NCSD in Paris! NCSD Director Gina Chirichigno met up with Liam Wren-Lewis, Paris School of Economics professor and co-author, with Luca Paolo Merlino and Max Friedrich Steinhardt, of The long run impact of childhood interracial contact on residential segregation during a recent visit to Paris. Learn more about his work here. (Speaking of Paris, WKCR recently did a Sunday Profile on the "History of Jazz in Paris.")

NCSD STAFF UPDATES

What We've Been Up to Recently

SQUEEZING THE LAST DROPS OUT OF SUMMER

We've been diligently reviewing intern work products and preparing for an upcoming presentation re: Lessons Learned from Kansas City’s Missouri v. Jenkins School Desegregation Case, which will be featured at the Education Law Association Conference (November 5-8 in Kansas City). If you have studied this case, we'd love to hear from you and get your feedback. We hope to see you there!

Two NCSD interns drafted an epic annotated bibliography related to the democracy questions in the Brown's Promise research agenda (“How does [PK–12] segregation impact democracy & society and vice versa?”). If you are working on, or know of, any research we should consider including, please share it with gchirichigno@prrac.org.

BRUSHING UP ON OUR HISTORY

We've spent a lot of our summer reflecting on key figures and moments in the Civil Rights struggle. On August 12, the Administration issued a Letter to the Smithsonian: Internal Review of Smithsonian Exhibitions and Materials. This document is an important read, given its overall implications for racial, social, and educational justice work.

Here's an excerpt:

"As we prepare to celebrate the 250th anniversary of our Nation’s founding, it is more important than ever that our national museums reflect the unity, progress, and enduring values that define the American story. In this spirit, and in accordance with Executive Order 14253, Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History, we will be leading a comprehensive internal review of selected Smithsonian museums and exhibitions. This initiative aims to ensure alignment with the President’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions."

As Raymond Pierce, President and CEO of the Southern Education Foundation, recently noted: "School desegregation is an old topic and, frankly, one few people want to talk about. It forces us to confront uncomfortable memories of the past. To discuss desegregation, you must acknowledge a system that, for more than a century, assigned Black students to separate schools based solely on their race. These schools were consistently equipped with older, outdated books, substandard facilities, and fewer supplemental educational services compared to predominantly White schools in the same districts. This led to fewer opportunities. Educational inferiority was institutionalized and permitted by law." Why School Desegregation Still Matters In The Digital Age (Forbes, Aug. 7)

When things get challenging, turning to history is a key strategy for NCSD staff. We proudly and humbly acknowledge that we stand on the shoulders of giants, whose hard work and commitment to equality and justice paved the way for the contemporary school integration movement. Knowing and tapping into this rich history provides clarity, inspiration, wisdom, and helps strengthen our resolve. NCSD remains committed to understanding our nation's full history and allowing it to guide our efforts. Below are two new resources that might be of interest to the NCSD community.

LEGAL & POLICY UPDATES

FEDERAL DISCRETIONARY GRANTS: EXECUTIVE ORDER, CANCELLATIONS, DELAYS, AND UNCERTAINTY

On August 7, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) titled “Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking.” In a section entitled "Strengthening Accountability for Agency Grantmaking," the EO calls for agency heads to designate a senior appointee to create a review process for new funding opportunity announcements and "to review discretionary grants to ensure that they are consistent with agency priorities and the national interest." This EO heightens concerns regarding undue political influence within the federal grantmaking space, which has traditionally been more insulated from partisanship.

Among other things, the EO states: "Discretionary awards must, where applicable, demonstrably advance the President’s policy priorities," and "Discretionary awards shall not be used to fund, promote, encourage, subsidize, or facilitate: (A) racial preferences or other forms of racial discrimination by the grant recipient, including activities where race or intentional proxies for race will be used as a selection criterion for employment or program participation; (B) denial by the grant recipient of the sex binary in humans or the notion that sex is a chosen or mutable characteristic..."

