The Race, Education and Democracy Lecture and Book Series, a collaborative effort of Simmons College and Beacon Press, will bring annually to Boston a prominent scholar to deliver four to five public lectures on the topic of Race, Education and Democracy. These lectures will form the basis for a book to be published by Beacon Press. 

This Lecture and Book Series aims to reestablish in the public imagination the historic connection between public education and the possibility of a robust democracy, against the backdrop of the issue of race in America.

The Series is aimed at a broad audience and will present educational issues in all their complexities, in readily accessible language.  The Series proceeds on the assumption that public education is at the center of American public life and that discussions about critical educational issues need to occur in the public domain and engage Americans from many different backgrounds in thoughtful and complicated conversations.

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Charles M Payne will deliver the 2009 Race, Education and Democracy Lectures, addressing the overarching theme, Framing a New Conversation about the Achievement and Development of Black Youth.

Professor Payne is the Frank P. Hixon Distinguished Service Professor in the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago. His recent publications include, So Much Reform, So Little Change: The Persistence of Failure in Urban Schools and Teach Freedom: Education for Liberation in the African American Tradition.

Theresa Perry
Professor of Africana Studies and Education
Simmons College
300 The Fenway
Boston, Ma. 02115
P. 617-521-2257
theresa.perry@simmons.edu