickets are required; purchase them here.

This project was made possible by a grant from the Maryland Humanities Council, through support from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities or the Maryland Humanities Council.

This program is also supported by the Prince George’s Arts and Humanities Council.

The National Civil War Project is a multi-city, multi-year collaboration between four universities and five performing arts organizations to create original works and innovative academic programming inspired by the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.

      

This event is part of our Civil War to Civil Rights: The Well-Being of a Nation series.