NAACP Readies For Education Summit
WASHINGTON –
The NAACP Daisy Bates Education Summit will honor the late Daisy Bates, former president of the Arkansas State Conference of the NAACP and advisor in 1957 to the Little Rock Nine, the students who braved hostile opponents of integration to Central High School. Despite mob threats and intimidation, cross burnings on her property, and other acts of attempted violence, Mrs. Bates persisted because of her strong beliefs.The 2010 Daisy Bates Summit will convene grassroots organizers from across the country to focus on moving the NAACP’s education agenda forward with a combination of traditional and innovative education organizing techniques conducted in concert with local allies. This summit will serve as an integral part of the NAACP year-round training regimen for state and unit Education Chairs, helping to build capacity to address local education issues. The summit will focus on the four-part agenda developed at their retreat in 2009 and amplified at regional conferences and the National Convention throughout 2010: securing access for disadvantaged and students of color to great teaching, fair discipline, equitable resources and a college and career ready curriculum. The summit comes at a critical time for our schools, as the Department of Justice is planning to investigate resegregation policies in North Carolina, and is being asked to help enforce a Florida racial desegregation agreement. Meanwhile, other court decrees for desgregation have been threatened in states across the nation. President Benjamin Todd Jealous delivers keynote address Friday 7:00pm Reversing Resegregation with North Carolina State Conference President Reverend William Barber, state conference leaders from across the nation, Department of Justice officials, more. Saturday 12noon – 2pm
In the first national NAACP summit on education in three years, NAACP leaders and grassroots organizers from across the country will gather Dec. 2-4 in North Carolina to press for comprehensive education reform with an urgent focus on the alarming trend of resegregation in the nation’s school districts.
Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.
