On Monday, Sept. 22, the Center for Social Concern (CSC) brought various participants from the Hopkins community together for a book talk on Devin Allen’s photo book, A Beautiful Ghetto. The talk, which was part of the CSC’s larger Hop Talks program, was led by CSC staff and involved group-based reflection activities on Allen’s works.
The event began with a welcome from the CSC as well as an introduction to the staff and discussion moderators present. After discussing the night’s topic with the audience, the event then partitioned into smaller groups for open discussions and dialogue on the book’s content. Conversations within these groups focused around topics of visual storytelling’s importance and influence, the impact of the images within Allen’s work and how participants could connect the messages and topics of the book with their own lives.
Participants were encouraged to discuss their thoughts openly in service of creating meaningful exchanges. This approach is part of the CSC’s larger goal throughout the Hop Talks series, which is for participants and organizers to discuss multifaceted political and social issues inside of the Hopkins, Baltimore and greater global communities.
The Hop Talks series aims to encourage deep thought and problem-solving strategies guided by experts with various perspectives on the topical issues. Past installments have focused on issues such as voter suppression and the spread of misinformation, as well as the media covering global matters such as apartheid and environmental justice. In an email to The News-Letter, CSC Civic Life Specialist Willow Goode described the insight she hopes the Hop Talks series will provide for attendees.
“For Hop Talks, we hope that participants gain a better understanding of constructive dialogue skills like listening actively, asking questions with curiosity, and navigating disagreement with intention,” Goode wrote.
The focus of this Hop Talk, Allen’s A Beautiful Ghetto, was published in 2017 in light of Freddie Gray’s 2015 killing by Baltimore police and subsequent protests across the city, described in the book as the “Baltimore Uprising.” The photo book opens with a number of reflections and essays by scholars, authors and Allen’s mother Gail Allen-Kearney on both Gray’s life and killing as well as Allen’s work; poems by Baltimorean poets Wallace Lane and Tariq Touré preface the book’s chapters as well.
The content of each of the chapters varies from candid photography of Black life around Baltimore to pictures documenting the Baltimore Uprising protests themselves, entirely taken in grayscale. Goode explained in an email to The News-Letter that the CSC’s staff had known of Allen and his work prior to the event and that A Beautiful Ghetto was a clear choice when it came to opening dialogue and community-based discussions.
“We selected A Beautiful Ghetto because it tells a powerful and authentic story of Baltimore through both words and images, and it fits well within the CSC's approach of education, action, and reflection,” Goode wrote. “As an art book, it allows multiple interpretations, letting each reader to connect with it in their own way.”
After thorough discussions of the book’s content, context and audience reactions, event participants regrouped for a general discussion of the most impactful takeaways and topics of the night. Attendees shared a dinner as they recounted the themes that held particular significance and struck deep conversation throughout the night. The event ended with an invitation to participants to share either excerpts that particularly spoke to them or to present the themes that they hoped to take with them after the talk’s conclusion.
Goode elaborated, “For A Beautiful Ghetto, we hope participants leave with a deeper understanding of Baltimore and its complexity, its beauty, its struggles, and its resilience. We don’t speak for Baltimore at the CSC, but we do strive to build connections with the city.”
The CSC plans to continue the Hop Talks series as the semester progresses, with the next event planned for Tuesday, Oct. 21 from 6–8 p.m. in Levering Hall’s Great Hall. This installment will be on social movements and focus on community building and creating social change.
