Emerging Black Leaders Symposium at Tufts March 12

Emerging Black Leaders Committed to Spreading Awareness of the School-to-Prison Pipeline

Tufts students organize an event to educate and empower youth at the 7th Annual

The Emerging Black Leaders (EBL) is a professional student organization founded on the strong principles of service, leadership, education and advancement of the African Diaspora. Now in its seventh year of existence, EBL has continued its long commitment to community empowerment and scholarship. Throughout the year, EBL operates community outreach programming serving local youth through the Sankofa Youth Project—a youth leadership and development program—and the College Access & Mentoring Program. EBL’s reach has extended beyond Medford High School, where its first partnership was established, and has now reached students in Somerville, Cambridge, and Boston.

The Emerging Black Leaders (EBL) will host their annual spring symposium, which will attract hundreds of Boston area youth, scholars, students, and professionals to Tufts University. The planning committee has chosen a symposium theme that is salient as a complex social issue and as an emerging body of critical scholarship; though at the same time, it is a topic that has received little attention on the Tufts campus. The Seventh Annual Emerging Black Leaders Symposium at Granoff Music Center, Distler Auditorium 20 Talbot Avenue Medford, MA on Saturday, March 12 , 2011 will discuss “urban” schools, youth incarceration and “the school-to-prison pipeline.” The symposium will take place from 10am-5pm and is open to the public.

“The Emerging Black Leaders Symposium has proven in its 6 years of existence the power and influence that young Blacks leaders can have if given the resources. We look forward to the years to come and progress that will be made on our campuses and in our communities.”
–Emerging Black Leaders Symposium 2010 participant.

Past symposiums have explored the topics of education, community health, the arts, identity and leadership; and have attracted speakers such as Editor of Ebony Magazine, Joy Bennett-Kinnon, former Secretary of Education The Honorable Rod Paige, renowned writer and poet Nikki Giovanni, Congressman Harold Ford Jr., the Governor of Massachusetts Deval Patrick, and renowned hip hop artist Talib Kweli.

This year’s symposium will feature two panels, each moderated by Boston’s Callie Crossley. The first will map the structures of education, and discipline in schools. The second will discuss policing and the juvenile justice system. EBL is excited to have a dynamic cross-section of scholars and activists—many of whom conduct their work in the Boston area—including Lisa Thurau-Gray of the Massachusetts ACLU, Emmanuel Allen from Project Reconnect, and Professor Joy James from Williams College. Furthermore, renowned scholar and activist Jawanza Kunjufu, will deliver the keynote lecture; and the nationally and internationally acclaimed poet, Black Ice, will be featured as a performing artist during the event.

– Information from Emerging Black Leaders