By Dr. La Tasha A. Brown, Program Manager for the Shirley A. Chisholm Center for Equity Studies

The Shirley A. Chisholm Center for Equity Studies presents an online interactive seminar series: Political Activism Through the lens of Shirley Chisholm. Students, faculty, and staff are invited to join this monthly conversation.

The series honors the legacy of Chisholm’s leadership and activism, while exploring the ways in which Chisholm paved the way for thousands of women to seek public office in the New York State and the wider United States.

Students, faculty, and staff are invited to join this monthly conversation.

Follow the Shirley A. Chisholm Center on Twitter @ChisholmCenter.

October 21, 2020, 6:00-7:30 p.m.

The Discrimination Against Shirley Chisholm as a Congresswoman and Presidential Candidate

Dr. Sharon D. Wright Austin will discuss Shirley Chisholm’s early political activism, congressional career, and bid for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination. During the 1960s and early 1970s, few black women held or campaigned for political offices because “women organized, men led.” Women organized political and civil rights efforts, but few ran for office themselves. Dr. Austin will detail the vehement, blatant discrimination Congresswoman Chisholm encountered because of her race and gender, and how her experiences motivated other black political women in later years.

Presented by Dr. Sharon D. Wright Austin, Professor, University of Florida

Registration Link: https://www.esc.edu/drwrightaustin

 

November 18, 2020, 6:00-7:30 p.m.

Alternative President: Winnie Mandela's Challenge

The political leadership of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in South Africa and the end of her paternalized relationship with Nelson Mandela is instructive. Throughout his twenty-seven year incarceration, she exercised leadership, created a movement in her husband’s name, which almost destroyed her given her activism in the face of the world’s last and most horrendous system of racial oppression – apartheid. Still, she was heavily castigated for her role in the relationship’s demise. The pattern is a certain trivialization of that leadership based on sexuality as opposed to actual political contributions.

Presented by Dr. Carole E. Boyce Davies, Professor, Cornell University

Registration Link: https://www.esc.edu/drboycedavies

 

February 24, 2021, 6:00-7:30 p.m.

Educational Equity During the Pandemic and Beyond

There has been a major push to infuse technology into every aspect of schooling. As technology has become an intrinsic part of the world of work, the desire has been to prepare students for the future by requiring its use not only in the classroom, but at home. However, what happens when students do not have internet access in their homes? If they do have access to the internet, how do they help their children when all the information necessary to complete assignments resides in the brain and plans of the teacher because no learning materials have been distributed for both students and parents to reference? This presentation will explore the
widening gap between families and schools, facilitated by the almost complete dependence on technology and internet capabilities for access to knowledge.

Presented by Dr. Jelia Domingo, Associate Professor, SUNY Empire State College

Registration Link: https://www.esc.edu/drdomingo

 

For further details contact Dr. La Tasha A. Brown, program manager for the Shirley A. Chisholm Center for Equity Studies.