THE ACUMEN GROUP
Examining eugenics and hereditarian thought in popular culture & everyday life
ACCEPT NO SHORTS
The Acumen Group does NOT subcontract, collaborate, or partner with other organizations through agents or those outside of our team. Interested in eugenic lectures, short courses, talks, screenings, or broadcasts, contact Dr. Shantella Sherman directly 202.893.8805
Our Research.
Our Lectures.
Our Expertise.
Accept Nothing Less.
LECTURES & SHORT COURSES
WINTER 2022 - SPRING 2023
POP-EU VIRTUAL SERIES
Saturdays, March 11 & MARCH 18 / 1-3 pm (EST)
Racial Stereotypes & the Resurgence of Eugenics in Popular Television, Film & Current Events
$25 Single sessions - Senior / Student Special $10
LIMITED SPACE
Cut Off! Forced Sterilizations & Abortion Rights
This is a two-hour intensive examining eugenics and reproductive rights from Roe v. Wade to
North Carolina's Compensation of eugenic sterilization victims.
[TWO SESSIONS OFFERED]
Thursday, March 23 & March 30 / 6-8 pm (EST)
$25 Single sessions -Senior / Student Special $10
LIMITED SPACE
Eugenics 101: Understanding the American Eugenics Movement
This course examines the ways in which eugenics historically informed American laws, social policies, public education, and public health initiatives. These are three-hour sessions designed to help today's policymakers better understand the historical blueprints that govern their institutions.
Saturday, February 25 & March 4 / 1-3 pm (EST)
$25 Single sessions - Senior / Student Special $10
LIMITED SPACE
ACUMEN LECTURE 2021 SEPTEMBER
BLACK HISTORY WALKS - UK
THE STERILIZATION OF BLACK WOMEN WITHOUT THEIR CONSENT & WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT!
CUT-OFF! Sterilization Lecture
The cornerstone of eugenic theories asserts that the weak (criminal, defective, immoral, and diseased) will overpopulate and destroy civilization. To ensure that those deemed "human waste" do not reproduce, thousands of Americans have undergone surgical sterilization by force or without their consent. Similarly, with the re-examination of Row v. Wade, the reproductive rights of American women have once again taken center stage. Who determines if a woman has the capacity to make decisions about her body? How has eugenics informed the decisions of the Supreme Court regarding sexual attraction, birth control, abortions, and even labor and delivery? How have same-gender loving women been marginalized in the framing of those laws? Dr. Shantella Y. Sherman invites you to open a dialogue on race, reproductive injustice, and laws that position "the greater good" of the nation against and over individual rights by examining the resurrected "science" of eugenics.
POP-EU: Popular Eugenics in Television & Film
Acumen's Pop-Eu lecture series encourages an investigation of eugenic theories situated in popular television series, films, characters, and scripting. This short-course, designed as three concurrent lectures, helps viewers bridge the connection between eugenic ideology in laboratories and science classes and common media images. The three courses cover Tropes of Black Masculinity, Black Women: Birthing Pathology, and Stereotypes R Us. Each lecture includes a basic U.S. history lesson, within a safe learning environment that welcomes questions. These are great supplemental history classes for those studying American history, Women & Gender studies, law, and/or public policy.
The goal of The Acumen Group is to serve as "change agents," who help reconcile not-so-pleasant mores and ideals with the realities of social bias both within America, and communities of color both nationally and globally. High school & college students are welcome.
REGISTER TODAY!