ABOUT TEARING DOWN THE WALLS
Southeastern Conference on Race and Leadership
in Independent Schools.
June 21-23, 2024
Ensworth School
Nashville, TN
“Tearing Down the Walls” is a two-day race and leadership conference for independent school students in the Southeast. The purpose of the conference is to afford students from diverse racial and socio-economic backgrounds the opportunity to become leaders and bridge builders in the arena of race relations. Our vision is for students to return home emboldened to lead.
Questions? Reach out to David Whitfield (whitfieldd@ensworth.com) or
Dina Marks (marksd@ensworth.com).
Participating Schools
We would like to thank all of the schools that have participated in the Tearing Down the Walls conference over the past five years. We look forward to seeing you this summer!
Battle Ground Academy (Franklin, TN)
Baylor School (Chattanooga, TN)
Ensworth School (Nashville, TN)
Evangelical Christian School (Memphis, TN)
Father Ryan High School (Franklin, TN)
Fort Worth Country Day (Forth Worth, TX)
Harding Academy (Nashville, TN)
Harpeth Hall (Nashville, TN)
Holy Innocents' Episcopal School (Atlanta, GA)
Hutchison School (Memphis, TN)
Lipscomb University (Nashville, TN)
McCallie School (Chattanooga, TN)
Memphis University School (Memphis, TN)
Metairie Park Country Day (Metairie, LA)
Middle Tennessee Christian School (Murfreesboro, TN)
Montgomery Bell Academy (Nashville, TN)
Pace Academy (Atlanta, GA)
Pope John Paul II Preparatory School (Nashville, TN)
Providence Christian Academy (Murfreesboro, TN)
St. Andrews--Sewanee School (Sewanee, TN)
St. George's Independent School (Memphis, TN)
St. Mary's Episcopal School (Memphis, TN)
The Galloway School (Atlanta, GA)
The Lovett School (Atlanta, GA)
The Paideia School (Atlanta, GA)
The Walker School (Atlanta, GA)
The Westminster Schools (Atlanta, GA)
Trinity Valley School (Dallas--Fort Worth, TX)
University School of Nashville (Nashville, TN)
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn to see pictures from past conferences and to keep up with what our participants are doing to tear down walls in their schools and communities.
The Tearing Down the Walls conference is organized in association with the National Center for Race Amity.
SPEAKERS AND FACILITATORS: 2024
Dr. Joy DeGruy
Dr. Joy Angela DeGruy holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Communication, a Master's degree in Social Work (MSW), a Master's degree in Clinical Psychology, and a PhD in Social Work Research.
Dr. DeGruy is a nationally and internationally renowned researcher and educator. For over two decades, she served as an Assistant Professor at Portland State University’s School of Social Work and now serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Joy DeGruy Publications Inc.
Dr. DeGruy’s research focuses on the intersection of racism, trauma, violence and American chattel slavery. She has over thirty years of practical experience as a professional in the field of social work. She conducts workshops and trainings in the areas of intergenerational/Historical
trauma, mental health, social justice, improvement strategies and evidence- based model development.
Published Works:
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Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome (PTSS): America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing, (newly revised) which addresses the residual impacts of trauma on African Descendants in the Americas. This lays the groundwork for understanding how the past has influenced the present, and opens up the discussion of how we can eliminate non-productive attitudes, beliefs and adaptive behaviors and, build upon the strengths we have gained from the past to heal.
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PTSS Study Guide is designed to help individuals, groups, and organizations better understand the functional and dysfunctional attitudes and behaviors that have been transmitted to us through multiple generations. The Guide encourages and broadens the discussion and implications about the specific issues that were raised in the PTSS book and provides practical tools to help transform negative attitudes and behaviors into positive ones.
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African American Male Adolescent Respect Scale is an assessment instrument designed to broaden our understanding of the challenges facing these youth in an effort to prevent their over-representation in the justice system.
In addition to her pioneering work in the explanatory theory and book, Dr. DeGruy has developed evidence-based models for working with children, youth, and adults of color and their communities.
