Description:

Evanston is making Black history. Although Black residents comprise only 16% of Evanston’s population, Black Evanstonians currently hold many crucial political, managerial, and civic leadership posts in the areas of education, public safety, the libraries, parks and recreation, philanthropy, and more. Northwestern University’s Black Studies Department is also a part of Black Evanston. Our faculty, students, and staff work, live, rest, learn, organize and play in Evanston. With this event, we hope to build and strengthen the ties between Black Evanston and Black Northwestern. Under the banner of “Black Evanston: Leadership for Growth,” this program will convene a panel of Black Evanston leaders to share and discuss their visions for and practices towards growing Black Evanston. Growth can mean actual population growth, but it also means cultivating the growth of community assets and investments, growing the next generation of leaders in Evanston’s Black youth, and sustaining ongoing efforts at progressive policy growth, despite the various headwinds such as the end of affirmative action, the attacks on Black curricula and DEI, and the lawsuit against reparations. This program is a part of the annual Allison Davis Lecture Series, sponsored by the Black Studies Department at Northwestern, with support from the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences.