The legal profession remains one of the least diverse professions in our country. That’s problematic considering the roles and responsibilities of lawyers, and expectations for the justice system. Why does the United States generally, and the legal profession specifically, continue to encounter challenges to achieving diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) success? Why do so many lawyers and judges seem unable to recognize the inherent value in DEI efforts, or assume it’s someone else’s responsibility, or resist, even oppose, those efforts? It’s too easy (and irresponsible) to write them off as adversaries or with other pejoratives.
Instead, consider how we Americans are educated, and how our national identity is shaped. Ours is a society in which the textbooks that provided our earliest glimpses into the wider world and offered context for the world in which we were growing up, also inculcated values that even in their most benign form propagated values and attitudes that remain with us throughout our lives. Later, as thinking and reasoning adults and trained lawyers, these values manifest in our individual implicit biases and the societal and social values that we tend to label as “normal” and “American” without recognizing the limitations on that worldview of normalcy. For the legal profession to recognize and address its implicit biases, it helps to understand their sources.
Harvard historian Donald Yacovone researched American history textbooks from 1800 to the 1980s and the ways in which Black people were depicted. He has thoroughly documented how textbooks disseminated an ideology of White supremacy/Black inferiority that manifests its impact to the present day. His research adds a fascinating new dimension to understanding compelling sources of biases against Black people and is essential reading for understanding our current social crisis.
Join us for the next installment of IILP's From Imagery to Reality Webinar Series for a thought-provoking presentation by, and conversation with Donald Yacovone, Ph.D., the former Manager of Research and Program Development at the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University, the 2013 W.E.B. Du Bois Medalist, and a recipient, along with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., of the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Nonfiction. He is the author of Teaching White Supremacy: America’s Democratic Ordeal and the Forging of Our National Identity and co-author (with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.) of The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross.
In this webinar, we will explore how American textbooks have created a foundation for bias against African Americans and other people of color and new efforts to correct that. Dr. Yacovone will be interviewed by IILP Board Member Sharon E. Jones. Then we’ll hear from a panel of DEI leaders in law firms and corporations about how they might use Dr. Yacovone’s research in their efforts to foster greater understanding about and support for DEI efforts in their organizations.
Interview:
- Donald Yacovone, Lifetime Associate, Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, Harvard University
- Sharon E. Jones, Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer and Partner, Haynes and Boone LLP
Panel:
- Sylvia James, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, Winston & Strawn LLP
- Kimya S.P. Johnson, Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer and Principal, Jackson Lewis P.C.
- Barrington Lopez, Consultant, Board Advisor, and Strategic Investor and Former Vice President and General Counsel, Verizon Wireless-Midwest Division
- Peter Wilson, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP
Autographed books available for a suggested gift of $30.
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CLE Credit
Texas: This course has been approved for Minimum Continuing Legal Education credit by the State Bar of Texas Committee on MCLE in the amount of 1.50 Ethics credit hour.
New York: This transitional program has been approved in accordance with the requirements of the New York State CLE Board for a maximum of 1.5 credit hour, of which 1.5 credit hour can be applied toward the Diversity, Inclusion and Elimination of Bias.
California: This activity is approved for MCLE credit by the State Bar of California in the amount of 1.50 credit hour, of which 1.5 credit hour can be applied towards Recognition and Elimination of Bias.
Illinois: The Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism approved the substance of Textbook Battles: Teaching National Identity for 1.50 hours professional responsibility credit.
Colorado: An application for this program is pending.
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The program is being offered at a discounted rate to all lawyers and staff for IILP’s Visionary Partners, Partners, and Allies. Unsure if your firm/company supports IILP? Find out here.
The program is open to the public.
Questions/Contact: info@theiilp.com.
