Education is frequently described as the civil rights issue of the 21st century, particularly by politicians calling for policy changes and reform. However, the most important civil rights issue involving education in the 20th century, school segregation, remains largely unresolved, and despite the controversy it once generated, it is rarely mentioned as an important social issue that should be addressed today.

Showtimes
Friday, March 14, 2014: 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, March 15, 2014:  2:00 p.m., 7:00 p.m.

One man. One mic. 40 characters. Two unbelieveable true stories of wrongful imprisonment. Told through hip hop, theater, spoken word, blues, comedy, calypso and classical music.

Written and performed by Bryonn Bain.

Presented by the Center for the Study of Race + Ethnicity in America (CSREA), in collaboration with Rites and Reason Theatre, the Swearer Center for Public Service, and the Creative Arts Council. 

March 2014 - May 2014

Shawn Michelle Smith studies photographic archives of race, calling attention to their blind spots and absences as well as their spectacles. Working with historical photographs from the nineteenth through the twenty-first centuries, she manipulates and transforms them in order to explore how we see and understand race in the United States.

Shawn Michelle Smith
Professor, Visual Artist & Scholar, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Lecture, 4 p.m.
The Scene of the Crime: Taryn Simon's The Innocents
Winnick Chapel, Brown RISD Hillel , 80 Brown Street

Shawn Michelle Smith will discuss Taryn Simon's The Innocents, a project that documents 45 legal cases of mistaken identification, in which individuals were misrecognized as the perpetrators of violent crimes on the basis of mug shots and other visual aids.

What I Am Thinking About Now: Professor Jose Itzigsohn (Sociology)

Addressing the debate surrounding immigration policy in the United States and the overall perception of immigrants, Faviana Rodriguez will discuss her practice of creating unapologetic art pieces and the growing influence of artists in the political realm.

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. 

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. 

What I Am Thinking About Now: Professor Geri Augusto (Africana Studies)

What I Am Thinking About Now: Professor Paja Faudree (Anthropology)