Common Power

Common Power Logo

Common Power is affiliated with the Institute for Common Power.

"We mobilize volunteers for voters around the country, while investing in the next generation of leaders and building lasting community. Because we believe the most common power we should all have is the power of our vote."

Terry Anne Scott is the Director, The Institute for Common Power

Leadership Team

From the Common Power website:

Charles Douglas, Executive Director, Larcy Douglas, Sasha Lee, Wole Akinlosotu, Maria “MJ” Jimenez , Vanna Zaragoza, Kylie Knowles, Binh Truong, Julia Ge, Anita Vern Crofts, Bert Greenwood

Target Florida

Common Power held a "24 Hour Teach Ins" on May 17, 2023. The event was discussed by Kellie Carter Jackson in an OpEd published at CNN.

Excerpt:

This week I’m traveling to St. Petersburg, Florida, to participate in a 24-hour teach-in for American democracy created by Common Power, an institute committed to fostering, sustaining and expanding voting and education.

The goal of the event is to confront the political assault on Florida’s educational system by teaching truthful history and providing education on voter suppression and voter empowerment.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has taken the lead on demolishing what he deems as “woke” culture propaganda. He and Florida lawmakers are threatening tenure in higher education, seeking to ban women and gender studies and other LGBTQ programs.

Scholars and educators are terrified that the GOP will severely undermine the academic freedom to write, speak and research without the risk of losing one’s livelihood. Other states are following Florida in a terrifying game of “Simon Says” that reflects a desire to roll back or restrict civil liberties...

From the archived invitation:

TRUTH IN EDUCATION: A 24-Hour Teach-In for American

We are going to Florida! Join us via zoom!

Objectives

1 Confront, through direct action, the assault on truth in Florida and beyond

2 Teach truthful history

3 Provide education on voter suppression and voter empowerment

24 Hours of scholars, activists, and more teaching us why and how truthful history matters!

6 pm EDT May 17 to 6 pm EDT May 18

We are confronted today in America by an attack on truth in education. It is an attempt by politically motivated individuals, government offices, and politicians to halt the full teaching of American life by eradicating terrible and painful, but fully truthful, aspects of our past, present, and potential futures. At their core, such attacks seek to erase the triumphs of African Americans, women, LGBTQ+ Americans, and others who have been vital in the struggle for civil rights and voting justice. The Institute for Common Power cannot and will not idly watch. This 24-hour teach-in is a public statement that truth in education is not optional. It is essential, and it is the only way forward for American democracy.

This event is free, will be on zoom, and will be 24 hours of live teaching and education from experts and leaders who have learned, have lived, and are undaunted by the full truth of American life. We will include presentations from multiple locations around the United States, including the first three hours from a church in St. Petersburg FL. Florida is at the epicenter of attempting to silence truth in education, and we intentionally begin in the state.

The organizing arm for this teach-in is the Institute for Common Power, headed by Dr. Terry Anne Scott.

This teach-in is intentionally set for the anniversary date of the US Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education, in 1954.

Speakers and presenters will include Dr. Scott, Dr. Yohuru Williams of St. Thomas University, Dr. Hasan Jeffries of The Ohio State University, David Domke of the Institute for Common Power, and many others to be added. This is a moment of public declaration about the importance, the vitality, the essentiality, of facing the hard truths of American life. As educators, we will teach them.

Institute for Common Power

Institute for Common Power Logo

Institute for Common Power is the Common Power "organizing arm". According to their "vision," the Institute for Common Power "is devoted to education as a foundation to voting justice and inclusive democracy in the United States".

From the Institute for Common Power website:

The Institute for Common Power provides education that fosters, sustains, and expands what should be the most common power in American democracy: the right to vote. Ensuring a vote for all is essential to dismantling systems of injustice and creating equitable healthcare, living wages, decent housing, affordable education, and so much more. Voting has always been contested in America, and today this foundational democratic power is under assault–especially for communities of color. The Institute for Common Power is devoted to education as a foundation to voting justice and inclusive democracy in the United States.

Education to Action!

Also:

"The Institute for Common Power partners with teachers, tutors, curriculum specialists, organizational foundations, and school system leaders across the country to provide an experiential learning opportunity for educators in the long historical arcs of Civil Rights, Voting Rights, and the African American experience in America..."

