With just a little more than three months away from NYU Metro Center’s 2024 Equity Conference, the event takes shape. Educators, parents/caregivers, community organizers, and technical assistance providers join a multitude of others in registering and sharing word of this education justice event. Equity Now: 70 Years After Brown vs. Board will be held at New York University’s Kimmel Center on Friday, May 17th, 2024.
Exactly 70 years to the day–on May 17th, 2024– the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) offered its landmark decision in Brown vs. Board of Education. The optimism and expectation accompanying the historic moment of SCOTUS’ 1954 ruling in Brown vs. Board contrasts less than favorably against the backdrop of the persistent school segregation and racial achievement disparities of our present-day schools in 2024. This is a moment of sobering realization. It is a clarifying moment that reminds us what it means to fight for equity on behalf of our Black, Indigenous, and Latinx children, students with disabilities and multilingual learners who still have not received equality nor equity in their educational experiences. As such, the only way we will fulfill the hope of Brown vs. Board is to prioritize and organize. We must push for equity and take action now!
With such a monumental task afoot, Equity Now Conference organizers had to conduct an extensive and thorough search to secure a distinguished, brilliant, and inspirational individual to address this esteemed convening. After an earnest search a selection was made.
The individual chosen to address the Equity Now: 70 Years after Brown vs. Board Conference has led a federal grant with the United States Department of Education to study culturally and historically responsive literacy in STEM classrooms. This educator has received numerous awards from national organizations and universities, including the American Educational Research Association, as well as the National Council of Teachers of English. Her Culturally and Historically Responsive Education Model has been adopted across thousands of U.S. schools and districts across Canada. In 2022 and 2023, she was named among the top 1% Edu-Scholar Public Influencers due to her impact on policy and practice. She is the national award-winning author of the best-selling book, Cultivating Genius: An Equity Model for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy. This PhD recipient studies Black historical excellence in education, intending to reframe curriculum and instruction today. Her latest book, Unearthing Joy, provides a practical guide for putting culturally and historically responsive education into curricular practice. It seems that the conference search committee made the correct decision about who should address the Equity Now Conference.
The Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools is proud to announce Associate Professor of Literacy, Language, and Culture at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Dr. Gholdy Muhammad as the keynote speaker for its 2024 Equity Now: 70 Years after Brown vs. Board Conference.
You are cordially invited to join us at the Equity Now Conference. NYU Metro Center’s 2024 Equity Conference will facilitate opportunities for networking with members of educational communities who have committed to the process of transforming their classrooms, schools, & districts. Equity Now attendees will walk away with clear next steps on what one must do to move toward equity. Registration is open now, and the early-bird registration for the Equity Now Conference will be available through March 14th. We hope to see you at the Equity Now Conference.