Conversations
Monthly roundtable discussions at the Schomburg Center
2026 SPRING
Feb 4
Policing Blackness: Resisting Repression, Police Violence, and Surveillance
LaShawn Harris, Brittany Friedman, Aaron G. Fountain Jr., Joshua Clark Davis


Mar 4
Black Women and Resistance: Biography of a Life in Struggle
Yoruba Richen, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Kenja McCray, Louis Massiah


Apr 1
Freedom North: Civil Rights and Racial Justice in the Northeast and Midwest
Ashley Howard, Michelle Adams, Hettie Williams, Brian Kwoba


May 6
Unequal Housing and Transportation: The Fight to Live and Move Freely
Rosemary Ndubuizu, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Deborah N. Archer, Mia Bay


2025 FALL
Sep 3
Malcolm X at 100
Erik McDuffie, Anna Malaika Tubbs, Patrick Parr, Najha Zigbi-Johnson


Oct 1
Black Arts, Black Spaces, and Black Performance
Julius B. Fleming Jr., Jo-Ann Morgan, Courtney Thorsson


Nov 5
The Fight for Black Education and Black History
Brian Jones, Jesse Hagopian, Crystal Sanders, Barry Goldenberg


Dec 3
Reflections on SNCC History: 30 years of Charles Payne’s I've got the Light of Freedom
Charles Payne, Emilye Crosby, Hasan Kwame Jeffries, Charlie Cobb, Tess Raser
2025 SPRING
Feb 5
First Person: Writing Activist Lives from the Inside
Millicent E. Brown, Mike Africa Jr., David J. Dennis Sr., David J. Dennis Jr.


Mar 5
State Violence: Prisons, Police, Politics
Mary Phillips, Donna Murch, Françoise N. Hamlin, Orisanmi Burton


Apr 2
Kings for our Time: Revisiting Martin and Coretta Scott King
Jeanne Theoharis, Barbara Smith, Beverly Guy-Sheftall
Apr 30
A Century of Preserving Black Freedom: Libraries and Archives in the Tradition of Arturo Schomburg
Laura Helton, Vanessa K. Valdés, Ethelene Whitmire


2024 FALL
Sep 4
The Campus as Crucible of Struggle
Stefan Bradley, Danica Savonick, Barbara D. Savage, Brian Jones


Oct 2
Jim Crow North/Black Freedom Struggle Outside the South
Laura Warren Hill, Say Burgin, Ujju Aggarwal, Shannon King

Nov 6
Black History, Anticolonialism and Global Revolutions
Paula Marie Seniors, Quito Swan, Natanya Duncan, Monique Bedasse


Dec 4
Black Freedom Movement Women Biographies
Noliwe Rooks, Marcia Walker-McWilliams, Sonya Y. Ramsey, Ashley Robertson Preston


2024 SPRING
Jan 31
Before Brown
Matt Delmont, Margaret Burnham, Cookie Woolner, Dylan Penningroth
Mar 6
Black Women, Freedom Making, and the Long 1960s
Anastasia Curwood, Suzanne Cope, Christina Greene


Apr 3
Food, Life, and Leisure
Blair LM Kelley, Theresa Runstedtler, Bobby J. Smith II, Ava Purkiss


May 1
Educational Injustice and the Struggle for Liberatory Education
Leslie Alexander, Zebulon Vance Miletsky, Keith Mayes, Conor Tomas Reed


2023 FALL
Oct 4
Screening and discussion of The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks
Yoruba Richen, Jeanne Theoharis, Robyn C. Spencer-Antoine
Nov 1
The Politics of Political Repression
Charisse Burden-Stelly, Lerone Martin, Adam Elliott-Cooper


Dec 6
Financing Freedom: Black Women and Economic Self-Determination
Tanisha Ford, Shennette Garrett Scott, Crystal Moten


Jan 3
New Perspectives on the Life and Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King
Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons, Brandon Terry, Traci Parker

2023 SPRING
Mar 1
Ten Years of Conversations in Black Freedom Studies
Robyn C. Spencer-Antoine, Jeanne Theoharis, Komozi Woodard, Brian Jones
Apr 5
Writing Black Activist Lives
Shana Redmond, Dan Berger, Shanna Greene Benjamin, Patricia Romney


