Educational Opportunity Program Webinar Series
The Game Changer
Sharing the Origins of the Educational Opportunity Program: The Game Changer
Description: What is the EOP? Who were the founders? How did they create the program? And why?
Civil Rights activist Ella Baker once said, “Give people light and they will find a way.” Were she alive today, Ella Baker would applaud enthusiastically the light that is the Educational Opportunity Program, and the thousands upon thousands of students who have found a way to success through EOP.
The first in a series of four webinars on the origin of EOP at California State University, Long Beach is brought to you by the Black Student Elders Association and the Historical Society of Long Beach. The BSUEA is composed primarily of retired CSULB African American alumni, mentees of Dr. Joseph L. White and his colleagues, and former BSU members. This webinar series was inspired by the BSUEA collection, “Legacy, Celebration and Remembrance,” a stunning visual display of minority faculty and student activism during the mid-1960s into the early 1970s.
In this webinar, we will introduce you to the Godfather of EOP, the late Dr. Joseph L. White. To help us learn more about the man and his mission, we will talk with individuals who knew Dr. White and ask them to share their personal memories of the lasting impact the remarkable educator and mentor had on them.
Moderator: Dr. Gayle Parker
Panel Speakers: Brett Waterfield and Dr. Willie Elston
Remembrance of Things Past 1954-1965
Sharing the Origins of the Educational Opportunity Program: Remembrance of Things Past 1954-1965
Description: Background on the national political scene, and how EOP derived from “hinge events” such as the sit-in movement, uprisings in US cities, and calls for greater minority representation on campuses.
The second in a series of four webinars on the origin of EOP at California State University, Long Beach is brought to you by the Black Student Elders Association and the Historical Society of Long Beach. The BSUEA is composed primarily of retired CSULB African American alumni, mentees of Dr. Joseph L. White and his colleagues, and former BSU members. This webinar series was inspired by the BSUEA collection, “Legacy, Celebration and Remembrance,” a stunning visual display of minority faculty and student activism during the mid-1960s into the early 1970s.
In this webinar, we will talk to Dr. Alex Norman, professor emeritus of Social Welfare at the University of California Los Angeles Luskin School of Public Affairs. Dr. Norman is co-founder of Rethinking Greater Long Beach, a community-based think-tank that conducts research in education, public safety, and urban demography.
Dr. Norman will provide background on the national political scene and “hinge events” between 1954-1965. Why was there a need for EOP? Past US history offers at least a partial answer.
Moderator: Dr. Craig Hendricks
Speakers:
Dr. Alex J. Norman
Peggy Trotter Dammond Preacely MPH
Resistance, Resilience, Reimagination
Sharing the Origins of the Educational Opportunity Program: Resistance, Resilience, Re-imagination
Description: Student activism leads to the creation of the Black Student Union and Ethnic Studies.
This is the third in a series of four webinars on the origins of the Educational Opportunity Program at California State University, Long Beach, brought to you by the Black Student Union Elders Association and the Historical Society of Long Beach. Resistance, Resilience, Reimagination highlights a time when a small, vocal group of African-American students and faculty made campus history.
“I came up with EOP concept but students and faculty came up with the BSU and Black Studies.” Those are the words of the late Dr. Joseph L. White, Godfather of EOP at CSULB, giving credit to Black students.
Between 1966 and 1967, a loose-knit collection of Black students met on campus to discuss issues which they found important. The CSULB BSU is an outgrowth of that discussion group and chartered as a political club in 1967. The BSU remains a vital presence on campus in the 21st century.
In this webinar, we talk to students, original faculty, and community activists who were part of that discussion group that helped launched the Black Student Union, Black Studies, and their successors.
The speakers will briefly discuss their backgrounds and give us a rare glimpse of campus life from a unique Black perspective.
Moderator: Dr. Willie Elston
Panel Speakers:
Evelyn Knight
Edna Mayhan
Linking CSULB Campus to the LB Community
Sharing the Origins of the Educational Opportunity Program: Linking the CSULB campus to the Long Beach Community
Description: Community Improvement League and Black churches invest in youth programs and encourage students to seek a higher education. Herb Smith grants access to Martin Luther King Jr. Park for BSU activities.
This final of four webinars on the origin of the Educational Opportunity Program at California State University, Long Beach is brought to you by the Black Student Union Elders Association and the Historical Society of Long Beach.
If the CSULB campus could speak, we can speculate that it would tell us a great many things about the countless changes it has seen during its 73 years of existence. We don’t know quite how it would put it, but it’s likely it would tell us how it has gone from a bean field to a “city on a hill;” from a small teacher’s college to a sprawling urban university; from South Los Angeles-Orange County State College to California State University, Long Beach.
But if we listen closely, we hear other voices, however faint. We hear the voices of presidents, deans, administrators, coaches, professors, students, faculty, and guest lecturers; but there are still others, speaking from off campus. Perhaps, if we close our eyes and open our ears, we hear the echoes of Black voices from the central city of Long Beach, too.
A case can be made that EOP, Dr. Joseph White, the BSU and Black Studies would not have had the impact that they did, were it not for powerful voices from the inner city.
In this webinar, we give voice to some of the people from off campus who worked with Dr. White and with student leaders when their ideas were frowned upon on campus.
The speakers will briefly discuss their background and describe their roles in forming linkages between the university and the broader community.
Moderators: Erroll Parker
Speakers:
Ayoola Fadonougbo
Ahmed Saafir
Alfred Jones
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION AND RESOURCES:
BLACK STUDENT UNIVERSITY ELDERS ASSOCIATION FACEBOOK
BOOKS
The Psychology of Blacks: An African-American Perspective with Thomas Anthony Parham, Prentice Hall, 1990.
The Troubled Adolescent, Joseph L. White, Pergamon Press, 1989.
Black Man Emerging: Facing The Past and Seizing a Future, with James H. Cones, Routledge, 1999.
The Psychology of Blacks: An African-centered Perspective, with Thomas Anthony Parham, Adisa Ajamu, Prentice Hall, 1999.
Black Fathers: An Invisible Presence in America, with Michael E. Connor, Routledge, 2006.
Building Multicultural Competency: Development, Training and Practice, with Sheila Henderson, Rowman & Littlefield, 2008.
MAGAZINES
“Towards A Black Psychology.” Ebony, June 1970.
“Obituary of Dr. Joseph L. White: Trailblazing Founder of ‘Black Psychology,'” the new blackmagazine.com , December 21, 2017.
ONLINE
The Association of Black Psychologists
Joseph White (Psychologist)
www.thenewblackmagazine.com
BLACK STUDENT UNIVERSITY ELDERS ASSOCIATION FACEBOOK
BOOKS
The Psychology of Blacks: An African-American Perspective with Thomas Anthony Parham, Prentice Hall, 1990.
The Troubled Adolescent, Joseph L. White, Pergamon Press, 1989.
Black Man Emerging: Facing The Past and Seizing a Future, with James H. Cones, Routledge, 1999.
The Psychology of Blacks: An African-centered Perspective, with Thomas Anthony Parham, Adisa Ajamu, Prentice Hall, 1999.
Black Fathers: An Invisible Presence in America, with Michael E. Connor, Routledge, 2006.
Building Multicultural Competency: Development, Training and Practice, with Sheila Henderson, Rowman & Littlefield, 2008.
MAGAZINES
“Towards A Black Psychology.” Ebony, June 1970.
“Obituary of Dr. Joseph L. White: Trailblazing Founder of ‘Black Psychology,'” the new blackmagazine.com , December 21, 2017.
ONLINE
The Association of Black Psychologists
Joseph White (Psychologist)
www.thenewblackmagazine.com