Residence at Wendy's Subway

Radiating Black ~ Puerto Rican ~ Feminist Studies from the City University of New York to the Americas and the Caribbean: Conor Tomás Reed in Residence

Thu, Nov 12, 2020

12:00 AM–12:00 AM

Lost & Found: The CUNY Poetics Document Initiative is proud to co-sponsor and continue to support Conor Tomás Reed’s “Radiating Black~Puerto Rican~Feminist Studies from the City University of New York to the Americas and the Caribbean,” organized as the current resident at Wendy’s Subway, which evolved from Tomás Reed’s ongoing work, research, and collaborations with Lost & Found & the Center for the Humanities including: “Audre Lorde Now” as part ofTomás Reed’s CUNY Adjunct Incubator project “Radiating Black~Puerto Rican~Women’s Teaching Archives from CUNY to the Americas and the Caribbean (and Back Again)The Audre Lorde Reading Group: “Your Silence will Not Protect You” which explored through community and experience Audre Lorde’s abundant legacy of teaching, writing, and social movement work; and as co-editor of the Lost & Found publications: June Jordan “Life Studies,” 1966-1976Toni Cade Bambara: “Realizing the Dream of a Black University,” & Other Writings (Parts I & II)Adrienne Rich: Teaching at CUNY, 1968-1974 (Part I & II)related events. Read more about this residency, Cono Tomás Reed’s work, Wendy’s Subway, and register for the upcoming events, or watch recordings of previous events in this series below:

This residency with Wendy’s Subway will share archives and learning/organizing lessons on the entwined legacies of Black ~ Puerto Rican ~ Feminist Studies and movements at CUNY in the 1960s and 70s, in order to nourish bridges between community organizers, cultural workers, educators, and students in the United States, the Caribbean, and Latin America.

These radiant histories will be broadcast through a three-month series of seven online public dialogues on the lives of Toni Cade Bambara, June Jordan, and Audre Lorde; explorations in Black~Puerto Rican~Third World Feminist Studies at CUNY now; histories of how CUNY movements created Open Admissions and Ethnic Studies; and present efforts to decolonize CUNY and New York City. All programs will be conducted online via Zoom, and several of the presentations will feature live Spanish interpretation.

We actively welcome working-class Black, Indigenous, Asian, Caribbean, Latinx, Middle Eastern, Pacific Islander, and beyond (BIPOC)—especially women, gender non-binary, and queer and trans—individuals and groups to attend and participate. The events and materials will be available for all, but we will intentionally center these participants in our process.

The residency will culminate in the creation of digital and print materials for free distribution at Wendy’s Subway.

EVENTS AND RECORDINGS:

Fri, Jan 29, 2021, 6:00 PM (EST):

Decolonize CUNY and NYC!

Watch the recording of this event here:

Featuring: American Indian Community House, Brooklyn College Anti-Racist Coalition (ARC), Free CUNY, North Bronx Collective, and Rank and File Action (RAFA). The promise to decolonize CUNY resounds across the city’s twenty-five campuses, with implications that could transform New York City altogether. This panel will feature students, teachers, indigenous protectors, and accomplice community organizers who will share about campaigns to make CUNY tuition-free and improve learning/working conditions, while altering the university and city’s settler-colonial relationship to the area’s ecosystem and peoples.

Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 6:00 PM (EST):

Transforming CUNY Admissions, Studies, Movements

Watch the video recording of this event here:

The history of how Black and Puerto Rican youth movements led the transformation of CUNY’s admissions and curricula which contains lessons for public education/city struggles nationwide. Tami Gold,Pam Sporn, and Gisely Colón López will share their new film MAKING THE IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE, about how Black and Puerto Rican student-led struggles won Puerto Rican Studies at Brooklyn College in the late 1960s. Ricardo Gabriel will speak about the historical and geopolitical context that led to the Puerto Rican student movement and the demand for Puerto Rican studies at CUNY from 1969 through the early 1970s. Amaka Okechukwu will present about the 1970 creation and 1999 termination of the Open Admissions policyat CUNY, detailed in her new book To Fulfill These Rights: Political Struggle Over Affirmative Action and Open Admissions. Anna Zeemont will discuss gender justice and intersectionality in 1990s CUNY activist/arts publications and movements.