Related, via Education Week: Trump Cancels Dozens of Education Grants—With More Terminations on the Horizon (Aug. 27)

• "The Trump administration has begun canceling dozens of competitive federal education grants years before they were set to expire—and the educators behind hundreds more in-progress projects are worried that funding delays mean their grants could be next."
• "More than $1 billion for current recipients of grants under at least seven distinct U.S. Department of Education programs—including for school desegregration, disability services, higher-education preparation, teacher training, and academic research—has yet to materialize just weeks before the new fiscal year begins, according to interviews with grant recipients, state education agencies, and advocacy organizations."
• "At least three of 15 school districts that were expecting in April to receive their annual round of funding from an Education Department program that supports magnet schools received notice in July that the agency wouldn’t deliver their grants until further civil rights review had completed, according to Ramin Taheri, executive director of Magnet Schools for America. The remaining districts with Magnet Schools Assistance Program grant years that start in April got their money in July, roughly three months behind schedule, Taheri said. Nearly 50 more districts are still awaiting their Oct. 1 continuation awards for the Magnet Schools Assistance Program, which helps schools advance desegregation and integration efforts."

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE APPROVES FY26 BUDGET, REJECTING MANY ASPECTS OF PRESIDENT TRUMP'S PROPOSAL

On July 31, the Senate Committee on Appropriations approved a FY26 Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act and report. The bill passed Committee with bipartisan support by a vote of 26-3, with Senators Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Chris Murphy (D-CT) voting against it. View a related statement here and a Congressional Research Service (CRS) brief here.

The bill proposes $79 billion for ED, and maintains current funding levels for most programs. It includes a $50 million increase in Title I funds, among other things. The Committee also provides $139 million for the Magnet Schools Assistance Program (MSAP), maintaining its current funding.

Of particular note:

• This proposed budget rejects many aspects of President Trump’s FY26 budget request, including huge cuts to ED's budget and the consolidation of 18 ESSA programs into the K–12 Simplified Funding Program (including MSAP), as well as the outright elimination of some programs, such as Title III support for language instruction for ELs and immigrant students.
• There are also some safeguards built into the bill, e.g. requiring that funding for certain programs be available to states on July 1, 2026, and preventing the transfer of certain programs, such as Title I and IDEA, to other agencies.

Last week, however, the House Labor HHS ED subcommittee approved a budget that matches the Administration's proposed cuts on the ED budget. Read a summary here. We'll provide more details in the September newsletter, as the bill be be deliberated on this week.

What happens next? Committee bills will be reviewed by the full Senate and House.

What our members are saying:

• $5 Billion in Federal Funding for Nine K–12 Formula Grant Programs Hangs in the Balance Between White House and Senate Proposals (Learning Policy Institute, Aug. 26) - "While the Senate Appropriations Committee proposal leaves funding at roughly current levels for states, the administration’s proposed cuts across the nine federal K–12 formula grant programs would significantly decrease state funding." (Includes a table that details how the bipartisan Senate and Trump administration proposals would affect each state differently.)
• Statement from MSA on the President’s FY26 Budget Request (June 4) - "Magnet Schools of America is deeply disappointed by the proposal to eliminate funding for the Magnet Schools Assistance Program (MSAP). Eliminating MSAP would not only dismantle one of the most effective tools for expanding public school choice, it would also reverse decades of bipartisan progress in public education."

Importantly, in 3 risk factors making states vulnerable to federal funding cuts, K-12 Dive (Aug. 18) notes: "A dozen states and their school districts are more vulnerable to federal funding rollbacks than others in K-12 because of their higher proportions of high-need districts and students living in poverty, according to an analysis from nonprofit group Education Resource Strategies. Another risk factor for the 12 states is their higher dependency on federal funding..."

UPDATE ON CHALLENGES TO FEBRUARY 14 GUIDANCE

Via EducationCounsel: In August, a federal district court in Maryland ruled that the “Dear Colleague” letter (DCL) issued by USED’s Office for Civil Rights on February 14, 2025, and a subsequent certification requirement that required states and school districts to affirm their compliance with USED’s interpretation of Title VI were “unlawful.” As a consequence, the court “vacated” both actions. In her 76-page opinion, Judge Stephanie Gallagher, appointed by President Trump in 2019, ruled that neither agency action followed the procedural requirements of the Administrative Procedures Act nor Fifth Amendment due process guarantees. She also ruled that the DCL violated First Amendment guarantees.

ISSUES TO WATCH

Several groups have released resources in response to the Department of Justice recently released guidance document, which outlined its position on "unlawful discrimination" for recipients of federal funding:

• The Department of Justice’s “Guidance for Recipients of Federal Funding on Unlawful Discrimination”: What You Need to Know via Legal Defense Fund, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Democracy Forward, Latino Justice/PRLDEF, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and National Women's Law Center
• Misguidance: An Analysis of the U.S. Department of Justice’s July 29, 2025 Civil Rights Guidance via EducationCounsel
• Admissions for Democratic Merit: An Evidence-Based Analysis and Possibilities for Equity via Legal Defense Fund

Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, Latino Justice/PRLDEF filed a motion to intervene in Tennessee and Students for Fair Admissions v. U.S. Department of Education, a lawsuit attempting to deem the Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) program unconstitutional.

