2026
Symposium
BLACKECE
We are the Return:
Culture, Capital & Economic Justice in
Early Care and Education
Thursday, August 6, 2026 -
Friday, August 7, 2026
About the Event
We Are the Return: Culture, Capital & Economic Justice in Early Care and Education convenes educators, families, policymakers, cultural workers, and funders to advance a reparative vision for California’s early care and education system. Grounded in Black cultural knowledge and collective liberation, the symposium explores how policy, funding, and infrastructure can repair historical harm, sustain cultural identity, and build economic power for Black children, families, and early learning professionals.
This gathering affirms that we are not beginning anew—we are carrying forward ancestral wisdom to reclaim what was stolen and imagine what is possible.
Speakers
When CNN wanted to trace the origins of the word woke, they called Michael Harriot. When MSNBC needed someone to unpack critical race theory, they called Michael Harriot. And when the culture needed a voice to capture the collective heartbeat of Black Twitter, his name was the runaway answer.
Michael Harriot is an award-winning journalist, bestselling author, celebrated poet, and public historian hailed as one of the most eloquent writers in America. His New York Times bestseller Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America has been the top-selling Black history book in the country since its 2023 release. He is the 2024–2025 recipient of Harvard University's Nyhan Prize for Public Policy Journalism, the originator of the phrase "invited to the cookout," and the founder of the Black journalism collective ContrabandCamp. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The New York Times — and, as he likes to note, his mother's refrigerator.
Michael Harriot does not just tell history. He reclaims it. And we cannot wait for him to bring that energy to our stage.
Dr. Gloria Swindler Boutte is a Carolina Distinguished Professor at the University of South Carolina whose scholarship has spent decades centering one urgent question: How are the children?
A Fulbright Scholar, AERA Fellow, and recipient of the National Council of Teachers of English Outstanding Educator Award, Dr. Boutte is the author or co-author of seven books, including Revolutionary Love for Early Childhood Classrooms: Nurturing the Brilliance of Young Black Children and the award-winning We Be Lovin' Black Children: Learning to Be Literate About the African Diaspora. She is the founder and Executive Director of the Center for the Education and Equity of African American Students (CEEAAS) and has presented her work on every continent except Antarctica.
Her expertise in African American language, equity pedagogy, and culturally affirming early childhood education makes her presence at this Symposium not just fitting — it is essential.
