February 1, 2023

Elms College to host sixth annual Black Experience Summit

REGIONAL
Staff report

 

CHICOPEE – In celebration of Black History Month, College of Our Lady of the Elms will hold its sixth annual Black Experience Summit on Friday, Feb. 24, from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. This in-person event, which will take place in the college’s Veritas Auditorium, is hosted by the Elms College President’s Office and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. 

“Our theme this year is “Embodying Faith, Seeking Racial Justice” and we will explore the impact of racism in the life and mission of religious institutions,” said Jennifer Shoaff, interim chief diversity officer of Elms College’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion. 

In keeping with the founding mission, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield (SSJ) is co-sponsoring this year’s summit. Their charism of ‘uniting neighbor with neighbor and neighbor with God without distinction’ has impelled them to act justly. This year’s summit is also made possible by grant funding from the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts and support from the college’s Cynthia A. Lyons Center for Equity and Urban Education.

“As an institution dedicated to the creation and transmission of knowledge, Elms College is delighted to bring this summit to western Massachusetts for the sixth year,” said Harry E. Dumay, president of Elms College. “This year, our academic conversation on the experiences of African Americans and the African Diaspora focuses on those experiences within various faith traditions.

“We are particularly pleased in this 95th year of our founding that our founders, the Sisters of St. Joseph, are co-sponsoring this year’s summit,” he said. “The aspiration of the congregation for social justice remains an important element of the core values that we try to impart to our students.  I look forward to this year’s summit as we engage in inspirational dialogue involving the missions and traditions of both the SSJs and Elms.”

The event will feature two keynote speeches. The opening keynote address will be given by Shannen Dee Williams, associate professor of History at the University of Dayton. The title of Williams’ remarks is “Bearing Witness to a Silenced Past: The Power and Challenge of Black Catholic Women’s Historical Truth-Telling.” She will examine how Black Catholic sisters struggled to expose the discrimination and misrepresentation that existed historically within the U.S. Catholic Church. 

Williams is the author of Subversive Habits: Black Catholic Nuns in the Long African American Freedom Struggle, which was named a top five book published in religion by Publishers’ Weekly in 2022.

The closing keynote address, “A Call for Liberation: Why We are Called to Lift Up and Learn from Movements for Black Lives,” will be given by Olga Marina Segura, a freelance writer and the former opinion and culture editor at National Catholic Reporter. Segura will address how contemporary movements for Black liberation, such as Black Lives Matter, are not only consistent with the social justice teachings of the religious faithful, but also continue to challenge the ongoing marginalization and invisibility of racial justice.

Segura is the author of Birth of a Movement: Black Lives Matter and the Catholic Church.

The event also includes a panel discussion, “Faith in Practice: An Interfaith Dialogue,” in which faith practitioners will discuss how they raise their voices to exemplify the pivotal role that places of worship could play to eradicate racism and white supremacy both internally and externally. 

Panelists for the discussion include:

• Mirza Yawar Baig, the resident scholar at the Islamic Society of Western Massachusetts and Hampshire Mosque and the Muslim chaplain at Springfield College and Westfield State University
• Nina Diri, an elected member of the Regional Baha’i Council of the Northeastern States and professor emeritus of Computer Information Sciences at Springfield College
• The Reverend Marcus McCullough, MDiv, STM, BCC, the senior pastor of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, Springfield, MA, and staff chaplain at Baystate Medical Center (BMC)

During the summit, Devantae Butler, CEO of Reaching New Dreams & Recognizing Talents, will present two spoken word presentations and Elms students will perform two inspirational songs.

At the conclusion of the summit, Williams and Segura will be available to sign copies of their books.

The free event is open to the public. To register for the summit, visit https://www.elms.edu/events/bes/.