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July 2026

The Ella Baker Conversation Series
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The Ella Baker Conversation Series ([link removed]) , hosted by Hasan Kwame Jeffries, brings together activists and thought leaders to discuss history and democracy today, building on Ella Baker’s model of democratic learning and dialogue as foundational to the freedom movement and democracy. By providing historical context to analyze current issues, these conversations offer models as we build a more inclusive society for the future.

Each conversation includes a video of the convened conversation along with a toolkit for civic and political education in communities and schools. The first two video interviews along with discussion toolkits are now available.

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Reconstruction: Democratic Promise — and Defeat ([link removed])
Ahmad Ward, executive director of Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park, and Hasan Kwame Jeffries explore Reconstruction not simply as an era of policy change but as a profound struggle over the meaning of freedom, citizenship and democracy itself. By centering the experiences of Black people who lived in the historic community of Mitchelville, they examine Black freedom in practice — on the ground in the lives of ordinary people. The conversation then widens the lens to South Carolina’s larger role in the Reconstruction period and the remaking of the Constitution, thinking about Claflin University (and other historically Black colleges and universities) as part of the institutional architecture of freedom.
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Education for Liberation ([link removed])
As a civil rights activist working on voting rights, Charles E. Cobb conceptualized Freedom Schools during the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer Project. In this conversation, Cobb traces the role of education in his youth, his transformative experiences as a student at Howard University, and his deepened activism and commitment to the movement for freedom in Mississippi. Cobb recognized that Black Americans in the United States — and especially in the South — strongly believed in voting rights and education. Building on this consensus, Cobb and other civil rights organizers planned the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer Project as an effort at liberation education and voter registration. The legacy of this model continues today.


** The Other Legacy: A Counternarrative to Celebrating America 250
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July 4, 2026, marked the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. In his “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered on Aug. 28, 1963, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., Martin Luther King Jr. quoted some of what he called the declaration’s “magnificent words,” particularly the self-evident truths “that all men are created equal” and that they all have “unalienable Rights,” among them “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

For 250 years, the ideals of freedom and democracy have inspired people around the world. But there is a more troubled legacy of the American Revolution and its international impact.

This essay series ([link removed]) , edited by Marty Blatt and Andreas Etges, offers a counternarrative to the official America 250 celebrations and highlights the history of international resistance and solidarity.
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An Indigenous Perspective of the 250th Anniversary of the United States ([link removed])
Farina King, a citizen of the Navajo Nation and professor of Native American Studies at the University of Oklahoma, reflects on the interconnected history of Indigenous communities that shaped the formation of the United States and offers a counternarrative to celebrating America 250.

Many of the Founding Fathers Were Hypocrites. There, I Said It! ([link removed])

Kyera Singleton, executive director of the Royall House and Slave Quarters, argues for considering freedom demands and reparations petitions from enslaved and free Black Americans like Ona Judge and Belinda Sutton as foundational to the United States for a more complete picture of our nation.


** Resource Spotlight
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Liberation Lit ([link removed])
With eight new book reviews, Liberation Lit encourages us all to keep reading and learning together as we explore models of liberation, contextualize our history and work to transform our society.
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Analyzing Liberation in Film ([link removed])
This new toolkit builds on Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail” as a lens for analyzing liberation and to facilitate conversations about any liberation-themed film.
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250 Years — Democracy’s Future Demands Reckoning With History ([link removed])
The 250th anniversary of the United States offers a moment to reckon with our history — and its contradictions — to determine our democracy’s future.

Out of the Ashes: Building a New American Democracy ([link removed])
Hasan Kwame Jeffries examines how the erosion of institutions to safeguard democracy invites us to imagine a new democracy resilient enough to resist authoritarianism and inclusive enough to serve all.


** One World Poster:
Enjoy, Download and Share
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