On January 27, 2023, Class I student Katie Cheung gave a NED Talk at Nobles assembly. She shared her experience with Asian 2 Asian, Nobles' affinity group for AAPI-identifying students, and attending the NAIS Student Diversity Leadership Conference. She also emphasized the need to go beyond attracting students, faculty and staff of color to independent schools—and to help them thrive.
On September 26, 2022, student leaders from Nobles' Latinx affinity group, Poder, spoke about the meaning behind Latinx Heritage Month. They also introduced an initiative to raise funds for Puerto Rico, in the destructive wake of Hurricane Fiona earlier in September.
View their slides below.
Assembly on January 22 marked the beginning of Nobles' 2021 MLK celebration. Students organizing this year's events (affinity groups and SURJE) wanted to use assembly as a starting point for conversations about the impact MLK continues to have, and the systemic racism and discrimination that people still face.
This year, rather than one assembly, students have prepared a thought-provoking series of presentations to raise awareness and encourage further learning. We hope that what you hear and see inspires curiosity about and action on behalf of the important causes for which Dr. King lived and died.
—Affinity Group Leaders, SURJE and DEI Office
Sahr Matturi ’22 and Justin Qin ’21 talk about the significance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and introduce this year's series of upcoming student talks on redlining/housing inequality, voter suppression and activism, from affinity groups and SURJE (Students United for Racial Justice and Equity).
REDLINING/HOUSING DISCRIMINATIONMapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America: This interactive map allows users to explore designations and descriptions of neighborhoods across America from the federal government's Home Owners' Loan Corporation. This New Deal agency categorized neighborhoods between 1935 and 1940 to provide guidance to banks about where and who to lend money for mortgages. Its work, often rooted in racist, xenophobic and anti-Semitic prejudice, continues to have effects on housing equality today.
Video: Housing Segregation and Redlining in America: A Short History: From NPR’s Code Switch podcast, this video clip explains the background of redlining and housing segregation. Contains mature language.
NPR: A Forgotten History of How the U.S. Government Segregated America: From NPR’s Fresh Air, an interview with Richard Rothstein, author of The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
The Boston Globe: Researchers expected ‘outrageously high’ discrimination against Black renters. What they found was worse than imagined. A 2020 study from Suffolk University Law School reveals the deep racial bias in the Boston housing rental market.
As part of the 2021 MLK presentation series, Olivia Cheung ’21, Carter Braxton ’22, Jeremy Rodriguez ’21, Minh Mai ’22, Darnel Cineas ’21 and Khalid Abdulle ’22 share how redlining and housing discrimination prevent communities of color from acquiring generational wealth, damage their health and perpetuate structural racism.
ACLU: The Voting Rights Act: Major Dates in History: This interactive timeline covers the struggle for American voting rights from 1866 to today.
ACLU: Block the Vote: Voter Suppression in 2020: This resource gives an overview of major voter suppression techniques being used across the country today, from voter ID laws to voter purges and more.
The Atlantic Weekly: Voter Suppression Is Warping Democracy: This article explains the barriers BIPOC and others face at the polls, and the effects those obstacles have on our democracy.
”Frontline” video: What’s the Deal with Voters’ Rights?: This resource explains voters’ rights, specifically why voter ID laws are rooted in racism.
In the third video in Nobles' 2021 MLK student presentation series, Ama Ndukwe ’22, Avery Miranda ’21, Drew Hesp ’21, Caroline Fai ’21, Anna Perez ’21 and Samsam Ismail ’22 explore voter suppression, from its racist roots to its national impact today.
ACTIVISMHere are some additional resources from Angie Gabeau ’21, Tope Adetunji ’22, Christian Figuereo ’23, Mishara Nozea ’21 and the Nobles librarians to learn more:
Social Media Accounts and Hashtags to Follow:
And check out this list of social media accounts from the library’s Racial Justice Resource Guide.
Podcasts:
More podcasts here on the library’s Racial Justice Resources Guide.
In this video, Angie Gabeau ’21, Tope Adetunji ’22, Christian Figuereo ’23 and Mishara Nozea ’21 highlight the importance of activism today—from using the power we have as citizens to shape what we want society to look like, to performative activism, to how to be a good activist, and how that can look different for everyone.