Trump aims to end millions in grants to colleges with high Hispanic populations (The Washington Post, Aug. 22) - "The Trump administration is refusing to defend a lawsuit challenging a federal program that provides $350 million in grant funding to colleges with large populations of Hispanic students, a move that threatens the future of similar programs to help minority students."

Padilla, Castro Condemn Trump Administration’s Move to End Hispanic-Serving Institutions Grant Program (Aug. 25) - “The Trump Administration’s refusal to defend the Hispanic-Serving Institutions program will jeopardize the education of not only the two thirds of all Latino college students who attend HSIs, but of millions of students from all backgrounds who attend these important institutions across the country."

As attacks against race-neutral policies aimed at fostering diversity and the fair distribution of educational opportunities continue, it's important to stay informed on the developments and understand the positions being advanced.

Discrimination by proxy is still discrimination (Pacific Legal Foundation, July 24) - This blog, authored by Brittany Hunter, discusses the Boston Parent Coalition and Thomas Jefferson (TJ) cases, asserting that, "...governments have taken to using sneaky tactics that, while avoiding explicit racial classifications, are no less than discrimination by proxy. Nowhere is this seen more than in the realm of publicly funded education."

Boston Parent Coalition for Academic Excellence Corp. v. Boston School Committee: follow the developments here.

Sargent v. School District of Philadelphia: Oral arguments in the Third Circuit are scheduled to take place on September 9. Several NCSD members submitted an amicus brief in this case. Amici include: ACLU, ACLU of Pennsylvania, Advocates for Trans Equality, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Asian American Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Equal Justice Society, LatinoJustice/PRLDEF, Legal Defense Fund, National Women’s Law Center, and National Partnership for Women & Families.

NCSD MEMBER UPDATES

NEWS FROM ACROSS OUR COUNTRY

National -

• Opinion: America’s New Segregation (The New York Times, Aug. 14) - David Brooks reflects on his experience traveling around the country to interview people from the Weave: The Social Fabric Project network: “This experience has produced in me one central conviction about what ails America: segregation. Not just racial segregation — which at least in schools is actually getting worse — but also class segregation.”
• ‘It’s a complicated time to be a white Southerner’ − and their views on race reflect that (The Conversation, Aug. 14) - "I’m a sociologist of race and racism. My team of graduate student researchers and I have spent the past four years interviewing white people to understand how they make sense of their white racial status today....Overall, we found white Southerners across the political spectrum actively grappling with their white racial status."

International -

• Elite schools in South Africa: how quiet gatekeeping keeps racial patterns in place (TimesLIVE, Aug. 25) - "Study looks at how fees and admissions criteria such as language preference, early registration practices and school proximity can be indirect mechanisms of exclusion."
• Canada’s example maybe key to unlocking Australia’s school potential: new report (EducationHQ News, Aug. 7) - "Australia’s schools are among the most segregated in the world, however a new report by the Australian Learning Lecture (ALL) provides a compelling argument that solutions to create an equal school system here are not a pipedream....The new report, titled Lessons from Canada, shows that with the right structures, regulations and funding in place, a common framework of resourcing and regulation for all schools is achievable here in Australia."
• Parents allege RTE students facing 'discrimination' in Chandkheda school (TheTimes of India, Aug. 5) - "Parents of a number of students admitted under the Right to Education (RTE) Act at Asian Global School in Chandkheda have alleged that their children are facing discrimination and segregation."

Arkansas -

• Arkansas officials, Little Rock Nine member mark anniversary of desegregation memorial (Arkansas Advocate, Aug. 29) - "Arkansas elected officials and high school students commemorated the twentieth anniversary of the Little Rock Nine monument on the state Capitol grounds Friday.....'My mantra has become that we can never have true racial reconciliation until we honestly acknowledge our painful, but shared, past. Not mythmaking, not pretty stories, but the real truth,' [Little Rock Nine member Elizabeth Eckford] said."