May 3
The politics of religion and the role of Black faith
Su'ad Abdul Khabeer, Melissa Ford, Todne Thomas


2022 FALL
Aug 31
Surviving Racial Terror: Lessons from Black Women's Lives
Keisha N. Blain, Treva Lindsey, Erica R. Edwards


Oct 5
From CPS to Dobbs to the Carceral System–What History Shows Us for Challenging Systems of Oppression Today
Anne Gray Fischer, Dorothy Roberts, Loretta Ross


Nov 2
Towards Justice and Holistic Health
Zakiya Luna, Steven William Thrasher, Dana-Ain Davis


Nov 30
Education for Liberation
Brian Jones, Michael Hines, Kabria Baumgartner, Christopher Bonastia

2022 SPRING
Feb 2
Black New York
Tammy L. Brown, Christopher Hayes, Ariella R. Rotramel, Paula Marie Seniors


Mar 2
Black Power Revisited
Robin Hayes, D'Weston Haywood, Edward Onaci, Monica White


Apr 6
Slavery, Capitalism, and Empire
Justene Edwards, Adom Getachew, Peter James Hudson, Daniel Immerwahr


May 4
Racism and Resistance in the Post Civil Rights Era
Carol Anderson, Elizabeth Hinton, Emily Hobson, Daniel Lucks


Jun 1
Films of Black Struggle
Cynthia Gordy Giwa, Tayo Giwa, Emma Francis Snyder
2021 FALL
Sep 1
Black Health: Medical Racism, Resistance, and Wellness
George Aumoithe, Deirdre Cooper Owens, Stephanie Y. Evans, Martin Summers


Oct 6
Understanding Policing and Surveillance in America
Daniel S. Chard, Victoria Law, Marisol LeBrón, Stuart Schrader


Nov 3
Education as a Practice of Freedom
Davarian Baldwin, Jarvis Givens, Jesse Hagopian, Elizabeth Todd-Breland


Dec 1
Radical Black, LGBTQ+ Feminist Lives
Moya Bailey, Laura Lovett, Barbara Smith, Emily Thuma


2021 SPRING
Feb 3
Civil Rights Legacies: Martin, Malcolm, Gwen, and Julian
Ashley Farmer, Pam Horowitz, Peniel Joseph


Mar 3
Black Women in History and Struggle
Daina Ramey Berry, Kali Nicole Gross, Jeanne Theoharis

Mar 31
Black and Red: Black Liberation and Socialism
Charisse Burden-Stelly, Robin D. G. Kelley, Barbara Smith


May 5
Sounds of Freedom: The Music of Black Liberation
Hanif Abdurraqib, Shana Redmond, Rickey Vincent


2020 FALL
Sep 2
How Did We Get Here?: The Long Struggle for Educational Justice in New York
Ujju Aggarwal, Ernest Morrell, Terrenda White

Sep 30
Fighting for the Franchise: A Century of Struggle for Voting Rights
Carol Anderson, Ari Berman, Martha Jones, Reverend Liz Theoharis


Nov 4
Histories of Multiracial Solidarity and Struggle
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Johanna Fernandez, Paul Ortiz


Dec 2
Resisting Carceral Cities: Prisons, Police, and Punishment in Historical Perspective
Garrett Felber, Kelly Lytle Hernandez, Carl Suddler


2020 SPRING
Feb 5
Housing Discrimination in the Jim Crow US and the Case for Reparations
Nathan Connolly, Beryl Satter, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor


Mar 4
The Long Struggle Against Educational Injustice
Rachel Devlin, Devin Fergus, Elizabeth Gillespie McRae


Apr 1
Radical Black Queer and Feminist Lives (Cancelled due to Covid Crisis)
Saidiya Hartman, Imani Perry, Barbara Smith


May 6
The Poor People's Campaign, the Young Lords, and Black, Brown, Yellow, White, and Red Organizing (Cancelled due to Covid Crisis)
Johanna Fernandez, Paul Ortiz, Reverend Liz Theoharis


2019 FALL
Sep 4
Stop Killer Cops: Police Brutality, Mass Incarceration, and the Liberal Establishment
Max Felker-Kantor, LaShawn Harris, Naomi Murakawa


