Talk by Kaniqua Robinson, "Silencing Their Stories: The Politics of Memory and Race in the Public Memorialization of a State Reform School"

October 23, 2020 - 2:00pm to 3:30pm

On Friday October 23 from 2:00-3:30 p.m. Dr. Kaniqua Robinson (Visiting Assistant Professor, Africana Studies) will give a talk that explores the silencing of Black experiences in the public memorization of the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys (1900-2011), a state reform school in Marianna, Florida. Throughout Florida's public memory-making process to reconcile the past, specifically the abuse and deaths that occurred on Dozier's campus, the stories of Black inmates were often silenced by multiple stakeholders. In response, former Black inmates actively resist their silence by engaging in counter-memorial practices that acknowledged their experiences with Dozier and the juvenile justice system. This presentation further examines these memory-making process as a critique of the juvenile justice system." Dr. Laura Lovett (Department of History) Courtney Weikle-Mills (Department of English and Director of Children's Literature Program) will be respondents.

Register here: https://pitt.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bxgtLhZygJQZO61