The Power in Words: The Importance of Language in Honoring Individuals and Communities

The Power in Words: The Importance of Language in Honoring Individuals and Communities


Location:
Virtual Event
Contact:
Alumni Relations
Open to:
Alumni, Current Students

In this continuation of their celebrated Academic Festival 2020 program, Distinguished Alumna Fanshen Cox (M.A. '97) and Associate Professor of English Education Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz (M.A. '96) will lead the TC community in a discussion about the role language plays in honoring race and identity. Whether we are calling an individual by their chosen name or telling stories about unsung heroes in our communities, we must use our words to pursue truth, love and justice. The discussion will also touch upon the importance of racial literacy and representation in media.

Date: Tuesday, February 23
Time: 1:00 p.m. EST

Register here.

An award-winning actor, producer and educator, Fanshen Cox has recently completed seven years of touring her one-woman show: One Drop of Love. She is also a Producer and Development Executive at Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s Pearl Street Films, and a co-host of the podcast Sista Brunch. She served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cape Verde, West Africa, and holds a BA in Spanish & Education, an MA in TESOL, and an MFA in TV, Film & Theatre. She has been honored with Distinguished Alumni Awards from CSULA and from Teachers College, Columbia University. She serves on the board of The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative and on the Kennedy Center’s Turnaround Arts Equity Advisory Committee. Fanshen is also a co-author of the Inclusion Rider which was announced at the 2018 Oscar awards by Frances McDormand.

Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz is an award-winning associate professor at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research focuses on racial literacy in teacher education, Black girl literacies, and Black and Latinx male high school students. A sought-after speaker on issues of race, culturally responsive pedagogy, and diversity, Sealey-Ruiz works with K-12 and higher education school communities to increase their racial literacy knowledge and move toward more equitable school experiences for their Black and Latinx students. Sealey-Ruiz appeared in Spike Lee’s “2 Fists Up: We Gon’ Be Alright”, a documentary about the Black Lives Matter movement and the campus protests at Mizzou. Her co-authored book [with Dr. Detra Price-Dennis] Advancing Racial Literacies in Teacher Education: Toward Activism for Equity in Digital Spaces will be published in May 2021, and her first full-length collection of poetry Love from the Vortex & Other Poems (Kalediscope Vibrations LLC) was published in March 2020.


To request disability-related accommodations, contact OASID at oasid@tc.edu, (212) 678-3689, as early as possible.

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