Periclean Scholars serve as common reading peer-educators addressing racial inequality

During the fall semester, the Periclean Scholars Class of 2024 has been busy engaging with antiracist writing and thinking, and serving as peer-educators across multiple campus spaces. Along with their faculty mentor, Associate Professor of philosophy Shannon Lundeen, the Class of 2024 will spend the next three years continuing to educate themselves about the history and mechanisms of structural racism and racial inequality, as well as envisioning and executing a project to promote social change in partnership with community members and organizations in Alamance County.

To begin this journey, the class chose to deeply engage with the common reading on “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You” by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi, and further explore the complex history documented in this text. As an initial step, members of the class created an expansive timeline that chronicled the history of how racist ideas were created and spread within the context of the United States.

The scholars then transferred a condensed version of this timeline onto poster boards and created a collection of interactive exercises and in-depth discussion questions related to both this history and antiracist action.

Over the past two weeks, the Scholars have used these resources to facilitate meaningful conversations about the Common Reading at College Coffee, as well as with several sections of COR 1100. During these engagements, the Scholars have shared their acquired understanding in ways that promote deeper thinking and dialogue about “Stamped” by first-year students. As the academic year progresses, the Periclean Scholars Class of 2024 intends to both continue their own learning on these topics and utilize this awareness to promote antiracist initiatives on Elon’s campus and in the surrounding community.