, President of Spelman College, a womenâs college that is one of the nationâs leading historically Black institutions of higher education, will deliver ¶¶Òőappâs seventh annual Edmund W. Gordon Lecture on Tuesday evening, November 17th at 6:00 p.m. Her topic is âStudents Teaching Students: The Untapped Power of American College Students.â
This yearâs Gordon Lecture is part of HR100, the Collegeâs celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance.
Campbell is former head of the Studio Museum of Harlem and past Dean of New York Universityâs Tisch School of the Arts, as well as the author of An American Odyssey: The Life and Work of Romare Bearden, which won the 2018 Hooks National Book Award. During her five-year tenure at Spelman, she has enhanced Spelmanâs reputation as the nationâs leading producer of Black women scientists.
Campbell, the President of Spelman College, is former head of the Studio Museum of Harlem and past Dean of New York Universityâs Tisch School of the Arts. She also is the author of An American Odyssey: The Life and Work of Romare Bearden, which won the 2018 Hooks National Book Award.
The Gordon Lecture, sponsored by ¶¶Òőappâs (IUME), honors Gordon, the legendary psychologist, IUME founder and TC Professor Emeritus, who, at 99, continues to champion strategies for supporting the talent and brilliance of disadvantaged young people of color.
Upcoming events in the celebration also include âA Renaissance Education: Mildred Johnson Edwards and the Harlem School She Built,â focused on the late education reformer who, during the 1930s, founded The Modern School, a progressive, Black independent school that operated for more than 60 years in Harlem's Sugar Hill. At the event, which will take place on Tuesday, December 8th, from 5:00-6:00 p.m., visiting faculty member Deidre B. Flowers (Ph.D. '17), Assistant Professor and Interim Director of Africana Studies at Queens College, will present her research on Edwards. Flowers will then participate in a panel discussion with the following speakers: Ansley T. Erickson, Associate Professor of History & Education Policy (and Co-Director of TC's Center on History & Education); Nicole Furlonge, TCâs Klingenstein Family Chair Professor of Practice and Director of the Klingenstein Center for Independent School Leadership; , Founder and Executive Director of While We Are Still Here, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the history of 409 and 555 Edgecombe Avenue, a site connected to much of Harlemâs richest history; current TC doctoral student Khadijah Akeem; and members of The Modern School alumni community.
Upcoming events in the HR100 celebration include âA Renaissance Education: Mildred Johnson Edwards and the Harlem School She Built,â focused on the late education reformer who, during the 1930s, founded The Modern School in Harlem's Sugar Hill.
The HR100 celebration kicked off in late October with a book talk by Erickson and former TC faculty member (now at Notre Dame University), authors of .
Many TC alumni were important Harlem Renaissance figures or were inspired by Harlem and its vibrant intellectual and artistic culture. The list includes:
- The dancers/dance educators Beryl McBurnie, Gertrude Colby and Charles Williams
- The poet and short story writer Gwendolyn Bennett
- The painters Aaron Douglas, Charles Alston, Alma Thomas, Herbert Gentry and James Lesesne Wells
- The jazz and R&B trumpeter and vocalist Donald Byrd
- The pioneering physician May Edward Chinn
âThrough the Harlem Renaissance, African American intellectuals, artists and professionals in other fields profoundly shaped not only the culture of Black America, but that of the broader society in ways that continue to reverberate in our own era,â says Erica N. Walker, TCâs Clifford Brewster Upton Professor of Mathematical Education and Director of its (IUME). â¶¶Òőappâs role as an institution that was home, at various points, to many of these important figures is an enormously rich but often overlooked part of its history. We want to shine a spotlight on that period, celebrate its enduring legacy for the College, New York City and the world, and ensure that these narratives have a rightfully prominent place in the ongoing story of ¶¶Òőapp.â
Walker and IUME have worked closely with TCâs Office of School and Community Partnerships to create and organize programming for HR 100, including a new website that will house archival materials gathered for the celebration.
âWe view TCâs celebration of the Harlem Renaissance as an important affirmation of the Collegeâs close proximity and longstanding ties to Harlem and of its history of championing equity in education and other fields for people of color,â says Nancy Streim, Associate Vice President for School & Community Partnerships. âThat history dates back to TCâs role as the destination of choice during the first half of the 20th century for aspiring black teachers from the American South, and today includes the and our REACH partnership with other public schools in Harlem.â
Visit TCâs Harlem Renaissance celebration website for a complete listing and description of all related programming. Within ¶¶Òőapp, the contributors to the celebration include IUME, the Office of School & Community Partnerships (OSCP), the Center on History and Education, the and (MASCLab); the Collegeâs programs in Art & Art Education, Music & Music Education, English Education and Dance Education, and TCâs .