The 24th Annual Junior Scholars Program Youth Summit

Welcome to Currents of Resistance: Propaganda, Power & Purpose, The 24th Annual Junior Scholars Program Youth Summit!

This year’s summit invites you into a dynamic exploration of how images, narratives, and messages shape the way we see ourselves and the world around us. Our scholars investigate the role of media, storytelling, and cultural production in both distorting and reclaiming Black identity, drawing from the Schomburg Center’s archives and their own lived experiences to examine how truth is constructed, challenged, and reimagined across generations.

Through music, media, radio journalism, visual arts, theater, and spoken word, they present a multimedia showcase that interrogates miseducation, amplifies cultural memory, and reclaims the power to define Black life on its own terms. From explorations of diaspora and archival legacy to critiques of representation across industries, each project reflects a commitment to truth-telling, resistance, and creative expression.

Get ready to be challenged, inspired, and moved at the 24th Annual Junior Scholars Program Youth Summit. See you there!

STREAMING LINK: Will be available closer to the event.

DOORS OPEN AT 11:00 AM. PRESENTATIONS START AT 11:30 AM.

NOTE: Spoken Word, Media, Theater and Visual Art will be presenting before the 1PM intermission. Music and Radio Journlism will be presenting after the 1PM intermission.

Presented by JSP Visual Arts Scholars & M. Scott Johnson & Ano Chrispin

Sacred Winds reimagines the folding fan as more than an accessory, positioning it as a powerful symbol within Black diasporic tradition. Through archival materials, paintings, and photography, the exhibition explores how fans function as tools of expression, ritual, and resistance, carrying messages across spiritual, cultural, and political spaces. Centered on the metaphor of air as breath, movement, and force, Sacred Winds reveals how this everyday object becomes a conduit for resilience, presence, and sacred continuity.

Presented by JSP Spoken Word Scholars & Subha Ahmed & Rahmell Peebles

An exploration of the voices that have shaped, challenged, and uplifted our communities, this program honors the enduring impact of poets, artists, and activists like Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Amiri Baraka, and Zora Neale Hurston. Through reflection and expression, we celebrate their legacy while reclaiming the poet within ourselves and recognizing the living poetry that surrounds us.

Presented by JSP Media Scholars & Sharee Hereford

This year, the Media Cohort explored the realities of Black children in the American education system. Through historical context, personal insight, and critical analysis, our short documentary examines how propaganda has shaped perceptions of Black students while uncovering the systemic barriers that continue to impact their learning experiences.

By amplifying young voices and confronting long-standing narratives, this documentary challenges viewers to rethink what they have been taught and consider what true educational equity could look like.

Presented by JSP Theatre Scholars & Rahmell Peebles

A determined journalist, desperate to salvage her career, is assigned to cover a fast-rising therapy company championed by a group of influential online personalities. What appears to be a progressive movement promoting mental health awareness and accessibility soon reveals subtle cracks beneath its polished image. As she digs deeper into the influencers’ stories and the company’s methods, unsettling questions begin to surface. Caught between ambition and risk, she must decide whether to expose the truth or walk away before it consumes her.

Presented by JSP Music Scholars & Yannick Florest & Terion Cooper

Puerto Rico: Revolutions Per Minute captures the spirit of the island and its descendants through music reflective of activist movements. Encompassing all sounds Latin from bomba to reggaeton, The JSP Music ‘26 scholars created and produced a compilation that will make you dance and be inspired! For Puerto Rico, By Puerto Ricans!

Puerto Rico: Revolutions Per Minute was cultivated in community with the Columbia University Computer Music Center, the Center for Puerto Rican Studies (CENTRO PR), Cocotazo, LLC and GreenHouse Studios!

Presented by JSP Radio Journalism Scholars & Amiri Tulloch & Tyler Burston

Are you ready for a new episode of We Said What We Said? If so, we’ve got you covered. This year, the Radio Journalism group presents a radio show aimed at educating, informing, and inspiring their communities. Tune in as scholars host “The Black Dollar,” a timely discussion about economics in the Black community and strategies for building wealth amongst their generation. Additionally, JSP Radio scholars will present video segments covering definitions of stereotypes, debates around capitalism and socialism, and ways to promote positive communication between members of the Black community.

View previous Junior Scholar projects here: www.nypl.org/junior-scholars-program!

About the Junior Scholars Program: Over one hundred youth from the New York City area, ages 12 to 18, are selected to participate in this uniquely designed free Black studies program at the Schomburg Center. Saturday sessions run from 10 AM to 3 PM. and use an inquiry-based and project-based approach to teach about black American history and the global black experience.

Junior Scholars attend college-style lectures and presentations, engage in dialogue with adult scholars, participate in guided peer group discussions and activities, generate individual research projects and portfolios, and create collaborative media and art projects that grow from their intensive study based on the Schomburg’s vast collections, exhibitions, and educational resources.

Junior Scholars increase their historical literacy, expand their knowledge of who they are as intellectual, social, cultural, and artistic beings, embrace their legacy as African American citizens, and learn of the lands and cultures of their prolific and trailblazing ancestors. Learn more and apply to our next cohort here: www.nypl.org/junior-scholars-program!

PRESS | Please send all press inquiries (photo, video, interviews, audio-recording, etc.) at least 24-hours before the day of the program to Leah Drayton at [email protected] .

The Schomburg Junior Scholars program is made possible through the generous support of PUMA, The Carver Scholarship Fund, the May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Inc., the New York City Council, and the New York State Legislature.

LEARN MORE! If you have questions about the program or education at the Schomburg, please contact the Schomburg Center's Associate Manager of Youth & OST, Sira Marissa Lewis at [email protected].

COVID PROTOCOLS FOR IN-PERSON SCHOMBURG CENTER PROGRAMS

To ensure the health and safety of the public and our staff, policies and procedures created in collaboration with safety experts must be followed. Visitors are encouraged to wear a mask.

If you have symptoms consistent with COVID-19 or suspect you have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive, please stay home.

PUBLIC NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER

By registering for this event, you are acknowledging that an inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public place where people are present. By attending an in-person program at The New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, you voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19 and agree not to hold The New York Public Library, its Trustees, officers, agent and employees liable for any illness or injury. If you have symptoms consistent with COVID-19 or suspect you have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive, please stay home.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture - New York Public Library, 515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, United States

Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.

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