Inaugural “Freedom Party” in Ithaca centers on community connection

Can a party change the world? The Freedom Party - an event taking inspiration from the foundations of the Harlem Renaissance - will attempt just that as it celebrates freedom with the greater Ithaca community.

The Freedom Party, highlighting collaboration, resource sharing and storytelling, will take place on Saturday, Sept. 27 from 1-4 p.m. in Ithaca's Stewart Park. The event is free and open to the public and is organized and hosted by Cornell's Center for Racial Justice and Equitable Futures and by the Africana Studies & Research Center and American Studies Program, both in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S).

"We party to sustain joy and celebrate community amid what Angela Davis calls the constant struggle for freedom," said Jamila Michener, director of the Center for Racial Justice and Equitable Futures.

"During a time when there is profound contestation around the meaning of freedom, the people to whom it should be granted, and the democratic practices that sustain it, we seek to create space for connection, community, learning, knowledge, solidarity and joy. These are building blocks for a just and humane democracy, and they are necessary for cultivating the thriving futures that we can all play a role in enacting," Michener said. She is an associate professor of government (A&S) and senior associate dean of public engagement in the Brooks School of Public Policy.

Read the full story on the College of Arts and Sciences website.