California -

• Original Casa Blanca School had 50-year history in Riverside Latino community (The Press-Enterprise, Aug. 3) - "The Riverside School District, working with surprising speed, responded to the segregation outcry by creating a desegregation plan in coordination with Black and Hispanic residents. Their plan promised the closing of the three racially segregated schools in Riverside — including Casa Blanca School — and busing those children to other schools in the district. The plan included total desegregation by 1967. This made Riverside the first city of its size in the U.S. to voluntarily and totally desegregate its schools."

Colorado -

• Jeffco student alleges racial discrimination, retaliation (Westminster Window, Aug. 11) - "After raising concerns about a classroom presentation mocking Jim Crow laws, Sheldon Cooper faced retaliation and isolation, prompting a federal civil rights complaint."

Connecticut -

• Struggling CT city school district finds new leader. He currently serves as a superintendent in Maryland. (Hartford Courant, July 2) - "[Incoming Hartford Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Andraé] Townsel, who has led the Calvert County Public Schools since July 1, 2022, was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, then earned a football scholarship to Howard University, where he later earned bachelor’s, masters, and doctoral degrees. He began his career in education in Washington, D.C. and has served in a variety of districts since."

Kentucky -

• Opinion: Redlining and resilience: New film shows Lexington’s troubling, uplifting history (Lexington Herald-Leader, Aug. 14) - "Amid all the angst and horrific headlines we now live with every day, it’s wonderful to see a small community project blossom into something bigger. That’s what’s happened with research that two Lexington women started during the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests. Rona Roberts and Barbara Sutherland wanted people here to understand some of the historical reasons behind America’s traditions of racial injustice. So they started researching housing patterns, including racially restricted housing deeds that were attached to so many neighborhoods in Lexington. The 'Segregated Lexington' came to some very clear conclusions about our fair city..."

Louisiana -

• New Orleans schools were radically remade after Katrina. He wanted to know: Did it work? (NOLA.com, Aug. 31) - "In terms of improving academic outcomes, [Douglas] Harris says, the evidence is undeniable: The overhaul worked. But other effects — a loss of veteran Black teachers, a deemphasis on arts education, a weakening of school-community bonds — were far less positive and remain painful to many."
• New Orleans Marks 65 Years Since School Integration By Honoring the Courage Of The New Orleans Four (Black Enterprise, Aug. 11) - "On Tuesday, August 5, community leaders, educators, and civil rights pioneers gathered at Basin Street Station to announce the 65th New Orleans Four Legacy Weekend, set for November 14–16. The commemoration will pay tribute to Gail Etienne, Ruby Bridges, Leona Tate, and Tessie Prevost, who in 1960 bravely entered McDonogh 19 and William Frantz Elementary Schools, facing jeers, death threats, and racial slurs."
• Then & now: Professors discusses arguments Southerners used to defend slavery, Jim Crow laws (The Advocate, Aug. 11) - "Members of the Edward Livingston Historical Association recently explored the continuity of arguments prominent Southerners used, sometimes 100 years apart, to defend chattel slavery and Jim Crow segregation laws. Dr. Keith M. Finley, an associate professor of history at Southeastern Louisiana University, outlined the themes in his most recent book during an Aug. 2 talk at the parish library in Livingston."

Maine -

• Maine Was A Haven For Black Travelers In Jim Crow. A Travel Group Wants Them Back (Travel Noire, Aug. 6) - "At the height of the Jim Crow era, Maine was a haven for Black tourists....While Maine has historically had a low Black population compared to national data, Black history is significant. Lisa Jones, founder of Black Travel Maine (BTM), is making sure that this history isn’t lost and is properly highlighted."

Maryland -

• Bahá’í Chair illuminates resilience during Jim Crow era (Baha'i World News Service, Aug. 22) - "In that spirit, an oral history initiative by the Bahá’í Chair turned to those who grew up in the shadow of segregation during the Jim Crow era in the United States and asked them to describe, in their own words, how families and neighborhoods shaped lives of dignity, perseverance, and mutual care."
• A glimpse into Black Americans’ leisure and travel during Jim Crow: a new exhibition coming to UMBC (Baltimore Fishbowl, Aug. 20) - “'The photographs show mobility through moments of relaxation, happiness, amusement, and community, challenging the dominant narrative of Black life during Jim Crow as defined primarily by restriction and struggle,' reads the press release. 'This is not an attempt to overlook the reality of Black life, instead, this exhibition recognizes the power of these images to affirm Black humanity and offer meaningful insights into life lived fully despite the oppressive nature of segregation.'”

