As Pasadena City College approaches its 90th Anniversary in 2014, it is fitting that we celebrate one of our most internationally recognized alums, Jackie Robinson who broke the color barrier in professional baseball by implementing an annual event in his honor to celebrate the multiple aspects of our diversity. Thus, the Jackie Robinson Arts & Humanities Lecture Series, will embody the College’s motto: “Proud Past, Global Future” as a multi-ethnic, multi-disciplinary professional development annual event that will expose the College community to a vast array of artists, scholars, musicians, performers, writers, playwrights and other contributors to the quest for social justice, equity, and other humanitarian issues focused on deepening our understanding and appreciation of cultural diversity – a crucial component in preparing for a global future.
The analytical framework of the Jackie Robinson Arts and Humanities and Art Lecture Series offers a range of dialogue on issues of social justice. Pasadena City College has a legacy of multi racial political formations that date back to the earliest decades of the twentieth century. And the series builds upon that foundation to examine the past, the present and future moments. At this critical juncture in American History we seemed to have misplaced or forgotten the narrative of youth and it’s ability to transform dialogues.