White House Deputy Director to discuss award-winning film Thursday
The 糖心Vlog传媒LR Institute on Race and Ethnicity will host Dr. Ivory A. Toldson, deputy director for the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, at 4 p.m. Thursday, March 20, in Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall in the Fine Arts Building.
The free event is open to the public and will also include the showing of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival award-winning film 鈥淎merican Promise.鈥� Registration is available .
In his presentation, 鈥淓ducation, Ethnicity, and Equity,鈥� Toldson will speak to the lessons in the film and discuss student success in higher education.
Toldson, a celebrated senior research analyst, professor, and writer, uses his research to address many of the issues raised in the documentary.
Dubbed a leader “who could conceivably navigate the path to the White House” by The Washington Post, Toldson travels the country talking with teachers about misleading media statistics that invariably either link black males to crime or question their ability to learn.
鈥淧eople who work with, have relationships, are responsible for educating, mentoring, or who have social interactions with students from diverse backgrounds can benefit from seeing this film and Dr. Toldson鈥檚 presentation,鈥� said Dr. Michael R. Twyman, director of the Institute on Race and Ethnicity.
鈥淎merican Promise鈥� follows the experiences of two middle-class African-American boys over the course of 12 years as they attend a prestigious private school on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
The makers of the film, Joe Brewster, a Harvard- and Stanford-trained psychiatrist, and Mich猫le Stephenson, a Columbia Law School graduate and filmmaker, are also the parents of one of the film鈥檚 subjects.
They decided to film the boys’ progress starting in 1999 and were surprised by the challenges they encountered related to class, gender, and generational gaps.
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Center for Diversity Affairs and Say It Loud! Readers and Writers are sponsors for Dr. Toldson鈥檚 lecture.
The showing of 鈥淎merican Promise鈥� is a collaboration with POV, the award-winning independent nonfiction film series on PBS (www.pbs.org/pov).
For more information, go to Toldson and “American Promise.”