Civil Rights Museum Community Days

On Thursday, May 19, in Lower School, law professor and author Katheryn Russell-Brown spent a full day reading and discussing her children’s books with our students. Professor Russell-Brown read A Voice Named Aretha, Little Melba and Her Big Trombone, and She Was the First: The Trailblazing Life of Shirley Chisolm, and participated in Q&A sessions. 

Day two of the event began with a conversation with Judith Heumann, a disability rights activist who was instrumental in bringing about IDEA and other important milestones in public accessibility. IDEAL Founder and Trustee Audra Zuckerman led the discussion with IDEAL senior Max. After a break when students shared their research projects with guests over Zoom, the students returned to the gym for a presentation from Robert Masters and Charles Imohiosen of The Andrew Goodman Foundation. They shared a history of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, when Andrew Goodman was a Freedom Rider, and how the work continues on college campuses to this day. The final presentation came from New York Secretary of State Robert Rodriguez, who talked about his work developing public-good infrastructure projects, creating good-paying jobs, and addressing financial disparities for historically underrepresented minorities and low-income communities. At the same time, Katheryn Russell-Brown led an interactive discussion on the theme of justice with students who chose her program. Guests and community members were also able to experience Solo Flight, a hologram installation from Heidi Latsky Dance, that gave three differently-abled dancers a forum to share their experiences with the viewer.