Join the Center for Racial Justice in welcoming Airea D. Matthews, acclaimed poet, educator, and Ford School alumna, to discuss her latest work Bread and Circus, a memoir-in-verse that combines poetry, prose, and imagery to explore the realities of economic necessity, marginal poverty, and commodification, through a personal lens.
Policy Talks @ the Ford School,
Gilbert S. Omenn and Martha A. Darling Health Policy Fund
Pregnancy Justice president Lourdes Rivera delivers the 2023 Omenn-Darling Health Policy keynote address alongside Professor Paula Lantz on the landscape of reproductive rights in the U.S., both legally and through a racial and social justice lens.
Join us for CommuniTea! A student-led series of informal, bi-weekly gatherings held in Weill Hall, focusing on key topics of interest to our community.
Join the Center for Racial Justice in welcoming Dr. Kris Marsh, author and Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland, to discuss her latest book The Love Jones Cohort: Single and Living Alone in the Black Middle Class.
Join the Center for Racial Justice on Tuesday, September 26 for our Open House! Get acquainted with the upcoming initiatives CRJ has prepared for the academic year, and join us in extending a warm welcome to our AY 23-24 Visiting and Postdoctoral Fellows!
Join Ford School Dean Celeste Watkins-Hayes with Drs. Johnnetta Betsch Cole and Erica Lorraine Williams for a special book launch event at Spelman College.
Join for an important discussion on the complicated issue of race and policing in the United States, featuring New York Times Contributor Jessica Jaglois, and Director of Arts and Culture for the City of Detroit, Rochelle Riley.
On Thursday, March 30 at 4pm, the Center for Racial Justice invites you to attend our CRJ Visiting Fellows Spring Showcase featuring the work of our inaugural cohort of visiting fellows: sociologist and legal scholar, Dr. Atinuke (Tinu) Adediran; freelance journalist, Makeda Easter; and writer and filmmaker, Julian Brave NoiseCat. Fellows will present their racial justice catalyst projects to the U-M community, followed by remarks from U-M community members: Vikramaditya S. Khanna (U-M Law), Srimoyee Mitra (U-M Stamps), and Forrest Cox (BA '13 and U-M Ross). A post-event reception will be held in the Rebecca M. Blank Great Hall. Please register here!
Join us as we welcome Dr. Ruha Benjamin to campus to discuss her newest book, Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want. In this talk, Dr. Benjamin draws on the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic and introduces a micro-vision of change—a way of looking at the everyday ways people are working to combat unjust systems and build alternatives to the oppressive status quo.
Join the Center for Racial Justice for a workshop on creative practices for authentic community building with Holly Bass, part of our Racial Justice in Practice workshop series. Open to U-M students, faculty, staff, and community partners. In this workshop, we will explore the differences between activism, organizing, and culture shift work. We will explore how to build authentic relationships with those most affected by potential policy changes and those in the best position to bring about legal and social change. We will also explore how creativity and joy can guide our social justice work as individuals and collectives.
Join the Center for Racial Justice for a workshop on changemaking from the inside with Gabrielle Wyatt, part of our Racial Justice in Practice workshop series. Open to U-M students, faculty, staff, and community partners. In this virtual workshop, we will collectively visit frameworks and strategies for affecting change as institutional insiders. Specifically, we will discuss strategies for building and sustaining multi-generational change by exploring power, structural change, and leadership.
The Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley presents a special event to discuss the future of public policy in higher education featuring Ford School Dean Celeste Watkins-Hayes among other Deans of Public Policy schools.
Join the Center for Racial Justice for a workshop on decolonizing development with Farah Mahesri, part of our Racial Justice in Practice workshop series. Open to U-M students, faculty, staff, and community partners. In this interactive 3-hour session, we will collectively explore what a decolonized space or a decolonized approach for global development actually look like. How can we structure our organizations and our programs to draw to center more liberatory practices and help us radically re-imagine global development?
Join the Center for Racial Justice for a workshop on racial equity impact assessment with Niketa Brar (MPP '15), part of our Racial Justice in Practice workshop series. Open to U-M students, faculty, staff, and community partners.
University of Michigan Martin Luther King, Jr. Symposium
Wallace House Presents journalist and educator Jelani Cobb, in conversation with Ford School Dean Celeste Watkins-Hayes to look at the historic challenges to democracy that centered around race, the impact of the media, and how this frames and informs the current moment.
Diversifying the teaching force could be a key step to closing student achievement gaps and moving schools closer to equity goals. In their book, Teacher Diversity and Student Success: Why Racial Representation Matters in the Classroom, Seth Gershenson, Brookings Senior Fellow Michael Hansen, and Constance Lindsay present nuanced policy recommendations to increase teacher diversity in classrooms and promote more inclusive schools.
The Center for Racial Justice proudly welcomes Angela Harrelson to the Ford School and the University of Michigan for the Masterclass in Activism. Angela Harrelson is the aunt of George Floyd, as well as the author of Lift Your Voice.
University of Michigan Martin Luther King, Jr. Symposium
Wallace House presents educator and writer for The New York Times Magazine, Linda Villarosa, as she examines racial health disparities in America and the toll racism takes on individuals and the health of our nation.
Policy Talks @ the Ford School,
University of Michigan Martin Luther King, Jr. Symposium
Come and meet the leaders of some of the top public policy schools in the country in a special event hosted by U.S. Representative Joyce Beatty (D-OH) and sociologist Celeste Watkins-Hayes, interim dean of the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.
Policy Talks @ the Ford School,
Josh Rosenthal Education Fund Lecture
The Masterclass in Activism is a Center for Racial Justice event series in which the center's director is in conversation with noted activists and thought leaders who have made significant marks on the policy landscape.
Watch Party: Weill Hall
Betty Ford Auditorium (Room 1110)
The Center for Racial Justice, Ford School, and Midwest Institute for Sexuality and Gender Diversity present Bianca Wilson, in conversation with Dr. Celeste Watkins-Hayes on LGBTQ rights.
Policy Talks @ the Ford School,
Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Lecture Series
Ford School Towsley Policymaker in Residence Dr. Abdul El-Sayed discusses reproductive and birth justice with Co-founder of Birth Detroit and Birth Center Equity, and former Deputy Director of the Detroit Health Department, Leseliey Welch.
The Center for Racial Justice welcomes the inaugural cohort of Visiting Fellows—Dr. Tinu Adediran, Makeda Easter, and Julian Brave NoiseCat—to the Ford School and the University of Michigan. Fellows will be in conversation with Dr. Celeste Watkins-Hayes, founding director of the Center for Racial Justice, to share more about their catalyst projects and their work within the racial justice landscape.