WNYC Hosts 'In MLK’s Footsteps: Education as a Civil Right'

In the 1950s, de-segregating schools was a major focus in the fight for racial equality. Half a century later, equality in education is still a major battleground, but the fight has changed from access to schools to what happens inside them.

On January 15 at 3pm, WNYC’s sixth annual MLK Celebration will explore this enduring issue with In MLK’s Footsteps: Education as a Civil Right at the .

WNYC's Brian Lehrer and political journalist Jami Floyd will lead a discussion with Brown v. Board of Ed plaintiff John A. Stokes, historians, academics, education experts, and cultural critic Touré about the “evolution of the civil rights struggle around education since King’s time, and what’s left to be done in education reform,” according to a news release from WNYC.

In addition, there will also be a performance by folk/blues songwriter Toshi Reagon, a tap performance from the Manhattan Theatre Lab and its ninth grade chorus, and short tribute speeches to Dr. King from the Manhattan Country School eighth graders.

In MLK’s Footsteps: Education as a Civil Right takes place Sunday, Jan. 15, from 3-5 p.m. at the Brooklyn Museum’s, Cantor Auditorium. It’s free and open to the public, but you must make a reservation here.

Hosts:

Brian Lehrer, Host, Wnyc’s The Brian Lehrer Show

Jami Floyd, Managing Editor, “The Global Game”; Attorney And Wnyc Contributor, “It’s A Free Country”

Panelists:

Touré, Journalist And Cultural Critic; Author Of Who’s Afraid Of Post-Blackness: What It Means To Be Black Now

John A. Stokes, A Plaintiff Covered Under The Brown Litigation In Brown V. Board Of Education; Stokes Helped Lead A Student Strike Of An All-Black School Because Of Poor Building Conditions

Frederick C. Harris, Director, Institute For Research In African-American Studies

Cami Anderson, Superintendent, Newark Public Schools

Rachel Moran, Dean, University Of California Los Angeles Law School

Harvard Sitkoff, Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholar