'Divided Baltimore' Class Welcomes Guest Speaker Bill Bleisch, Activist and Educator, Oct. 24
October 21, 2016
Contact: Public Affairs
Phone: 410.837.5739
The University of Baltimore's class, "Divided Baltimore: How Did We Get Here? Where Do We Go?," will welcome guest speaker Bill Bleisch, activist and former Baltimore City Public Schools teacher, during its Monday, Oct. 24 session. Bleisch will give a presentation entitled "Racism and Classism in Policing and Education," followed by a question-and-answer session with the audience. The class will be open to the greater community, but seating is limited and only students formally enrolled in the course are guaranteed a seat. It will begin at 5:30 p.m. in Room 212 of UB's Academic Center, 1420 N. Charles St.
Bleisch grew up in New York City. He came to Baltimore as part of a summer project led by Students for a Democratic Society, to organize against the war in Vietnam. He met his wife here, and they decided to make Baltimore their home. Bleisch went on to teach English, drama and videography in the Baltimore City Public School System for four decades, depsite having been suspended twice and fired twice for his views supporting revolution and an egalitarian society. Bleisch hates racism, and believes we should all fight vigorously against it, no matter what our own background.
Bleisch is one of several guest speakers scheduled for this semester's "Divided Baltimore" class. The class is being taught by Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences lecturer Ron Kipling Williams, M.F.A. '16. Now in its third semester, the interdisciplinary course was launched by the University last fall as a way to build on a historical understanding of how Baltimore became segregated, what that means for people who live on either side of the divide, why it is in everyone's self-interest to correct the problem, and how we might do so.
Learn more about the "Divided Baltimore" course.