Karson Institute to host sixth annual Wilson Peace Symposium

Loyola University Maryland’s Karson Institute for Race, Peace & Social Justice will host the sixth annual Wilson Peace Symposium on Thursday, April 23, from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. in McGuire Hall on the Evergreen campus.

The daylong symposium is free and open to the public and will feature presentations from the 2025-26 Karson Backpack Journalists (seventh-grade students from Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys). Registration is required. The symposium’s theme, “Lift Every Voice: Exploring the Sounds of Democracy from 1776-2026,” will be the central focus of all sessions and discussions.

“As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the release of the Declaration of Independence and a century of Black History commemorations, the theme for our 2026 symposium speaks to this convergence of these two unique moments in America's history.” said Karsonya “Kaye” Wise Whitehead, Ph.D., professor of communication and African American Studies, and founding executive director of the Karson Institute. “We will spend the day exploring the roots of democracy, resistance, peace, independence, and freedom. America is a nation built on storytelling and community; the Wilson Peace Symposium will examine how our nation has been stitched together and moments when it has been pulled apart.”

Concurrent sessions will run from 9 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. in two separate rooms:

• Fourth Floor Program Room: The Art of Resistance: Taking the Camera, Grabbing the Pen, and Telling Our Stories. Director Whitehead and the 2025-26 Karson Backpack Journalists will discuss storytelling as a form of agency, share their video projects, and reflect on their experience learning how to write and record personal stories about their experiences growing up in Baltimore City
• McGuire Hall: Fugitive Pedagogy: Exploring the Intersection of Resistance, Peace, and Freedom. Dr. Lamar Darnell Shields, the co-founder and senior director of education and innovation at the Cambio Group, will lead a conversation outlining and exploring how resistance, peace, and freedom intersect in American politics.

“The symposium provides us with a unique opportunity to bring together three different communities on our campus: Loyola and UND students; Baltimore City middle and high school students from BCSB, Arlington Baptist School, Roland Park Elementary Middle School, and Western High School; and Baltimore City residents,” Whitehead said.
 
At 12 p.m. in the Quad, Director Whitehead invites attendees to join her for a cup of coffee, a Karson cupcake, and an informal discussion about the state of the Karson Institute.

Following the break will be a mid-day moderated conversation: “Lift Every Voice: Exploring the Sound of Democracy from 1776-2026,” led by Director Whitehead along with Dr. Shields; Edwin Avent, CEO of Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys, former CEO of SSNTV & Heart & Soul Magazine; and Dr. Teisha Dupree-Wilson, Assistant Professor and Coordinator for the History and African American Studies Program at Coppin State University.

Register now to secure your spot at the sixth annual Wilson Peace Symposium and be part of the conversation.

For more information: Sixth Annual Wilson Peace Symposium

About the Karson Institute
The Karson Institute provides a scholarly space for professors, students, social justice workers, and activists to come together to research, discuss, debate, and explore answers to America’s most urgent questions on inequality, injustice, and racial inequity. The institute is committed to establishing a research- and data-based environment grounded in intersectional, liberated ideas and ideologies.