The Scholars' Circle

We honor Black History Month.

The South outlawed Black literacy all the way until the Civil War. What was this war on Black literacy and how did educators resist this law? [ dur: 32mins. ]

• Derek Black is Professor of Law in the Ernest F. Hollings Chair in Constitutional Law at the University of South Carolina’s School of Law. He is the author of Schoolhouse Burning: Public Education and the Assault on American Democracy, Ending Zero Tolerance: The Crisis of Absolute School Discipline and his latest Dangerous Learning The South’s long war on Black Literacy.

Then, Black women have long been at the forefront of black empowerment. What were their intellectual contributions during the civil rights era? we discuss the women intellectuals of the civil rights movement.[ dur: 26mins. ]

This interview was recorded February 2023.

• Ashley Farmer is Associate Professor of African and African Diaspora Studies & History at the University of Texas at Austin. She is the author of Remaking Black Power: How Black Women Transformed an Era and co-editor of New Perspectives on the Black Intellectual Tradition. She is also the Co-Editor and Curator of the Black Power Series with Ibram X. Kendi.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker and Sudd Dongre.