Barry McNamara  |  Published January 18, 2021

Workshops Celebrate the Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day workshops 2021

MONMOUTH, Ill. – One of the Midwest’s most influential Black leaders will host the keynote workshop in a February series hosted by Monmouth College that will serve as a belated observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Typically, Monmouth hosts a mid-day convocation on the national holiday, followed by a campus-wide day of service. But the College was not in session on Jan. 18 because of a revised spring semester schedule caused by COVID-19 that pushed the start of the semester to Jan. 25.

Three speakers will lead Zoom workshops held on Feb. 18 and on Feb. 25. The Feb. 25 keynote will be led by Eddie Moore Jr. The other sessions, both scheduled for Feb. 18, will be led by Monmouth anthropology professor Petra Kuppinger and by author Sarah Schoper.

The keynote event will be a Feb. 25 talk: “Not in my school! How the history of white supremacy and oppression undermine the best of intentions.”

“The workshop series will give us a valuable opportunity to deepen our understanding about some of the problems that our nation and our communities face with regard to systemic racism,” said Monmouth faculty member Dan Ott. “We’re excited to have experts from our own faculty and our community, as well as Dr. Moore, who is a leading national educator on themes of racism and white privilege. While we can’t get together to celebrate Dr. King’s legacy or get out into our community to serve our neighbors, we’re hopeful that this will be a profound moment of learning for the College.”

The workshops are sponsored by the Center for Civic and Social Change, Office of Intercultural Life and the Lux Center for Church and Religious Leadership.

On Feb. 18, Kuppinger will lead a 3 p.m. workshop titled “What Is Environmental Racism?” It will be followed at 7 p.m. by Schoper’s workshop, titled “Are You Really Listening? Using Effective Listening Skills.”

Titled “Not in My School! How the History of White Supremacy and Oppression Undermine the Best of Intentions,” Moore’s keynote workshop will be presented at 7 p.m. Feb. 25.

“While we can’t get together to celebrate Dr. King’s legacy or get out into our community to serve our neighbors, we’re hopeful that this will be a profound moment of learning for the College.”
– Dan Ott, professor of philosophy and religious studies

Recently named one of Wisconsin’s “51 Most Influential Black Leaders,” Moore is recognized as one of the nation’s top speakers and educators. He is founder/program director for the international White Privilege Conference. He started America & MOORE 25 years ago to provide diversity, privilege, leadership and #BecomingAntiRacist training/workshops.

In 2014, Moore founded The Privilege Institute, which engages people in research, education, action and leadership through workshops, conferences, publications and strategic partnerships and relationships. He is also co-founder of the online journal Understanding and Dismantling Privilege, and co-editor of several books, including Everyday White People Confront Racial and Social Injustice: 15 Stories. Moore is featured in the film I’m Not Racist … Am I? and in the article “5 Clear Ways to Tell Whether You’ll Be a Good Leader in 2021.”

Moore earned a doctorate from the University of Iowa in education leadership. His doctoral research was on Black football players at Division III schools in the Midwest.

Kuppinger has conducted research on space, globalization and consumerism in Cairo, Egypt, and issues of space, culture, and Islam in Stuttgart, Germany. More recently, she has been working on topics of urban sustainability. Kuppinger is the author of Faithfully Urban: Pious Muslims in a German City. Together with George Gmelch, she edited the sixth edition of Urban Life. She joined Monmouth’s faculty in 2000.

Schoper’s work includes transformative learning, the experiences of individuals with disabilities, and first-generation college student experiences. In 2019, she facilitated a series of racial justice workshops in Macomb, Illinois, after a high-profile racialized incident in the community. The workshops were specifically designed to help white people learn more about what it means for them to be white and what their whiteness might mean for their commitment to racial justice. She has since repeated her workshop series, and is serving as the president of One Human Family, a newly created organization in Macomb.

More …

Visit the workshop series home page.

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