Ron Suskind's book,  A Hope in the Unseen, has, for two decades, moved many to focus on issues of race and class inequality. The story follows Cedric Jennings, a young black honor student at Washington, D.C.'s Ballou High School, as he manages a bewildering array of intellectual and social challenges during his freshman year at Brown University.

What I Am Thinking About Now: Stefano Bloch, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Urban Studies Program and Cogut Center for the Humanities

"Deeply Superficial Reflections on Life as a Tagger"

Professor Stefano Bloch examines the (re)development of the contemporary city by focusing on illicit contributions to the making of place by members of urban-based subcultures. As he will discuss, this research forces him to reflect on his own experiences as a once-prolific graffiti writer and why he rejects commonplace defenses of graffiti as "art".

Rejecting any simple story of malevolent and obvious racism, in this lecture Ian Haney López links the two central themes that dominate American politics today: the Republican Party’s increasing reliance on white voters, and the destabilization and decline of the middle class—white and nonwhite members alike.

The Scholarship of Diversity and Inclusion in the Academy: Lessons Learned and the Work Ahead for Universities in the 21st Century 

This day-long symposium brings a group of the nation’s most respected intellectuals on race, racial theory and racial inequality together to consider the troubling state of black life in America today.

Events surrounding the murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri have re-ignited conversations about racism, inequality, and increasingly militaristic policing practices in black and brown communities across the US. This Teach-In strives to create a space for campus dialogue; provide social and historical context for these events and consider the impact of emerging and ongoing portrayals and responses.  

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In this conversation, actress, performance artist, and motivational speaker Tracee Ellis Ross '94 shared stories about her years on the hit TV series "Girlfriends" and discussed race, her body, her career, and how she responds to images and expectations of women of color in entertainment.

Tracee Ellis Ross '94, actress, performance artist, and motivational speaker; professor Tricia Rose '93, director of the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America (CSREA) at Brown University

Favianna Rodriguez will talk about her art practice creating powerful and unapologetic art pieces and will share snippets of Migration is Beautiful, the recent documentary highlighting her creative projects. Rodriguez is the Artistic Director of CultureStr/ke, a national network of professional and emerging artists, social change experts, and creative producers who seek to support the national and global arts movement around immigration.