Join The Black and White Reunion for the 24th Annual Pittsburgh Racial Justice Summit, Equity in Action: Navigating Intersections of Racial Justice. Registration for this event is available online.

About the Event

The Pittsburgh Racial Justice Summit is a one-and-a-half-day conference dedicated to providing resources and spaces for community dialogues, sharing strategies and experiences of organizing for racial justice, healing from racial trauma, and providing connections to social support services for all attendees. The Summit is a multicultural initiative of the Black and White Reunion. It was first held in 1996, convened in response to the death of Jonny Gammage, a thirty-one-year-old Black man who was murdered by four white police officers in a suburb on the outskirts of Pittsburgh.

The Summit begins Friday night, followed by a full day of panels and sessions on Saturday. Friday night includes a fireside chat by three internationally renowned, award-winning, best-selling Pittsburgh writers:

• Deesha Philyaw, author of “The Secret Lives of Church Ladies”
• Brian Broome, author of “Punch Me Up to the Gods”
• Damon Young, author of “What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker”
• The keynote opening event will also include a choral performance of “Lift Ev’ry Voice” by the Pittsburgh Heritage Gospel Chorale directed by Dr Herbert V.R.P. Jones.

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, all Pittsburgh Racial Justice Summit events will be held on Zoom. The Friday keynote will be accessible on YouTube and Facebook.

The Summit’s goal is to underscore the necessity and importance of critically re-evaluating our respective histories, specifically the impact of white supremacy and how it has caused widespread dehumanization and exploitation throughout global and local history. Workshops and panels will confront historical and current racial issues, including social, economic, political, immigration, and environmental justice.

Registration proceeds are used to cover the cost of hosting the Summit and for the Jonny Gammage Scholarship Fund which is awarded to law students of color with an interest in studying civil rights and social justice issues at the University of Pittsburgh Law School or Duquesne University Law School. We ask that those with access to more resources pay more and thus provide the cushion for those with less access to pay less, creating a sustainable economic underpinning for the conference.