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Kristina García
News Officer
klg@upenn.edu
Africana Studies
26th annual MLK symposium goes online
26th annual MLK symposium goes online
Virtual events over three weeks offer opportunities to reflect, engage, and celebrate with family, colleagues, and friends.
Exacerbating the health care divide
Exacerbating the health care divide
With rates of diagnoses and death disproportionately affecting racial minorities and low-income workers, experts from the School of Arts & Sciences address how COVID-19 has further exposed already dire health outcome inequalities.
‘Then and Now: Black-Jewish Relations in the Civil Rights Movement’
‘Then and Now: Black-Jewish Relations in the Civil Rights Movement’
Professor of religious studies Anthea Butler gave an overview of shared history and discussed next steps in “Then and Now: Black-Jewish Relations in the Civil Rights Movement,” an event hosted by the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies.
How the Africana Studies Summer Institute went virtual
How the Africana Studies Summer Institute went virtual
The 2020 Africana Summer Institute adopted a new vision, working to prepare freshmen for a virtual life at Penn.
Mary Frances Berry, a ‘woman of the century’
Mary Frances Berry, a ‘woman of the century’
In a profile, the Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought and Professor of History discusses her history as an adviser on education and civil rights, and today’s protest movements.
Takeaways from the vice presidential debate
Takeaways from the vice presidential debate
Historian Barbara D. Savage shares her thoughts on the first vice presidential debate in history featuring a Black woman.
Black joy and resistance in ‘times of struggle’
Black joy and resistance in ‘times of struggle’
Nakeeya Garland, a senior from Oakland, California majoring in Africana studies, examines Black joy and resistance during a summer internship at the African American Museum of Philadelphia.
Barbara Savage sees ‘bright spots’ in her research, even in a pandemic
Barbara Savage sees ‘bright spots’ in her research, even in a pandemic
Before the world went into lockdown, the Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought in the Department of Africana Studies at Penn had been traveling around the globe to conduct research for her latest project.
A new approach to aiding Black male trauma survivors
A new approach to aiding Black male trauma survivors
In a collaborative new study between the School of Nursing and Drexel University, researchers have peeled back the layers of what causes and prevents many trauma-surviving Black men from seeking needed professional behavioral health care.
What happens to a dream deferred? 60-Second Lectures on racial injustice
What happens to a dream deferred? 60-Second Lectures on racial injustice
In an effort to amplify the messages of the recent protests against racist violence, Penn Arts & Sciences created a special series: What Happens to a Dream Deferred? 60-Second Lectures on Racial Injustice.
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In the News
The Washington Post
COVID-19 makes us face the hazy line between ‘elective’ and ‘essential’ medicine
Nitin Ahuja of the Perelman School of Medicine wrote an op-ed about medical procedures delayed due to the pandemic. On a spectrum of cosmetic to urgent treatments, “most of medicine sits in the middle, asking us to balance potential health benefits against potential costs,” he said.
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ABC News
'We feel your pain': Local experts respond to unrest in Minnesota
Mary Frances Berry of the School of Arts & Sciences commented on the public response to the police killing of George Floyd. "What we are seeing is the latest incident of the perpetuation of white supremacy in this country, and it's there and everywhere for everybody to see. We should not be so angry at the people being angry because they have a reason to be angry,” she said.
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The New York Times
Where does affirmative action leave Asian-Americans?
Two studies led by Camille Z. Charles of the School of Arts and Sciences found an overrepresentation of black immigrant students at “highly selective” colleges and universities, compared to black American descendants of enslaved people. “I think there are American blacks whose families have suffered generationally who are being squeezed out,” she said.
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Philadelphia Inquirer
Toni Morrison, renowned writer, Nobel laureate and Princeton University professor, dies at 88
Herman Beavers of the School of Arts and Sciences memorializes the late Toni Morrison. “She taught us how not to be guided by the white gaze. She made it okay for us to really think about how we see the world and really be central in it,” Beavers said. “She showed us that we didn’t need white people to explain what our lives meant or even acknowledge it. We could do it ourselves.”
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Philadelphia Inquirer
What you need to know about reparations after the first congressional hearing convened on the topic in more than a decade
Mary Frances Berry of the School of Arts and Sciences said the contemporary descendants of the enslaved Africans who demanded, but did not receive, pensions at the turn of the 20th century should be compensated today. “We have a group of people who we can identify, the descendants of those who argued for reparations, who sent stuff to Congress while they were being under surveillance and whose leaders were put in prison.”
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The Independent
Civil rights activist Mary Frances Berry visits Stark County
Mary Frances Berry of the School of Arts and Sciences paid a visit to Kent State University’s Stark campus and other schools in the area in honor of Black History Month. She urged students aspiring to change society to keep up the good fight. “Movements do work,” she said. “The answer to every social problem, every injustice, every grievance is to organize.”
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