Hopkins School Celebrates Black History Month 2020

The Hopkins community will celebrate Black History Month this year with a variety of educational and enrichment activities throughout February. While African-American history is part of the School's curriculum, our community will take extra time throughout the month for further exploration of significant historical figures and events.

Organized by the Office of Equity and Community, and in coordination with the Student Diversity Board, Students United for Racial Equity, and the Black and Latinx Student Union, the programming will include guest speakers, an artist residency, movie screenings, discussions and more.

The following events are open to various members of the community. If alumni are interested in attending the events below, please contact Katey Varanelli, Director of Alumni/ae Engagement, at kvaranelli@hopkins.edu.

A Diplomat of Consequence Screening
with Q&A with Christopher Teal led by Fran Palmieri ’79

Thursday, January 30, 2020 @ 6:30 PM in Upper Heath
This event is free and open to students, parents, faculty and staff, and alumni.

A Diplomat of Consequence, a documentary about the first African American diplomat, Ebenezer D.Bassett, will be screened and then discussed with its writer and director, Christopher Teal.

With his appointment in 1869 by President Ulysses Grant to be the U.S. diplomat in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, Bassett was not only a symbol of breaking the color barrier, but his work as a diplomat paved the way for other minorities after him. He is recognized as one of the early American defenders and advocates of international human rights, during a difficult time in foreign policy.
 

 
I Am Shakespeare Screening and Discussion with Director Stephen Dest
Thursday, February 13, 2020 @ 6:00 PM in Upper Heath
This event is free and open to students, parents, faculty and staff, and alumni.

Join the Hopkins community for an intimate screening and discussion of I Am Shakespeare, which chronicles the true life story of Henry Green. He lived a dual life as a brilliant young actor and inner-city gang member, who was brutally shot and left for dead just shortly after his inspiring performance in Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' and his remarkable (against all odds) recovery/intestinal transplant received by a 13-year-old boy (Jack) who was killed in a car accident on the other side of the country but who still managed to save Henry's life.

Director Stephen Dest will also work with students in Ian Melchinger's video production class as an artist-in-residence. 
 

 
Poet Jericho Brown Visits Hopkins
Friday, February 14, 2020
Presentation during Morning Assembly is open to students, parents, faculty, and staff.

The Hopkins Poetry Committee has invited award-winning poet Jericho Brown to Hopkins for a day of programming including an assembly presentation, two Q&A sessions with students in the Calarco Library, a luncheon in Stone Lounge with faculty members, and a poetry workshop with writers from the Daystar, the student literary magazine.

Jericho Brown is the recipient of a Whiting Writers’ Award and fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Brown’s first book, Please (2008), won the American Book Award. His second book, The New Testament (2014), won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and was named one of the best of the year by Library Journal, Coldfront, and the Academy of American Poets. He is also the author of the collection The Tradition (2019). His poems have appeared in Buzzfeed, The Nation, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The New Republic, Time, and The Pushcart Prize Anthology, and several volumes of The Best American Poetry anthologies.

 
Harriet - Private Screening for Hopkins Community
Thursday, February 20, 2020 @ Bow Tie Cinemas in New Haven
4:00 PM & 7:00 PM Showings (Buses from Hopkins available)
This event is open to students, parents, faculty and staff, and alumni.

Based on the thrilling and inspirational life of an iconic American freedom fighter, Harriet tells the extraordinary tale of Harriet Tubman's escape from slavery and transformation into one of America's greatest heroes. Her courage, ingenuity, and tenacity freed hundreds of slaves and changed the course of history.


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Hopkins is a private middle school and high school for grades 7-12. Located on a campus overlooking New Haven, CT, the School takes pride in its intellectually curious students as well as its dedicated faculty and staff.