Oct 2
Rap Brown, Police Repression, and the Torture Machine
Simon Balto, Arun Kundnani, Flint Taylor

Nov 6
The Black Revolution on Campus
John Bracey, Jr., Stefan Bradley, Shirletta Kinchen


Dec 4
The Black Athlete in the Freedom Struggle
Louis Moore, Wyomia Tyus, Dave Zirin


2019 SPRING
Feb 6
Rethinking Black Women Freedom Fighters Gloria Richardson, Louise Thompson Patterson, and the Women of the Nation of Islam
Joseph R. Fitzgerald, Keith Gilyard, Ula Taylor


Mar 6
Radical Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective
Barbara Ransby, Barbara Smith, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor


Apr 3
Black Women's Internationalism
Keisha N. Blain, Ashley Farmer, John Portlock

May 1
The Struggle Against Police Brutality, Mass Incarceration, and Educational Discrimination in the Jim Crow North
Kristopher Burrell, James Forman, Clarence Taylor


2018 FALL
Sep 5
Black Health and Community Activism
Dr. Julius Garvey, Gabriel Mendes, Alondra Nelson

Oct 3
Rethinking H. Rap Brown and Black Power
Arun Kundnani, Robyn C. Spencer-Antoine, Akinyele Umoja
Oct 31
The Struggle for Voting Rights and the Poor People's Campaign
Reverend William Barber, Gloria Browne-Marshall, Reverend Liz Theoharis

Dec 5
Black Politics and the Struggle for Justice in Sports
Howard Bryant, Amira Rose Davis, Randy Roberts, Toni Smith-Thompson

2018 SPRING
Jan 31
Black Resistance to Trump Tyranny
Haki Madhubuti, Noliwe Rooks, Michael Simanga


Feb 28
Revisiting the Uprisings of the 1960s
Aliyah Dunn-Salahuddin, Laura Warren Hill, Peter Levy, Rosie Uyola

Apr 4
50 Years After the Assassination of Martin Luther King
Mary Frances Berry, Thomas Jackson, David Stein, Jeanne Theoharis


May 2
Abolitionism and Slave Resistance
Sowande' Mustakeem, Manisha Sinha, Sasha Turner


2017 FALL
Sep 6
Fifty Years After the Newark and Detroit Uprisings
Say Burgin, Mark Krasovic, Junius Williams

Oct 4
The Fannie Lou Hamer Centennial and Black Women's Organizing Traditions
Katherine Charron, Ashley Farmer, Charles Payne, Gloria Richardson


Nov 1
The Black Freedom Struggle and the Strange Career of Jim Crow New York
Tahir Butt, Brian Purnell, Christopher Tinson

Dec 6
The Black Freedom Struggle and the Strange Career of Jim Crow in the Midwest
Keona Ervin, Nishani Frazier, Patrick Jones


2017 SPRING
Feb 1
Black Power at 50
Jamala Rogers, Mark Speltz, Stephen Ward, Komozi Woodard


Mar 1
Intersectional Black Panther History Project
Angela LeBlanc-Ernest, Tracye Matthews, Mary Phillips, Robyn C. Spencer-Antoine


Apr 5
Black Athletes and the Freedom Struggle
Jennifer H. Lansbury, Johnny Smith

May 3
The Long Fight Against New York's Police Brutality
Michael Flamm, Christopher Hayes, Cathy Schneider, Clarence Taylor


2016 FALL
Aug 31
Black Women and the Criminal Justice System
Keisha N. Blain, Sarah Haley, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor


Oct 5
Northern Organizing and Cultural Renaissance
Deborah Cullen-Morales, Erik Gellman, Anne Knupfer, Yasmin Ramirez

Nov 2
The War on Poverty at 50
Elizabeth Hinton, Alejandra Marchevsky, Crystal Sanders


Nov 30
Honoring the Legacy of Black Women Radicals Gloria Richardson and Mae Mallory
Ashley Farmer, Joseph R. Fitzgerald, Gloria Richardson
2016 SPRING
Feb 3
Black Power and Political Repression
Kenneth Janken, Erik McDuffie, Rhonda Williams


