5/19
Kristina García
News Officer
klg@upenn.edu
Africana Studies
Toni Morrison and the adventure of the 21st century
Toni Morrison and the adventure of the 21st century
In Herman Beavers’ English 101 class, students take an in-depth look at Toni Morrison, reading her 11 novels, writing thesis papers, and presenting on topics of interest to the class.
The changing face of portraiture at Penn
The changing face of portraiture at Penn
Efforts around campus aim to diversify those honored in portraits and rethink how to approach representation through art.
Du Bois College House celebrates 50 years
Du Bois College House celebrates 50 years
For five decades, the living and learning space has served as a home away from home for students, and the community has evolved into a family.
Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka on art and culture
Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka on art and culture
Wole Soyinka, the first African to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, spoke as the inaugural guest for the Distinguished Lecture in African Studies.
The pandemic’s psychological scars
The pandemic’s psychological scars
It’s been a long and uncertain road, with some groups shouldering a disproportionately greater burden of mental anguish from COVID-19. Yet now there’s a glimmer of hope. Has the page finally turned?
Black histories and Black futures
Black histories and Black futures
Professors and students reflect on 50 years of Black studies at Penn.
Interfaith activism at the second annual University Forum on Social Equity and Community
Interfaith activism at the second annual University Forum on Social Equity and Community
In the second annual University Forum on Social Equity and Community, the School of Arts & Sciences’ Barbara D. Savage moderated a conversation on interfaith activism.
A virtual day of service
A virtual day of service
Penn’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Symposium on Social Change will be virtual this year, offering events for adults and children of all ages.
Penn’s Kwanzaa celebrates ‘regrounding our purpose’
Penn’s Kwanzaa celebrates ‘regrounding our purpose’
Kwanzaa, an African American cultural holiday, starts on Dec. 26 and goes through New Year’s Day. At Penn, it's a time to come together and take stock.
‘Black Families Matter’
‘Black Families Matter’
In a lecture organized by the Penn Program on Regulation, PIK Professor Dorothy E. Roberts argued that the U.S. child welfare system is designed to police Black families, not to protect children, and must be abolished and replaced with a new vision of family support and child safety.
Media Contact
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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