Tue, Dec 15, 2020,

The School of Toni Cade Bambara with Makeba Lavan, Linda J. Holmes, Thabiti Lewis, & Louis Massiah

Watch the video recording of this event here:

One of the early architects of Black Women’s Studies at CUNY, Toni Cade Bambara fashioned multiple counter-institutions in her lifetime. In this panel, Makeba Lavan will discuss Bambara’s late 1960s efforts at City College on “Realizing the Dream of a Black University,” Linda J. Holmes (author of the Bambara biography A Joyous Revolt) will share her experiences with Bambara as a teacher and cultural worker in the 1970s at Livingston College and beyond, Thabiti Lewis will introduce his new book “Black People Are My Business”: Toni Cade Bambara’s Practices of Liberation and Louis Massiah will screen part of his documentary-in-progress The T.C.B. School of Organizing.

Mon, Nov 30, 2020

Translating Audre Lorde Now

Watch the video recording of this event here:

In summer 2020, during the pandemic and social uprisings, “Audre Lorde Now” emerged from Cuba, Germany, Mexico, and New York City, featuring essays on Lorde’s rebellious lessons, emotional sustainability, visions from the future, and building transnational communities. This panel will feature the series’ contributors Conor Tomás Reed along with Tito Mitjans Alayón, Diarenis Calderón Tartabull, and AnouchK Ibacka Valiente–three Afro-Cuban queer and trans cultural workers based in Cuba, Mexico, and translator Julián González Beltrez. In addition, we will hear about Lorde’s past and present relationships with feminist movements in Mexico.

Fri, Nov 20, 2020

Reading Audre Lorde in Community with The Audre Lorde Reading Group

Watch the video recording of the event here:

Since Fall 2019, a group of predominantly femme and gender non-binary folk of colors in New York City have been reading Audre Lorde’s biomythographies, essays, poetry, and teaching archives, as well as engaging with writers in kinship with Lorde’s work. Join Nimo Ali, Joy Gutierrez, Suzanne Herrerali Puma, Jillian White, T Wilkins (The Audre Lorde Reading Group) who will share reflections, resources, and stories from our collaborative learning process, with the intention to encourage further reading groups to bloom.

Fri, Nov 13, 2020

CUNY Black~Puerto Rican~Third World Feminist Studies Now with Johanna Fernández, Carmen Kynard, & Vani Kannan

Watch the video recording of the event here:

CUNY remains a vital epicenter of scholar-organizers who hone contemporary strategies by recovering the historical legacies of Black~Puerto Rican~Third World Feminist Studies and movements that emerged in the 1960s and ’70s. We will hear about Johanna Fernández‘s new book The Young Lords: A Radical History, as well as from Vani Kannan on a cultural history of the Third World Women’s Alliance, and from Carmen Kynard on CUNY Black feminist literacies. The Young Lords: A Radical History was published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2020.

Thu, Nov 12, 2020

Activating June Jordan’s “Life Studies”: Notes, Conversation, and Workshop with Maryam Parhizkar, Talia Shalev, Conor Tomás Reed

Watch the video recording for this event:

Throughout her lifetime, writer and educator June Jordan’s creative practice bridged the labors of poetry, activism, and pedagogy, and constantly animated the question that she once asked of the university: “How do you provide for the Study of Human Life?” Conor Tomás Reed and Talia Shalev—editors of June Jordan’s “Life Studies,” 1966-1976—will share notes on her poetic and pedagogical life in New York across a selection of writings covering housing justice, youth literacy, and college access and curriculum demands. Their presentation will be followed by a conversation and workshop component, moderated by Maryam Parhizkar, in which participants will practice imagining their own “Life Studies” curricula.

