Agenda

The host will open and close the day by weaving a synthesis of themes from the presentations, artistic performances, cultural work and dialogues to take place on the convening days theme of Legacies of Eugenics. 

The esteemed journalist Mary Carter Bishop shares her experiences speaking with thirty survivors of Virginia’s eugenics movement, most of whom were only elementary-age children of impoverished families when they were abducted and abused. 

With a liberatory lens, this talk will address the inseparability of US eugenics from Christianity.   Reverend Jennifer Bailey, of the Faith Matters Network, will explore the unholy alliance between white supremacy and white Christianity to uphold eugenic practices while also revealing the Black folk religion in Christian traditions that has been a site of resistance of these legacies. 

Rising Phoenix tells the extraordinary story of the Paralympic Games. From the rubble of World War II to the third biggest sporting event on the planet, the Paralympics sparked a global movement which continues to change the way the world thinks about disability, diversity & human potential.

Filmed in the midst of powerful marches against police violence last summer, Loud Silence is a megaphone of a film made by Reggie (Regg Roc) Gray and dancer activists from D.R.E.A.M. (Dance Rules Everything Around Me) Ring.

Cal Hunt explores the infinite dimensions of blackness through movement.

Cara Reedy, of the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, will moderate a conversation with leaders of two major philanthropic institutions, as they grapple with their eugenic legacies. Featuring: Darren Walker of the Ford Foundation and John Palfrey of the MacArthur Foundation. 

Disability Dance Works, LLC presents:

Where Good Souls Fear

Choreographer and Performer: Alice Sheppard

Script: Alice Sheppard

Conversation Partners: Lindsay Eales, Laurel Lawson, and Danielle Peers

Lighting, Video and Projection Design: Michael Maag

Music and Sound Design: Dan Wool

Where Good Souls Fear was supported in part by residencies at:

Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Geneva, New York

The Dance Artist in Residence Programme, The Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Banff,

Alberta Canada.

The Making of “Where Good Souls Fear” features:

Choreographer and Performer: Alice Sheppard

Script: Dahkil Hausif and Alice Sheppard

Film Editor: Jenny Ramirez

Street & VR Cinematography: Ramulas Burgess and Dahkil Hausif

Music: Dan Wool

ASL Interpretation: Kimberly Cantwell, RISE Interpreting, Inc. and Candace Davider

Audio Description and Captions: Cheryl Green

Performance Footage

Performance Space New York: Where Good Souls Fear” by Alice Sheppard was presented as

part of I wanna be with you everywhere: a collaboration between Arika, Performance Space

New York and the Whitney Museum of American Art, as part of Performance Space’s “No”

Series. Footage: Mehmet S. Yildirim

Scripps College: Where Good Souls Fear was presented at Scripps College. Courtesy of

Scripps Presents. Footage: Alex MacInnis

Rehearsal Footage

The Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity Rehearsal Footage: Danielle Peers

The Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity Showing Footage: Halley Willcox

Street and Virtual Reality Footage

Dahkil Hausif and Bayyina Black for the Other System

Copyright: Disability Dance Works, LLC

Lydia X. Z. Brown will speak to the intersections of reckoning with oppressive systems and cultural and medical institutions that have perpetuated eugenic legacies . While also exploring the liberatory practices and movements that confront, and transform these systems and institutions to incite new futures. 

The host will open and close the day by weaving a synthesis of themes from the presentations, artistic performances, cultural work and dialogues to take place on the convening days theme of Reckoning with Eugenics.