Inheritance Baltimore, a reparations program through Johns Hopkins University, will hold a three-day conference on Nov. 14-16.
The conference, titled “Inheritance Baltimore and the Struggle for Just Futures: Cultural Work as Reparations,” will highlight the group’s work over the past four years.
Inheritance Baltimore has involved three Hopkins units – the Billie Holiday Center for Liberations Arts; the Chloe Center for the Critical Study of Racism, Immigration, and Colonialism; and the Sheridan Libraries Special Collections – working to expand humanities and arts education across Baltimore, specifically engaging the city’s Black residents.
“Inheritance Baltimore serves as a drafting table for the university to reckon with and redress its own failures to put knowledge created in Black Baltimore on an equal footing with knowledge created in seminar rooms past and present. Inheritance Baltimore focuses the energy of freedom education and directs it toward Black liberation,” reads the group’s website.
Some of Inheritance Baltimore’s work has included the annual Walk of Remembrance to name and honor the people who were enslaved on the Homewood campus; an exhibition highlighting the life of singer Ethel Ennis, Baltimore’s First Lady of Jazz; an exhibition with the Peale Museum about the Black Panther Party and political organizing in Baltimore; among other initiatives.
This year’s conference will kick off Thursday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Eubie Blake Cultural Center, located at 847 N Howard St. After a short welcome, Thursday’s events will include panel discussions, food, and musical performance by the Peabody Jazz Band.
The first half of Friday’s events will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. at Johns Hopkins University’s Scott-Bates Commons in Room Salon C, located at 3301 N Charles St. Following a mingle breakfast, attendees will be able to hear panel discussions on “The Struggle for Just Futures,” “Racism and Repair: Case Studies in the History of Johns Hopkins,” and “Curating Black History in Baltimore.” Lunchtime will offer opportunities for pastries, posters, and pedagogy.
Later that evening, the conference will continue from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. These events include a panel on “State of Cultural Arts in Baltimore: Community Cultural Workers,” an artist-in-residence showcase and banquet, and a performance by the Baltimore Jazz Collective.
For the third and final day of the conference, most of Saturday’s events will be held at Baltimore Unity Hall, located at 1505 Eutaw Place.
From 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., panel discussions will cover topics including “Repair and Reentry in Baltimore,” “Inheritance Baltimore & Church Community Partners,” and “Elder in-Residence.” There will also be a presentation by the Community Archives Team.
The culmination of the conference will be a reception held by The Chloe Center for the Critical Study of Racism, Immigration, and Colonialism. This event will take place from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture, located at 830 Pratt St.