The 24th Annual Junior Scholars Program Youth Summit

Welcome to Currents of Resistance: Propaganda, Power & Purpose, The 24th Annual Junior Scholars Program Youth Summit!

This year’s summit invites you into a dynamic exploration of how images, narratives, and messages shape the way we see ourselves and the world around us. Our scholars investigate the role of media, storytelling, and cultural production in both distorting and reclaiming Black identity, drawing from the Schomburg Center’s archives and their own lived experiences to examine how truth is constructed, challenged, and reimagined across generations.

Through music, media, radio journalism, visual arts, theater, and spoken word, they present a multimedia showcase that interrogates miseducation, amplifies cultural memory, and reclaims the power to define Black life on its own terms. From explorations of diaspora and archival legacy to critiques of representation across industries, each project reflects a commitment to truth-telling, resistance, and creative expression.

Get ready to be challenged, inspired, and moved at the 24th Annual Junior Scholars Program Youth Summit. See you there!

STREAMING LINK: Will be available closer to the event.

DOORS OPEN AT 11:00 AM. PRESENTATIONS START AT 11:30 AM.

Presented by JSP Visual Arts Scholars & M. Scott Johnson & Ano Chrispin

Presented by JSP Spoken Word Scholars & Subha Ahmed & Rahmell Peebles

Presented by JSP Media Scholars & Sharee Hereford

Presented by JSP Music Scholars & Yannick Florest & Terion Cooper

Presented by JSP Theatre Scholars & Rahmell Peebles

Presented by JSP Radio Journalism Scholars & Amiri Tulloch & Tyler Burston

View previous Junior Scholar projects here: www.nypl.org/junior-scholars-program!

About the Junior Scholars Program: Over one hundred youth from the New York City area, ages 12 to 18, are selected to participate in this uniquely designed free Black studies program at the Schomburg Center. Saturday sessions run from 10 AM to 3 PM. and use an inquiry-based and project-based approach to teach about black American history and the global black experience.

Junior Scholars attend college-style lectures and presentations, engage in dialogue with adult scholars, participate in guided peer group discussions and activities, generate individual research projects and portfolios, and create collaborative media and art projects that grow from their intensive study based on the Schomburg’s vast collections, exhibitions, and educational resources.

Junior Scholars increase their historical literacy, expand their knowledge of who they are as intellectual, social, cultural, and artistic beings, embrace their legacy as African American citizens, and learn of the lands and cultures of their prolific and trailblazing ancestors. Learn more and apply to our next cohort here: www.nypl.org/junior-scholars-program!

PRESS | Please send all press inquiries (photo, video, interviews, audio-recording, etc.) at least 24-hours before the day of the program to Leah Drayton at [email protected] .

The Schomburg Junior Scholars program is made possible through the generous support of PUMA, The Carver Scholarship Fund, the May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Inc., the New York City Council, and the New York State Legislature.

LEARN MORE! If you have questions about the program or education at the Schomburg, please contact the Schomburg Center's Associate Manager of Youth & OST, Sira Marissa Lewis at [email protected].

COVID PROTOCOLS FOR IN-PERSON SCHOMBURG CENTER PROGRAMS

To ensure the health and safety of the public and our staff, policies and procedures created in collaboration with safety experts must be followed. Visitors are encouraged to wear a mask.

If you have symptoms consistent with COVID-19 or suspect you have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive, please stay home.

PUBLIC NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER

By registering for this event, you are acknowledging that an inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public place where people are present. By attending an in-person program at The New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, you voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19 and agree not to hold The New York Public Library, its Trustees, officers, agent and employees liable for any illness or injury. If you have symptoms consistent with COVID-19 or suspect you have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive, please stay home.

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Host or Publisher Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture