Participation Type
Workshop
Session Title
Session 11.18 Race and Ethnicity
Presentation #1 Title
Living Race, Living Class, Imagining Justice: Working for Racial and Economic Justice in the Mountains
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
Through interactive exercises and discussion, this workshop explores the experience of and activism around race and class in Appalachia in the past, present, future. Throughout Appalachian history, wealthy whites have played poor whites and African Americans against each other to maintain their own race and class privilege. Yet, courageous members of both groups have fought against these divisions, and for equality for all. One of today’s alliances is Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), a group of white people working with other whites on racial justice, and also joining with people of color in the struggle for both class and racial justice. The workshop will be facilitated by two members of SURJ, Meta Mendel-Reyes, Berea College professor and member of the Steering Committee of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (KFTC), and by Pam McMichael, Director of the HIghlander Research and Education Center. The workshop will begin with an exploration of participants’ own identities, and personal experiences with race and class. Next, we explore the history of racism and anti-racism in the mountains. A discussion of why the history is not known widely will be followed by shared analysis of the structural reasons for the continuing divisions on the basis of class and race. Finally, the participants will examine their own roles in maintaining and opposing racism in Appalachia, and share what they can take back to their own colleges and communities.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Dr. Meta Mendel-Reyes teaches Peace and Social Justice at Berea College. She is on the Steering Committee of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (KFTC), and is on the Action Team of Standing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ).
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #2
Pam McMichael is the Director of the Highlander Research and Education Center. She is on the Leadership Team of Standing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), and has co-founded social justice organizations in the South, including Southerners on New Ground (SONG),
Living Race, Living Class, Imagining Justice: Working for Racial and Economic Justice in the Mountains
Harris Hall 235
Through interactive exercises and discussion, this workshop explores the experience of and activism around race and class in Appalachia in the past, present, future. Throughout Appalachian history, wealthy whites have played poor whites and African Americans against each other to maintain their own race and class privilege. Yet, courageous members of both groups have fought against these divisions, and for equality for all. One of today’s alliances is Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), a group of white people working with other whites on racial justice, and also joining with people of color in the struggle for both class and racial justice. The workshop will be facilitated by two members of SURJ, Meta Mendel-Reyes, Berea College professor and member of the Steering Committee of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (KFTC), and by Pam McMichael, Director of the HIghlander Research and Education Center. The workshop will begin with an exploration of participants’ own identities, and personal experiences with race and class. Next, we explore the history of racism and anti-racism in the mountains. A discussion of why the history is not known widely will be followed by shared analysis of the structural reasons for the continuing divisions on the basis of class and race. Finally, the participants will examine their own roles in maintaining and opposing racism in Appalachia, and share what they can take back to their own colleges and communities.
