Democracy Conversation Project – Historical Society of Plainfield/Drake House Museum

While most people know that the US government conducts a census every ten years (the last was in 2020), many people have never thought about the relationship between the census and race in the US.

The Historical Society of Plainfield/Drake House Museum is pleased to present “Questioning the Questions of the US Census” on Saturday, November 5, 2022, at 10:30 a.m. This virtual public humanities program from scholar Karen Gaffney, PhD, will help participants understand how census questions about race have upheld white supremacy for over two centuries and offer a valuable window into US history and the persistence of systemic racism today.

The program will be held virtually via Zoom, and closed captioning is available. Please RSVP at https://tinyurl.com/PPLHist2211.

Dr. Gaffney is the author of Dismantling the Racism Machine: A Manual and Toolbox (Routledge 2018), an accessible introduction to race and racism with tools for action. She is an English professor at Raritan Valley Community College, where she teaches courses on composition, gender, and race. She also facilitates anti-racism workshops in the community and at conferences, and she runs a blog with resources, “Divided No Longer,” which works to call out white supremacy, understand it, and dismantle it. Find it here: https://dividednolonger.com/.