Critical Conversations: An Interactive Symposium on W. E. B. Du Bois and 21st Century Color Lines

Date: Saturday, Feb. 2, 8:30 a.m.–2 p.m.
Location: Lang Performing Arts Center and Kohlberg​

William Edward Burghardt “W. E. B.” Du Bois was born in 1868 and became the nation’s leading social scientist on race, social inequality, African-American life and culture, and the ideology of white supremacy. He famously predicted that “the problem of the twentieth century [would be] the problem of the color line”—a prescient observation that rings truer than ever today, on the 150th anniversary of Du Bois’s birth.

With this symposium, Swarthmore College attempts to serve the greater good of Du Bois’s vision via deep listening and democratic voices offered in mutual exchange and respect. This event is co-sponsored by the Cooper Foundation and the Petrucci Family Foundation.

Continental breakfast

Time: 8:30 a.m.
Location: Lang Performing Arts Center Lobby

Keynote Address

Keynote address by Aldon Morris, the Leon Forrest Professor of Sociology and African American Studies at Northwestern University, and author of The Scholar Denied: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Birth of Modern Sociology

Time: 10–11 a.m.
Location: Lang Performing Arts Center, Cinema

Group Conversations

Facilitated small group conversations on a variety of difficult topics, learning deep listening skills and strategies for conflicted conversations with good outcomes

Time: 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m. 
Locations: Various classrooms in Kohlberg Hall

Luncheon and discussion

Time: 12:30 p.m.–2 p.m.
Location: Kohlberg Hall, Scheuer Room