While scientists agree that many common assumptions about race are wrong the consequences of racism are very real. This fall, the Penn Museum (3260 South St) on the University of Pennsylvania campus, will bring together more than two dozen internationally recognized experts from diverse backgrounds for an in-depth and powerful exploration about race, science, and justice in a free series of five evening classes geared to adults and young adults (14 and above).

The Public Classroom @ Penn Museum: Science and Race: History, Use, and Abuse will run non-consecutive Wednesdays, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., beginning September 21 (September 28; October 26; November 9; November 16). Individuals can sign up for one, several, or all sessions. Seating is limited and advance registration is recommended. Interested individuals can sign up at: penn.museum/pmclassroom.

For those who can’t attend the program at the museum, there will be live streaming of the program on the website. 

Each Science and Race class features a panel of four to six experts, with questions led by moderators (including from public radio WHYY and African American talk radio WURD). Discussions on race are presented through the lenses of anthropology, biology, genetics, sociology, philosophy, and law. With each session, students engage in collection workshops featuring the Museum’s renowned Samuel Morton Collection of more than 1,000 human crania collected from around the world in the 1800s. In addition, tapping into the class interactions and the panelists’ perspectives, Penn’s Camra media program will develop and film an accompanying documentary on Science and Race, designed for middle school audiences and older, and available to all in 2017.

The Public Classroom @ Penn Museum: Science and Race: History, Use, and Abuse is supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. Program partners include the Campaign for Community, the School for Social Policy and Practice, and Camra at the University of Pennsylvania; and local radio stations WHYY and WURD.

More information about the program can be found on the Penn Museum website.