Booker T. Washington Outreach Continues

In the months since June 2006, when the Booker T. Washington Symposium was cohosted by The New Coalition for Economic and Social Change and The Heartland Institute, we have produced a professionally edited video containing 12 presentations made at the event, totaling nearly two hours of presentations. The speakers are: William B. Allen, Ph.D.; Peter Ascoli, Ph.D.; Mark Bauerlein, Ph.D.; John Sibley Butler, Ph.D.; Glenn Loury, Ph.D.; Robert Norrell, Ph.D.; Marcus Pohlmann, Ph.D.; Christopher R. Reed, Ph.D.; Daryl Scott, Ph.D.; Carol Swain, Ph.D.; Rev. William S. Winston; and Anne Wortham, Ph.D.

This is the largest and most prestigious grouping of black conservatives and academic experts on Booker T. Washington ever brought together on a video suitable for wide dissemination. We believe widespread distribution of this two-DVD set will be a real breakthrough in our efforts to communicate Booker T. Washington's ideas.

We have also finished editing Booker T. Washington: A Re-Examination, a 167-page book containing edited versions of all 25 presentations made at the symposium. Lexington Books has agreed to publish the book.

The essays in BTW: A Re-Examination, partly because they started out as speeches, are really interesting and persuasive. There's something especially moving about so many authors describing how they became admirers of Booker T. Washington. Frankly, BTW: A Re-Examination is a book that changes minds.

Marketing Campaign

Getting this far has consumed a lot of time and energy, but of course we're just beginning the most important phase: Marketing the video and book.

We would like to distribute copies of the DVDs to The New Coalition's network of about 1,500 friends, supporters, and black ministers, and also with an upcoming issue of The Heartland Institute's monthly newsletter, The Heartlander, which goes to about 3,500 supporters and allies (including 500 elected officials and 300 think tank leaders).

We want to purchase enough additional copies of the DVD to make them available for free or at a very reduced price to elected officials, teachers, journalists, and grassroots activists. We'll advertise the DVD's availability online, in our publications, and by mail.

If we can raise enough money, we can send the DVD to every private K-12 school and charter school in the U.S.--about 27,000 names--for classroom use during Black History Month. We also hope to send it to every black elected official in the U.S., the heads of black studies programs at colleges and universities, and to advertise it in Jet and other black media outlets.

Distribution of the book could follow much the same pattern, beginning with complimentary distribution to supporters and allies of The New Coalition and The Heartland Institute, and then expanding outward as funding allows. Lexington Books, the publisher, is willing to give us a super discount on paperback copies of the book.

Changing the Debate

It's difficult to measure the impact of educational projects, but this project has a chance to change the debate in the black community. The high quality of the individuals involved, the use of a prominent historical figure to get attention, the user-friendly DVD format, and the targeted outreach to black opinion leaders, all ensure this project will reach people who have never heard of "black conservatism" before.

If you can offer financial support for this project, please contact Lee Walker, president of The New Coalition for Economic and Social Change, at 312/377-4000. We need your support!