Agenda

List of Speakers:

The Attack on Truth in Education: Florida and Beyond

• Terry Anne Scott, Historian and Director, Institute for Common Power
• Yohuru Williams, Distinguished University Chair and Professor of History, St. Thomas University
• Charles Douglas, Executive Director, Common Power
• Clarence Williams, Pastor, Greater Mt. Zion AME Church
• Wilmer Leon, Political Scientist, Host Inside the Issues
• David Domke, Professor, Common Power
• Jordyn Schulte, Institute for Common Power
• Yohuru Williams, Distinguished University Chair and Professor of History, St. Thomas University, “Be the Challenger”
• Terry Anne Scott, Historian, Director of the Institute for Common Power, “Voter Disenfranchisement: An American Story”
• Karsonya Whitehead, Professor of Communication, African and American Studies, Loyola University Maryland, President of National Women's Studies Association, “Freedom, Controversy, & Respect: Our Lives/Our History"
• Stanley Nelson, Emmy Award-Winning, Oscar-Nominated Filmmaker. McArthur Fellow. Firelight Films, Filmmaking and African American History: A Conversation
• Samuel Joeckel, Professor of English, fired from Florida’s Palm Beach Atlantic University, "The Urgent Need for Difficult, Truthful Conversations"
• Dr. Ivory Toldson, Professor, Counseling Psychology Program, Howard University, “If my ancestors were strong enough to live it, your children should be strong enough to learn it – centering diverse parents in the CRT debate.”
• Dr. Kellie Carter Jackson, Michael and Denise Kellen '68 Associate Professor of Africana Studies, Wellesley College, "Why Black History Matters"
• Documentary Short Screening: “Lynching Postcards: Token of a Great Day”, 2022 NAACP Image Award, Short-listed for Academy Award, Discussion with featured historians, Dr. Yohuru Williams and Dr. Terry Anne Scott
• Jeffery White in conversation with Charles Douglas, Executive Director, Common Power, New York City Science Teacher and Poet, "Dismantling Structural Racism in STEM Education and Poetry Recitation”
• Jordan Lanfair, Director of Undergraduate Scholar Support Services, Golden Apple Foundation, "Who was Richard Wright?"
• Jamey Verrilli, Director of the Hollyhock Humanities Fellowship for social studies teachers in New York, "The Power of Teachers and the Teachers March in the Selma Voting Rights Campaign"
• Larcy Douglas, and Graduates of Action Academy, Director, Common Power, "Action Academy, A Civic Engagement Internship for College Students"
• Hank Stewart, Emmy Award-Winning Poet Laureate of Georgia, Accepting the Torch for Change
• Christian Mbanza, History Teacher, Canada, “Teaching Black History in Canada”
• Luke Michener, Social Studies Teacher, Bellevue, Washington. National Education Association finalist for the Social Justice Activists of the Year Award, "Broken Promises: The Reconstruction Amendments"
• Tyler Hanson, High School U.S. History and Sociology Teacher, Maryland, "William Grant Still, The Dean of African American Composers"
• Kimeu Boynton, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice Co-Director, Law Studies Program, Delaware State University, "Parker v. University of Delaware (1950) – Desegregation in America’s Northern Most Southern State"
• Ron Hustvedt, Middle School Social Studies Teacher in Minneapolis. Teacher of the Year with the Magnet Schools of America and National Council for the Social Studies, "A Strategy for Empowering Students to Self-Discovery Through Historical Inquiry"
• Sari Rosenberg, Teacher and Host of the PBS NewsHour Classroom Educator Zoom Series, “Using Social Media to Take Action” A Conversation with Dr. Yohuru Williams
• Kate Ehrlich, Secondary Social Studies and History Teacher in Maryland, "Convict Leasing 1865-1928"
• Alison Parker, Chair & Richards Professor of American History, University of Delaware, “Condemned to Death for Self Defense: Historical Perspectives on Black Women’s Advocacy for Racial & Gender Justice in the Carceral System”
• Keri Leigh Merritt, Historian, Writer, and Filmmaker, “Censorship & Education in the Antebellum South”
• Shernita Wynder, Florida Public School Teacher
• Jessica Ellison, Executive Director of the National Council for History Education, "A Love Letter to Teachers"
• Harry Edwards, Award-Winning Sociologist, Author, and Civil Rights Activist. Architect of the 1967 Olympic Project for Human Rights. Advisor for San Francisco 49ers, "The Importance of Teaching History"
• Ashley Farmer, Associate Professor in the Departments of History and African and African Diaspora Studies, University of Texas at Austin, "Sister Struggles: The Fight for Higher Education in Texas"
• Hasan Kwame Jeffries, Associate Professor of History, The Ohio State University, “Freedom Politics: Applying SNCC Principles and Practices Today”
• Stephan Bradley, Charles Hamilton Houston 1915 Professor of Black Studies and History, Amherst College, "Black Studies' Bold Beginnings: The Decolonization of Knowledge"
• Carmen Cruz, New York City Public School Teacher, "The Other Battle for San Juan Hill"
• Paul Ortiz, Professor of History and Director of the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program, University of Florida, "Holding the Line in Florida: Preserving Black Studies and Intellectual Freedom in Florida Through Union Power"
• Office Hours: Scholars Answering Audience Questions about History with Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries, Dr. Yohuru Williams, and Dr. Terry Anne Scott
• Michael Butler, Kenan Distinguished Professor of History, Chair of Humanities, Flagler College in Florida, "Black Popular Music in the Post-Civil Rights Era"
• Yohuru Williams, Distinguished University Chair and Professor of History, St. Thomas University, "We the People: Teaching Black History Through the Preamble"
• Bob Zellner, Activist and Former member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, In Conversation with Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries