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Social Justice Changemaker Lecture: Realizing Justice and Equity in the Long Arc of HistoryNikole Hannah-Jones was the keynote speaker at the fourth annual Social Justice Changemaker Lecture presented by the School of Social Work at the Michigan Union in October 2024.
Hannah-Jones is the Knight Chair of Race and Journalism at Howard University, where she founded the Center for Journalism & Democracy. Over the course of her career investigating racial inequality and injustice, she has earned numerous awards including a MacArthur Fellowship. But she is probably best known as the Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of the 1619 Project, which began as an initiative from The New York Times Magazine and has grown to include two books and a docuseries on Hulu.
The 1619 Project aims to reframe American history by placing slavery and its continuing legacy at the center of our national narrative. Hannah-Jones discussed the project’s origins, aspirations and evolution in a conversation moderated by Professor Terri Friedline and Trina Shanks, the Harold R. Johnson Collegiate Professor of Social Work.
The introduction to the event was given by U-M Vice Provost for Equity Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer Tabbye Chavous, who challenged the audience to draw inspiration from Hannah-Jones. She encouraged attendees to take every opportunity to tell their own story and not let it be defined by others.
“Most Americans had no idea of how foundational slavery was to the society that was built,” said Hannah-Jones, “so I really wanted a project that would force us to acknowledge that date — that if you know the date 1776 as a foundational date, you have to know 1619.” Each of the project’s essays focused on an aspect of American culture and showed the connection to slavery. As a whole, the project asks readers to consider how American history has been taught and how it changes through the inclusion of other perspectives and voices — in this case, through the lens of slavery.
“I became a journalist because I understood fundamentally that narrative — more than anything else — is what drives policy in this country,” she said. We can use narrative to create a better society, she said, but first, we need to use narrative to explain how our society was created.
“We have to be able to view a country with nuance and to say that we can't just own the good parts. If the Declaration of Independence matters, the fact that the man who wrote it enslaved 220 human beings matters, too,” she said. “And it doesn't say that we have to condemn the declaration because Black folks actually took those words and said, ‘this is a freedom document.’ You may not have intended this as a liberty document, but that is how we read it. And so we have to take all of our history together.”
We have to be honest about who we are, and then we can build a society that we want,” said Hannah-Jones. “America can be a great nation, but we are not a great nation by deluding ourselves and by accepting all of the inequality.”
Hannah-Jones closed with a conversation about hope, which she admits can be difficult to find. “We have to understand that the change doesn’t happen overnight,” she said.
The Social Justice Changemaker Lecture was established by a generous gift from Dr. Neil C. Hawkins and Annmarie F. Hawkins, and the Hawkins Family. This annual lecture focuses on important global social justice issues including race and nationality, immigration and refugees, income inequality, gender identity and sexual orientation, education, health, and mental and physical disabilities.
The Social Justice Changemaker Lecture aims to bring prominent social justice experts and advocates from multiple disciplines including social sciences, science, humanities, the arts and other professions to the University of Michigan campus.
- October 21, 2024
Irene Routté Receives 2024 ACOSA Outstanding Doctoral Student AwardPhD Student Irene Routté has received the 2024 Outstanding Doctoral Student Award from the Association for Community Organizing & Social Action (ACOSA). This award honors meritorious scholarship in the field of community practice.
- October 14, 2024
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ENGAGE 2024 Small Grant Recipients AnnouncedIn 2018, ENGAGE launched the Small Grants Program to encourage faculty to build partnerships with Detroit community-based organizations and to support resident-led efforts to strengthen Detroit neighborhoods. These awards are supported by the Office of the Provost and are part of the School of Social Work’s strategic effort to connect Detroit engagement efforts and increase impact in the city. ENGAGE partners with the School of Public Health’s Detroit Urban Research Center in the administration of the small grants program. Here are this year’s grant recipients:
- “Empowering Detroit Together: Building Community Impact Partnerships”
Faculty Member: Clinical Associate Professor Abigail Eiler
Community Partner: Yusef Shakur, Co-Executive Director, Michigan Roundtable
- “Black Ecclesiastical Intervention to Help Equip Affected Lives Enduring Mental Disorders (BE HEALED)”
Faculty Members: Professor Rich Tolman and Associate Professor Addie Weaver
Community Partner: Pastor Charles Williams, Community Investigator
- October 14, 2024
- “Empowering Detroit Together: Building Community Impact Partnerships”
Lorraine Guitérrez Receives Inaugural Maria B. Cerdas Trailblazer AwardProfessor Emerita Lorraine Guitérrez received the inaugural Maria B. Cerdas Trailblazer Award at the Latino Social Workers Organization’s National Latinx Social Work Conference in Chicago last week; she was also the keynote speaker. The award is named after Cerdas who became the first Latina member of the Chicago Board of Education in the 1960s.