About Resident Conor Tomás Reed

Conor Tomás Reed is a Puerto Rican/Irish multi-gendered street scholar and freedom maker who teaches Africana Studies and American Studies at Brooklyn College. Conor is a contributing editor with LÁPIZ Journal and Lost & Found: The CUNY Poetics Document Initiative, and a participant in Free CUNY and Rank and File Action (RAFA). Conor is developing a book about the rise of Black, Puerto Rican, and Women’s Studies and movements at the City College of New York and in New York City from 1960 to the present, as well as a quadrilingual anthology of Black Feminist Studies in the Americas and the Caribbean during this period.

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Sobre la residencia

Esta residencia compartirá archivos y lecciones de aprendizaje/organización sobre los legados entrelazados de los estudios y movimientos afro descendientes ~ puertorriqueñxs ~ feministas en CUNY en las décadas de 1960 y 1970, con el fin de alimentar puentes entre organizadores comunitarios, trabajadores culturales, educadores, y estudiantes en el Estados Unidos, el Caribe y América Latina.

Estas radiantes historias se compartirán a través de una serie de tres meses de siete diálogos públicos en línea sobre las vidas de Toni Cade Bambara, June Jordan, y Audre Lorde; exploraciones en Estudios Afro-descendientes~Puertorriqueñxs~del Tercer Mundo~Feministas en CUNY ahora; historias de cómo los movimientos CUNY crearon Admisiones Abiertas y Estudios Étnicos; y presentar esfuerzos para descolonizar CUNY y la ciudad de Nueva York. Todos los programas se llevarán a cabo en línea a través de Zoom y la mitad de las presentaciones contarán con interpretación en vivo en español.

Damos la bienvenida activamente a la clase trabajadora afro-descendiente, indígena, asiática, caribeña, latina, del Medio Oriente, de las islas del Pacífico y más allá (BIPOC)—especialmente mujeres, género no binario, y queer y trans—individuos y grupos para asistir y participar. Los eventos y materiales estarán disponibles para todos, pero centraremos intencionalmente a estxs participantes en nuestro proceso.

La residencia culminará con la creación de materiales digitales e impresos para distribución gratuita en Wendy’s Subway.

Sobre el residente

Conor Tomás Reed es un puertorriqueñe/irlandés de múltiples géneros, erudito callejero, y creador de la libertad que enseña Estudios Africanxs y Estudios Americanxs en el Brooklyn College. Conor es editor colaborador de LÁPIZRevista y Lost & Found: The CUNY Poetics Document Initiative, y participa en Free CUNY y Rank and File Action (RAFA). Conor está desarrollando un libro sobre el surgimiento de los estudios y movimientos de afro-descendientes~puertorriqueñas~feministas en el Colegio Ciudad de Nueva York y en la ciudad de Nueva York desde 1960 hasta el presente, así como una antología quatrilingüe de estudios de feministas afro-descendientes en las Américas y El Caribe durante este período.

Support

The Wendy’s Subway Residency Program is made possible through a Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation Art and Social Justice Grant, and through public funds from the City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the Decentralization Program of the New York State Council on the Arts, administered in Kings County by the Brooklyn Arts Council.

This program is co-sponsored by Lost & Found: The CUNY Poets Document Initiative from the Center for the Humanities at The Graduate Center, CUNY with generous support from Engaging the Senses Foundation; the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics (CPCP) at The Graduate Center, CUNY; the Ethyle R. Wolfe Institute for the Humanities at Brooklyn College, CUNY; the American Studies Program at Brooklyn College, CUNY; Puerto Rican and Latino Studies at Brooklyn College, CUNY; the Africana Studies Department at Brooklyn College, CUNY; and the Latin American & Latin@ Studies Program at City College, CUNY.