In this period of sustained challenges to our humanity, it is with great enthusiasm that we announce the 2019 Free Minds, Free People National Conference will be held in Minneapolis-St Paul, Minnesota. The FMFP Twin Cities conference will be about imagining educational possibilities— ensuring a vibrant youth presence, honoring the region’s deep Indigenous heritage, and centering transnational and multiple communities of color. Minnesota occupies Dakota and Anishanabek land. It has been and become home to many Indigenous peoples. The conference will take place on sacred and stolen Dakota land, where communities continue to fight each day for survival. Indigenous justice and land rights are a core component of the educational struggle that confronts us. The often untold Minnesotan history of resistance, yesterday and today, will deeply shape the conference landscape. The 2019 Free Minds, Free People Conference will build from the amazing gathering in Baltimore (2017) to envision a different way of doing/being educational freedom work. As the conference has always done, we will bring multiple communities together building new possibilities, uniting us toward the education we deserve. In 2019 we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the African & African American Studies department at the University of Minnesota, as many other universities across the country share similar anniversaries. An important aspect of the conference will explore the state of ethnic studies nationally from Pre-K through Ph.D., in an effort to continue the legacy of those who have struggled so that we can know our rich pre-colonial heritages and honor our ongoing resistance to colonialism and imperialism. Together, we will struggle as youth, teachers, scholars, community, activists, and visionaries, and together we will fulfill the promise of education for liberation. See you in the Twin Cities in July, 2019!
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