LIBRARY DISPLAYSBe sure to stop by the Putnam Library to check out the related displays for each of the topics above, thoughtfully curated by the Nobles librarians.
Check out "Resources for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and Black History Month in Putnam Library" to browse titles and reserve any online.
After graduating from Nobles, Hamzat Raheem ’13 took a different route than most of his classmates, attending art school at Cooper Union in New York City and going on to study sculpture at Kyoto Seika University in Japan. In February 2022, he said, "I was honored to be invited back to Nobles for the first solo exhibition of my career and was delighted when the opening reception turned out to be a mini-reunion.” Raheem explained that the goal of his recent show at Foster Gallery, “Varsity Artist,” was not only to show his work, but to “create a space to discuss the position of visual art within the structure and culture of Nobles at large.” In late February and early March, Foster Gallery was reimagined by Raheem.
Read about Raheem's work at Nobles.
On April 20, 2022, artist and activist Athena Nair (she/they) spoke in assembly about what it means to have a positive and healthy relationship with one’s body. In her talk titled “Let’s Unpack our Fear of Fatness: Exploring Fatphobia and Body Positivity,” they walked the audience through the five competencies of The Body Positive, a nonprofit organization that teaches people to listen to their bodies, learn and thrive, with the ultimate goal of ending end the harmful consequences of negative body image.
Read about Nair's talk.
On Wednesday, March 3, 2021, Nobles faculty, staff, parents, guardians, administrators and trustees were fortunate enough to be among 9,000 attendees representing 127 independent schools in attendance for the webinar talk with Professor Ibram X. Kendi. Hosted by the Association of Independent Schools in New England, the webinar, “Go Beyond an Awareness of Racism, Contribute to the Formation of a Truly Just and Equitable Society,” addressed questions about how to best implement anti-racist pedagogy and practice in our schools. Not only is Kendi one of America’s preeminent anti-racist scholars, but he is also a National Book Award-winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author of seven books; in 2020, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Among Kendi’s bestselling books are How to be an Antiracist and Stamped: Racism and Antiracism and You. Kendi is also the director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research.
Alejandra Mendez and Marieko Amoah, both ’22, were glued to their Zoom screens this past December when they first heard Bettina L. Love, Ph.D. speak during the Student Diversity Leadership Conference. Moved by her words and ideas, they approached Provost Bill Bussey and said, “We have to have her come to Nobles.” On February 19, 2021, Mendez and Amoah co-hosted Love’s long assembly talk and led the Q&A that followed. Love, an educational researcher and activist, is the award-winning author of We Want to Do More Than Survive, and the Athletic Association Endowed Professor at the University of Georgia. She describes her work as meeting at the intersection of race, education, abolition and Black joy.
Read about Love's talk.
Jennifer De Leon, award-winning author of the young adult novel, Don't Ask Me Where I'm From, spoke to the Nobles community on September 23, 2020, interviewed by an incredible student panel: Avery Miranda ’21, Anna Perez ’21 and Aileen Feliz ’22. You can follow Jennifer De Leon on Instagram at @delejenn for more events and announcements.
Read about De Leon's talk.
On October 21, 2020, Nobles heard from Harvard Graduate School of Education Assistant Professor Dr. Anthony Abraham “Tony” Jack, author of The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students. The 2017 book features extensive research about overlooked diversity among lower-income undergraduates: the doubly disadvantaged — those who enter college from local, typically distressed public high schools — and the privileged poor — those who enter from independent prep schools like Nobles. He also shared his personal experiences as a first-generation college student from the latter group. “This is what I study, but it’s also my story,” he said.
Read about Jack's talk.
On December 9, 2020, world-famous lacrosse player Lyle Thompson was interviewed in assembly about his experience as an Indigenous man and an athlete by History teaching fellow and longtime friend Abby Kelly. Thompson grew up on the Onondaga reservation in New York, one of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, and has played lacrosse since he could walk. What students, faculty and staff gleaned from Thompson’s visit had less to do with the catalog of successes Thompson has had in the game of lacrosse, however, and more to do with the spiritual nature of the game and the opportunity it has given him to bring about change.
Read about Thompson's interview.