Mar 2
Women in the Black Panther Party
Ericka Huggins, Mary Phillips, Robyn C. Spencer-Antoine
Apr 6
The Church and the Struggle
Kevin McGruder, Genna Rae McNeil, Jennifer Scanlon

May 4
Educational Injustice and Organizing
Matt Delmont, Ansley T. Erickson, Carla Shedd


Jun 1
The Struggle against Racism and Repression
Aram Goudsouzian, Aldon Morris, Caleb Smith


2015 FALL
Sep 2
Fallen Freedom Fighters: An Evening commemorating the lives of Maya Angelou, Chokwe Lumumba, General Baker, Thelma Dale and Amiri Baraka
Dayo Gore, Farah Jasmine Griffin, Robyn C. Spencer-Antoine, Akinyele Umoja, Komozi Woodard


Sep 30
The Young Lords Party, Part I
Johanna Fernandez, Jose Cha-Cha Jimenez, Felipe Luciano, Wilson Valentín-Escobar

Nov 4
Protest, Women and Performance
Ruth Feldstein, Tanisha Ford, Sherie Randolph


Dec 2
Problems with History of Racial Policing in NYC
Mary Frances Berry, LaShawn Harris, Shannon King

2015 SPRING
Feb 4
50th anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X: Malcolm X and Black Radical Women
Rosemari Mealy, Gloria Richardson, Komozi Woodard
Mar 4
Race and the Criminal Justice System: Political Prisoners, Resistance, and Mass Incarceration Part I
Dan Berger, Victoria Law, Bryan Stevenson


Apr 1
Race and the Criminal Justice System: Political Prisoners, Resistance, and Mass Incarceration Part II
Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Arun Kundnani, Laura Whitehorn


May 6
Black and Brown Coalitions
Johanna Fernandez, Sonia Lee, Alejandra Marchevsky, Fred Opie

2014 FALL
Sep 3
The Urban Crisis: An Unfinished Agenda
Robert Curvin, Clarence Taylor, Junius Williams


Oct 1
Education for Liberation and Freedom Schooling
Ujju Aggarwal, Nicole Burrowes, Charles Payne, Brian Purnell

Nov 5
The Political Life and Legacy of Shirley Chisholm
Zinga Fraser, Barbara Winslow
Dec 3
Building Cooperative Economics and Movement Community Institutions
Laura Warren Hill, Alondra Nelson, Jessica Gordon Nembhard


2014 SPRING
Feb 5
Slavery, White Supremacy, and Struggle in American Education
Ansley T. Erickson, Jonna Perrillo, Craig Steven Wilder

Mar 5
Sisters in the Struggle: Sustaining Black Women’ Emancipation from Racism, Sexism and Violence
Emilye Crosby, Mary Phillips, Sherie Randolph, Robyn C. Spencer-Antoine

Apr 2
The Jim Crow North and the Global History of Segregated Cities
Karen Miller, Carl Nightingale
Apr 30
The Biography of Global Black Power Politics: Stokely Carmichael and Walter Rodney
Peniel Joseph, Gloria Richardson, Michael West

2013 FALL
Sep 4
The Roots of Harlem Radicalism and Garveyism
Jeffrey Perry, Mary Rolinson, William Seraile


Oct 2
The Blues People 50 Years Later
Amiri Baraka, Ingrid Monson, John Szwed


Nov 6
The War on Poverty and The Struggle for Welfare Rights
Susan Youngblood Ashmore, Premilla Nadasen, Annelise Orleck


Dec 4
Black Power TV
Madeline Anderson, Devorah Heitner
2013 SPRING
Mar 6
The Black Panther Party: Oakland and Chicago
Donna Murch, Robyn C. Spencer-Antoine, Jakobi Williams

Apr 3
The Economics of Black Power
David Goldberg, Laura Warren Hill, Julia Rabig

May 1
Freedom North: The Black Freedom Struggle in New York
Brian Purnell, Clarence Taylor

Jun 5
Black Radical Internationalism
Robyn C. Spencer-Antoine, Akinyele Umoja, Michael West


Jul 18
Honoring the Legacies of Rosa Parks and Eslanda Robeson
Mary Frances Berry, Barbara Ransby, Jeanne Theoharis