Massachusetts -

• A new report says income segregation is growing in Greater Boston (WBUR, Aug. 20) - [A] new report "...by the think tank Boston Indicators found that even though Greater Boston has become more diverse and less racially segregated, households are increasingly clustering by class, especially among high-income brackets."

New Jersey -

• Opinion: Segregation still exists in Trenton public schools (The Trentonian, Aug. 12) - "Quality of education determines many fight or flight decisions."

New York -

• Elite New York High School Admits 8 Black Students in a Class of 781 (The New York Times, July 31) - "The city’s eight specialized high schools are regarded as crown jewels but also symbols of segregation. The number of Black and Hispanic students admitted to them dipped slightly from last year."

North Carolina -

• Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' size helps prevent segregation. How does that work? (Charlotte Observer, Aug. 26) - "State lawmakers have toyed with the idea of splitting districts into smaller parts for several years. This year, legislators filed a bill that would order a study to see if the five largest North Carolina school districts – which account for 31% of the state’s 1.5 million public school students in total – 'experience any negative outcomes due to the large student populations.' That bill, though, never came up for a vote."
• Event to honor last segregated class of J.T. Barber High (New Bern Sun Journal, Aug. 25) - "The African American Heritage and Culture Center is hosting an oral history panel featuring members of the last segregated class of J.T. Barber High School on Sunday [Aug. 31]. Rosanne Wilson, president of the African American Heritage and Culture Center, said the panel was organized to bring the community together to reflect on and honor New Bern’s place in the history of the Civil Rights Movement."
• Are NC schools more segregated? What data show after state lifted voucher cap (Charlotte Observer, Aug. 24) - "Researchers warn, if the exodus from public schools in the state continues, school segregation may worsen. Studies show white students are overrepresented in private schools. During the 2021-22 school year, 45% of NC public school students were white, while 74% of NC private school students were, according to data from ProPublica. Proponents of voucher expansion say private schools can be diverse, despite the exclusionary origins of many in the South, but it takes intentionality on the part of their leaders to create equitable access."
• Wake Schools plans celebrations for 50th anniversary of school system merger (WRAL, Aug. 4) - "The Wake County Public School System plans celebrations throughout the year for the 50th anniversary of the merger of the county's two once-segregated school systems. The merger of Wake County Schools and Raleigh City Schools in 1976, facing federal pressure, marked a major step toward racial integration of the county's schools."

Ohio -

• Revisiting Cleveland’s ‘relay’ policy that limited Black students in overcrowded schools to half days (Signal Cleveland, Aug. 22) -  "[Leah D.] Hudnall leads Relay Cleveland, a public history campaign focused on raising awareness about the policy and exploring the 'deeply personal and profoundly political journey of school desegregation' in Cleveland."

Rhode Island -

• The Prominent Black Families of Newport That Inspired The Gilded Age (Town and Country, Aug. 10) - "There’s a point in the third season of HBO’s The Gilded Age, where Denée Benton’s Peggy Scott receives an invite from Newport to address her cousin’s women’s group. In the following episodes, we are guided through the court intrigue of a Black Gilded Age against the picturesque backdrop of Narragansett Bay. Though fictional, Peggy’s invitation to speak about Jim Crow and suffrage, and her subsequent courtship by Dr. William Kirkland, is not at all farfetched."

South Carolina -

• Alumni of former segregated school need $2.3 million for memorial site, 12 housing units (Yahoo, Aug. 27) - "Supporters of the long-defunct Sterling High School are organizing to create a memorial grove and affordable housing unit in its name, aiming to preserve memories and history from the former predominantly Black school."
• Bennettsville funeral home to close after helping families for 111 years (WPDE, Aug. 15) - "The Morris Funeral Home of Bennettsville will close its doors on Aug. 31 after more than 111 years of helping families, according to a news release by the family....The news release said the Morris Funeral Home filled a vital role during 'Jim Crow segregation, providing quality, dignified service to Black families at a time when White funeral homes would not serve Black families.'"
• Civil War hero Robert Smalls honored with historic first statue at SC statehouse (WTVR, Aug. 1) - "A new statue honoring Civil War hero and former congressman Robert Smalls will become the first monument of an individual African American on the South Carolina Statehouse grounds."

