“The Black Intellectual Tradition”
Lecture and Book Signing
The Institute for the Transformation of Catholic Education (ITCE) and Classical Academic Press (CAP) are pleased to invite you to The Catholic University of America for a free lecture and book signing with Dr. Anika Prather and Dr. Angel Parham, authors of the new release The Black Intellectual Tradition.
There is a shared story that has been largely forgotten: our common heritage in the classics and the liberal arts. This heritage has united, instructed, and inspired us all—slave and free, White and Black—over the few centuries of our history as a nation. As we have in recent years collectively wandered far away from the gracious and firm tutelage of the classics, much has been lost. These works were the ancient teachers that Black leaders used to hold our nation accountable to standards that we pointed toward but so often failed to uphold. The Black Intellectual Tradition offers back to us all, as Americans, a shared relationship with our living tradition in the Greco-Roman and Christian classics.
Speakers
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Anika T. Prather, Ph.D.Director of High Quality Curriculum and Instruction, Johns Hopkins Institute for Education PolicyDr. Anika T. Prather earned her B.A. from Howard University in elementary education. She also has earned several graduate degrees in education from New York University and Howard University. She has a Masters in liberal arts from St. John’s College (Annapolis) and a PhD in English, Theatre and Literacy Education from the University of Maryland (College Park). Her research focus is on building literacy with African American students through engagement in the books of the Canon. She has served as a teacher, supervisor for student teachers, director of education and Head of School. Currently she is a sought after speaker on the topic of the relevancy of classical studies to the Black community. She teaches in the English Department at Howard University, serves as Director of High Quality Curriculum and Instruction at Johns Hopkins University, and is the founder of The Living Water School, located in Southern Maryland. The Living Water School is a unique Christian school for independent learners, based on the educational philosophies of Classical Education and the Sudbury Model. In the spring of 2022, Anika and Damon opened The Living Water Center where activities for the Living Water School, book talks, and other events are hosted. The Living Water Center (located in Old Town Alexandria) also houses The Blacks in Classics Museum which is open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays for visitors to see original artwork featuring Blacks who have been inspired by classics and the works of the Canon.
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Angel Adams Parham, Ph.D.Associate Professor of Sociology, University of VirginiaAngel Adams Parham is Associate Professor of Sociology and senior fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture (IASC) at the University of Virginia. She works in the area of historical sociology, engaging in research and writing that examine the past in order to better understand how to live well in the present and envision wisely for the future. She is active in public-facing teaching and scholarship where she provides resources and training for K-12 educators who are looking to better integrate Black writers and Black history into their teaching. Parham’s public-facing work has also led her to become the co-founder and executive director of Nyansa Classical Community, an educational organization which provides curricula and programming designed to connect with students from diverse backgrounds, inviting them to take part in the Great Conversation, cultivate the moral imagination, and pursue truth, goodness, and beauty.
