The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is hosting the Daisy Bates Education Organizing Summit December 1-3, 2011, at the Hilton Memphis hotel at 939 Ridge Lake Boulevard in East Memphis. The Summit theme is “Finding Our Way Back to First.” Benjamin Todd Jealous, NAACP President & CEO, is the keynote speaker.
The Summit honors the late Daisy Bates, former president of the Arkansas State Conference of the NAACP and advisor in 1957 to the “Little Rock Nine,” students who challenged Jim Crow laws and those vehemently opposed to the integration of Central High School. Daisy Bates was a believer in equitable education and succeeded despite the abhorrence of mobs intent on causing her physical harm.
The focus of the Summit is to move the NAACP’s education agenda forward. Grassroots organizers from across the country will convene for the explicit purpose of combining traditional and innovative education organizing techniques in concert with local allies. The Summit is an integral part of the NAACP’s year-round training regimen for state and unit Education Chairs to empower them to address local education issues.
“The Daisy Bates Education Summit presents a unique opportunity for educators in the movement for social justice to share ideas and issues and formulate a national agenda to address the changes in education affecting African Americans from pre-school to higher education,” said Madeleine C. Taylor, Executive Director, Memphis Branch NAACP.
State and local NAACP stakeholders and education advocates will participate in the following planned sessions:
- Expanded Learning in High School
- Distributing Great Teachers
- Creating Diverse Schools
- Education & Civic Engagement Plenary
- Listening to Teachers as Partners Plenary
- Pre-K as a Foundation for Literacy
- Federal Policy Update: Waivers & Turnarounds
- Engaging Parents and Communities
- Civil Rights & Discipline
- School Funding Equity
- Equitable Higher Education Support
The Summit will also include a tribute to Dr. Maxine A. Smith, a longtime civil rights and education activist who served 33 years as the executive secretary of the NAACP Memphis Branch. A gala dinner will be held in honor of Smith, the national NAACP Education Committee Chairman Emeritus.
The inaugural of the National NAACP Maxine A. Smith Scholarship Fund also will be unveiled, along with tributes from Roslyn Brock, Chairman of the National NAACP Board of Directors, Tennessee education advocates, and Smith’s colleagues in the fight for civil rights.
The Summit is not open to the public, but the gala dinner and tribute to Dr. Maxine A. Smith is $100 per person. Tickets are available by calling 901-521-1343. Donations to the national scholarship fund being established in Dr. Smith’s name may be submitted to the NAACP, 588 Vance Avenue, Memphis, TN. 38128.
About the Memphis Branch of the NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is the nation’s oldest civil rights organization. The mission of the NAACP is to ensure the political, educational, social and economic equality of rights for all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination. The Memphis Branch is the second largest chapter in the organization.