Tennessee -

• Serina K. Gilbert and Dr. Learotha Williams Jr.: From the Fiery Furnace to the Promise Land (Nashville Banner, Aug. 31) - "Shortly after the end of the Civil War, formerly enslaved African Americans established and settled Promise Land in Dickson County....Some of the first settlers, like Ed Vanleer and John Nesbitt served with the United States Colored Troops during the war. The town remained independent, and actually flourished through the Jim Crow Era."
• Fayette Co. Schools seeks end to desegregation case; Black constituents say they’re being ignored (The Tennessee Lookout, Aug. 4) - "Tension has been palpable between the crowd and the school board this year....This atmosphere comes as the board continues to push toward dissolving the consent decree that has held the school system accountable to the federal government for integrating public schools since 1965. The order was put in place after the government found that Fayette County failed to appropriately desegregate its schools."

Texas -

• San Antonio schools among the first in the U.S. to desegregate 70 years ago (San Antonio Express-News, Aug. 24) - "On Aug. 28, 1955, Thomas Portwood, superintendent of San Antonio Independent School District, said the district would comply with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling mandating racial desegregation in schools, according to records kept by the San Antonio Public Library’s Texana/Genealogy Department. The move made San Antonio among the first cities in the U.S. with schools where Black students were integrated with white students."
• Midland ISD renames Legacy back to Lee (Midland Reporter-Telegram, Aug. 13) - "...the Midland ISD board of trustees on Tuesday night voted by a narrow margin to rename Legacy senior and freshman high schools to the Confederate-linked Midland Lee. It’s a close reversion back to the original Robert E. Lee High School, which opened in 1961 as a whites-only, segregated school and was named after the Confederate general in reaction to the ruling of Brown v. Board of Education, which years earlier ruled that state-sponsored segregation was unconstitutional."

Virginia -

• Civil rights pioneer remembers her role in history: 'Do something about it' (VPM News, Aug. 28) - "In 1951, [Inez Davenport Jones] was in her second year of teaching at a segregated school in Farmville when she helped the students organize a protest....Jones didn't confide in anyone about the students' plans — not even her husband, the school principal. The actions from that April afternoon led to the Virginia lawsuit, which was consolidated with four others to become Brown v. Board of Education."
• Shields receives Distinguished Faculty Service Award (Spider Insider, Aug. 20) - "Dr. Tom Shields, chair of the SPCS graduate education program and associate professor of education and leadership studies, received the Distinguished Faculty Service Award for the School of Professional and Continuing Studies during University of Richmond Colloquy on Wednesday, August 20." (Shields presented on the Can We Learn & Live Together 2.0: Housing & School Segregation in the Richmond Region report at NCSD's most recent conference.)

CROSS-MOVEMENT RESOURCES

SUBMISSION OPPORTUNITIES

SEPT 19

Baltimore, MD

Picturing Mobility — Curatorial Talk and Opening Reception

University of Maryland, Baltimore County

"In conjunction with the exhibition the exhibition Picturing Mobility: Black Tourism and Leisure during the Jim Crow Era, on display from September 2 through December 19, the Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery presents a curatorial talk with Elizabeth Patton, followed by an opening reception. The event runs from 5-7pm.

SEPT 19

Providence, RI

US Democracy, Then and Now: Du Bois' Black Reconstruction at 90 Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity

Join Brown University's Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America for a commemorative scholarly conference marking the 90th Anniversary of W.E.B. Du Bois’s germinal work, Black Reconstruction in America (1935).

OCT 3 - OCT 4

Raleigh, NC

Annual Color of Education Summit

Dudley Flood Center for Educational Equity and Opportunity

A partnership between the Dudley Flood Center for Educational Equity and Opportunity, Public School Forum of North Carolina, the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University, and the Center for Child and Family Policy, the Color of Education Summit brings together educators, policymakers, researchers, students, parents, community members, and other key stakeholders focused on achieving racial equity and eliminating racial disparities in education.

OCT 29 - OCT 31

Washington, DC

2025 Fall Policy Training Conference

Magnet Schools of America

The annual MSA Policy Training Conference offers a unique opportunity to enhance your understanding of the vital role that federal policy plays in public education and the pivotal position magnet schools occupy in our nation’s education landscape. Featuring a session on "Reclaiming the School Choice Narrative."

NOV 5

Virtual

Inaugural Online Conference

APA Public Schools + Communities Division

"The goal of the conference is to highlight the amazing work happening in school planning around the country, exchange ideas, and to gain valuable insights into current trends, challenges, and innovations in the field. Registration will open in August."

“I think that the past is all that makes the present coherent, and further, that the past will remain horrible for exactly as long as we refuse to assess it honestly.”

–James Baldwin