- October 14, 2024
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Ayesha Ghazi Edwin Discusses the “Right to Sit” with CBS DetroitClinical Assistant Professor Ayesha Ghazi Edwin spoke with CBS Detroit about a new “right to sit” ordinance she introduced in her role as Ann Arbor City Council Member. MSW student Jessica Riley’s participation in the public comments is included as part of the story. The ordinance was approved in October.
Additional media coverage:
- October 4, 2024
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Shawna Lee’s Research Cited in Tech ExploristProfessor Shawna Lee’s research on how fathers are connecting with their children — despite economic hardship and negative stereotypes — has been cited in an article on Tech Explorist. Lee and her co-authors call for these positive experiences to be reflected in the media and for health care providers to support father-inclusive practices.
- October 4, 2024
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William Elliott III Discusses the Connection between CSAs and Hope with KQEDProfessor William Elliott III spoke with San Francisco’s KQED about how children’s savings accounts can provide hope and change perspectives. “You are giving families access to an institution that allows them to build wealth that’s coupled with a change in attitude and reflecting on what’s now achievable for them,” Elliott said.
- October 4, 2024
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Xiaoling Xiang Awarded Grant from Administration for Community LivingAssociate Professor Xiaoling Xiang is the principal investigator of a recently-funded federal grant from the Administration for Community Living’s National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. The three-year study will focus on evaluating the real-world effects of the Empower@Home program on social participation among older adults with disabilities. Empower@Home is an online self-help program for depression based on the principles of cognitive behavioral therapy.
“I am thrilled to build on the momentum of our recent NIH R01 award to further expand Empower@Home’s community impact,” said Xiang. “Our goal is to extend its reach to older adults with disabilities and broaden its focus beyond a single condition to encompass outcomes like social participation and connections. This brings us closer to achieving our mission of promoting the multi-dimensional aspects of healthy aging.”
- October 4, 2024
Fernanda Cross Speaks with WXYZ Detroit About Supporting Immigrant StudentsAssistant Professor Fernanda Cross spoke with WXYZ Detroit about how her own experience as an immigrant inspired the creation of the Latinx Youth Empowerment Series, also known as YES, which connects immigrant students at Ypsilanti Community High School with mental health services.
“Immigrating is difficult. The children are having to do a lot of the navigating the new culture. They’re navigating the new language for the parents as they are learning the language themselves,” Cross said. “For the adolescents that come from undocumented parents, there’s always this constant fear of getting separated from the family, having one of the caregivers deported or being deported themselves in case the adolescents,” she said. “These students were very likely never going to see a provider if it had not been for these groups.”
YES has been so successful that the Michigan Health Endowment Foundation is funding six additional groups over the next two years.
- October 3, 2024
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- Ayesha Ghazi Edwin Featured in PBS News on the Importance of Voting
Clinical Associate Professor Ayesha Ghazi Edwin was featured in a PBS News story on the importance of voting to new U.S. citizens. Ghazi Edwin was born in England; her family came to the U.S. when she was three. Her mother says that the day their family received their U.S. citizenship was one of the happiest days of her life.
“People always say representation is important, and I have too. But I didn’t actually realize the truth of the statement until today,” Ghazi Edwin said. “Having an Asian American in the highest level of office does feel like empowerment and protection, because right now we’re playing a system and a game that has been run by people who don’t look like me.”
- September 24, 2024
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