Teacher Workshops

Previous Civil Rights Educator Institute participants at Little Rock Central High School NHS Visitor Center with Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Little Rock Nine.

NPS Photo

 

2022 Civil Rights Educator Institute (virtual)

Tuesday, July 12 - Wednesday, July 13, 2022

Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site will host an online Civil Rights Educator Institute (CREI) from Tuesday, July 12 through Wednesday, July 13, 2022. This free professional development course is open to educators, community organizers and cultural activists; requests to participate in this virtual program will be accepted through March 1, 2022 or until all openings are filled.

The 2022 CREI will examine historical moments from U.S. history and allow for an exchange of knowledge and experiences with reflection between participants. The course will offer tools to explore and educate on civil rights history and human rights struggles through the stories presented by various educators and civil rights activists. The goal of the three-day workshop is to critically engage with issues of rights, power of place as well as to experience innovative ways of connecting the past to our present.

2022 CREI Presenters

• Dr. LaVerne Bell-Tolliver – Associate Professor Emeritus of UA Little Rock Social Work and author of "The First Twenty-Five.” LaVerne Bell-Tolliver has been a clinical social worker for over 35 years. She holds a Master’s degree in social work from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and in Biblical counseling from Dallas Theological Seminary, in Dallas Texas. Her Ph.D. is in family therapy from Texas Woman’s University, in Denton. She is currently a Licensed Certified Social Worker in the State of Arkansas and a Registered Play Therapist Supervisor. In addition, she is a clinical member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.

• Joanie DiMartino – Museum Curator and Site Superintendent, Prudence Crandall Museum. DiMartino, a New Jersey native, received her undergraduate degree from Rowan University, where she fell under the spell of history. She holds a master's in public history from Rutgers, focusing her studies on the women's suffrage movement, and has worked for the Kentucky Historical Society and as supervisor of interpretation at Mystic Seaport.

• Elizabeth Eckford is a member of the Little Rock Nine and Congressional Gold Medal recipient. Eckford made history as a member of the Little Rock Nine, the nine African American students who desegregated Little Rock Central High School in 1957. The image of fifteen-year-old Eckford, walking alone through a screaming mob in front of Central High School, propelled the crisis into the nation’s living rooms and brought international attention to Little Rock (Pulaski County).

• Dr. Bernard Lafayette was a student activist in the Nashville, Tennessee, sit-in campaign of 1960, and a longtime staff member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Bernard Lafayette gained a reputation as a steadfast proponent of nonviolence before Martin Luther King offered him the position of program director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1967.

• Joan Trumpauer Mulholland was a Freedom Rider, a participant in the Jackson Woolworth’s Sit-in, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the Meredith March, and the Selma to Montgomery March.

• Benjamin Saulsberry is the Public Engagement/Museum Director at the Emmett Till Interpretive Center. Saulsberry is a native of West Tallahatchie County, Mississippi. He grew up surrounded by social justice activism, which he credits for his deep care and concern for his community today. Ben joined the Emmett Till Interpretive Center in 2016 and has spoken on race, racism, and racial reconciliation across the country on behalf of the Center, including at Harvard Law in 2017 and the University of Detroit at Mercy in 2019. He attended Mississippi Valley State University and the University of Mississippi for graduate work in music.

 

Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site offers professional development opportunities to educational organizations and institutions with a focus on civil rights and social justice history. If you want to request a Park Ranger to present to your organization or to be added to our educator contact list and receive announcements on upcoming workshops or seminars, please email Park Ranger Brian Schwieger at [e-mail]