Kimia Ferdowsi Kline
Kimia Ferdowsi Kline earned an M.F.A. at the San Francisco Art Institute and holds a B.F.A. in painting from Washington University in St. Louis, where she was awarded a full-tuition Danforth Scholarship.
She has mounted solo exhibitions at Turn Gallery (New York), Marrow Gallery (San Francisco), The Elaine L. Jacobs Gallery at Wayne State University (Detroit) and 68 Projects (Berlin). Select group shows include Ceysson & Bénétière, The Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, CANADA Gallery, PACE University, and The Drawing Center.
In 2015 she was awarded a grant and residency through the New York Foundation for the Arts. In 2018 she was honored to be nominated for a Rema Hort Mann Emerging Artist Grant. Most recently, she is thrilled to be working on a monograph with Radius Books, set to release in 2022.
Guest lectures and teaching include Yale University, Tyler School of Art and Architecture, SUNY Purchase, Lipscomb University, The Fashion Institute of Technology, Brooklyn College, Wayne State University, and Chautauqua Institute.
As a freelance curator, she consults for various private collectors and corporations.
Select press includes, The New York Times, Hyperallergic, Cultured Magazine, New American Paintings, Architectural Digest, The Harvard Advocate, Departures Magazine, & Travel + Leisure.
She splits her time between Nashville and New York.
Joanne Brown
Joanne Brown is a graduate of the University of Virginia, where she earned a degree in Psychology. She also has a law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is a member of the State Bar of Georgia. She currently serves as the Director of Diversity & Inclusion at Pace Academy. Prior to that, she worked in admissions as an Associate Director of Admissions at Pace and as the Director of Admissions at Heritage Preparatory School. Joanne enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, and serving on the board of directors for non-profit organizations.
Dr. Danielle Stewart
Dr. Danielle Stewart, iChange president and owner, has operated in DEI spaces for over ten years. She committed her doctoral research to understanding the experiences of alumni of color in predominantly white K-12 private schools in order to help her own school learn how to diversify and increase engagement. Through much resistance, she committed to finding the answers through her additional qualitative and quantitative research. She was able to assess why the lack of engagement existed. There were stories of racialized trauma as well as a lack of intentionality that the school had in wanting to engage.
As a result of her research, she independently and externally launched the first Black alumni affinity group for the alumni from this school who shared a common identity of being a Black person from a white school that did not seem to care about them after they graduated. She learned that she would need to create a psychologically safe place and platform for herself and for others who undeniably had love for a school but had also experienced pain and did not feel a sense of belonging from the school. This space was instrumental in her own healing, and she was committed to holding this space until the school would see the value and need to create a space that they would support. Simultaneously, she saw the need to create a similar space for BIPOC educators and leaders from predominantly white institutions nationwide for the same purposes of healing and connecting with others who understood both their love for their students and school and the pain and challenges of the lack of support. She has led this affinity space for over the past 10 years and has launched several others, including a men’s affinity group. She believes that affinity spaces are essential and are circles for self-care that strengthen individuals and the communities that support them. She designed this training into a program in order to share with others the experiences and her expertise in this space in order to support others who would be brave enough to lead and support communities that needed this support most.
SCHEDULE: 2024
Friday, June 21, 2024
Saturday, June 22, 2024
Sunday, June 23, 2024
REGISTRATION: 2024
Each school bringing students and adults pays a flat registration fee of $2000.00; this fee covers registration, programming, and food costs for all students and chaperones.
We recommend bringing six to eight students and two to four adults.
The registration fee does not include travel or hotel costs.
School administrators or representatives who are registering the school and paying for the conference.
Choose the option that fits your school (pay in part or pay in full) and "remove" the other option by changing the quantity to zero.
Students who are attending the conference with their school should fill out this form. No payment is needed, but you do need parent/guardian signatures and insurance information
Faculty and staff who are attending the conference as chaperones should fill out this form; no payment is needed.
Are you coming to the conference without students or without other members of your school?
Faculty and staff of any school may attend the conference without students at a cost of $450 per person. This includes all programming and meals, and while the bulk of programming takes place on Saturday, June 17, attendees are welcome to attend all three days of the conference.
PICTURES FROM
PAST CONFERENCES
