In the coming months, Clemente Worcester will offer three opportunities for you to learn more about Storytelling for Social Change. If you have questions, contact Director of Admissions Jude Samuels at juryvybz79@gmail.com. Applications must be submitted for the workshop by Wednesday, May 18 and for the course by Wednesday June 1. Registration is limited to 20 for each opportunity, so if you are interested be sure to register now.

A Civil War Version of Black Lives Matter:
The Social Justice Storytelling of Worcester’s Sarah and Lucy Chase
5:30-7:00 Wednesday, May 25 at the American Antiquarian Society.

During the Civil War broke out, Lucy and Sarah Chase left their home to set up schools in the South for formerly enslaved men, women, and children. Like all of us in Clemente, the Chase sisters believed that education is the best foundation for life as a free citizen of a democracy. But the two women were also promoting social change by writing letters to friends in the north illustrating the hard work, intelligence, and moral courage of the students of the Freemen’s Schools. Those stories directly contradicted the stereotyped characterization of African-Americans as lazy, unintelligent, and amoral that appeared in cartoons, illustrations, and articles of Northern newspapers.

In this one-evening workshop led by Assumption University Professor Lucia Knoles, you will have the chance to learn about racist stereotypes and anti-racist storytelling in the nineteenth century by working directly with letters, newspapers, and graphic arts in the collections of the American Antiquarian Society. The final portion of the workshop will be devoted to a discussion of how we can use the social justice storytelling of the Chase sisters as a way of understanding both contemporary racist stereotypes and the people who practice storytelling for social change today.

Storytelling for Social Change: A Five-Session Clemente Summer Course (no credits)
5:30 – 7:00 Wednesdays: June 29, July 6, July 13, July 20, July 27 (Mix of In-Person and Zoom)

In this five-session summer course, you will learn how to tell the kinds of stories that will make you a more effective advocate for yourselves, your families, your communities, the organizations you belong to, and the causes you believe in. Together, we’ll collaborate in writing several profiles of members of the Clemente community that can later be used in social media campaigns to educate the public about the challenges you face, the values you live by, and the many ways you work to make this a better world. (Note: you do not have to write about your own life in this course. Instead, we’ll be using transcripts of interviews with Clemente alums as the material for our stories.)

The workshop will be led by Lucia Knoles, Professor of English at Assumption University and a charter member of the Worcester Clemente Advisory Board. Media Consultant and former WBUR Executive Producer Iris Adler will serve as a guest advisor and editor.

Paintings Can Tell Stories for Change Too!
A Visit to the Obamas’ Portrait Tour

Date and details will be forthcoming. Stay tuned so you can be included in this field trip.

Why did Barack and Michelle Obama choose African-American artists Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald to paint their official portraits? What stories were the Obamas—and the painters–trying to tell about themselves as the first couple of color to occupy the White House? You be the judge when we visit the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston to take a close look at these remarkable paintings.