SOUTH ORANGE, NJ— Fifty years since the first National Black Political Convention (also known as the Gary Convention) took place in Gary, Indiana, New Jersey middle and high school students are participating in a commemorative Model Gary Student Convention in Newark, Friday Apr. 29 to Saturday Apr. 30. Organizers say the behind-the-scenes work of students to develop position papers on topics including education, health, economics, and politics honor the original convention's goal of convening Black Americans to discuss and advance solutions to promote equity and confront the pressing societal injustices of our times. Participation in the model conventions, organizers hope, will impress upon students that they have the power to advocate for themselves and their communities right now. 

The inception of the March 1972 Gary Convention stretches back to Newark and the unrest of the late 1960s, says Dr. Kelly Harris, director of Africana Studies at Seton Hall University. 

 "After the 1967 Newark Rebellion, there was a National Black Power conference in Newark, and Maulana Karenga, Amiri Baraka, Dick Gregory, H. Rap Brown, and other activist luminaries were there," said Harris. During this conference, Black leaders met to debate reparations, U.S. foreign policy, and a host of issues—including discriminatory policing, health care inequality, and the growing prison industrial complex—that ignited the uprisings in Newark, Detroit, Watts.

"Then there were other organizing discussions, particularly one in Atlanta, where they talked about leveraging their organizing power to get people to run for elected office. From that idea came the Gary Convention, which Amiri Baraka helped spearhead, along with the King Foundation, Jesse Jackson, and Richard Hatcher, the mayor of Gary, Indiana."

The largest national black political convention in U.S. history at that time, the Gary Convention drew some 10,000 participants to West Side High School in Gary in a show of force despite the frayed ties of the Civil Rights Movement in the aftermath of a Rev. Martin Luther King's assassination. Between March 10 and 12, 1972, the Black community gathered to plan a path forward and focused on increasing Black representation in public office. 

"The theme was 'Unity without uniformity.' And their goal was to address a whole smorgasbord of issues and attempt to create an independent national black political party," said Harris. He added that the most significant measurable impact of the convention was that "it energized people to go back and run for offices in their community. So we see the increase of black elected officials, manifold, after 1972."

Inspired by the convention's impact and efforts, such as the Model U.N. and the Model African Union, Harris says he designed the Model Gary Student Convention years ago while teaching at Chicago State University and developed it as an active learning model for students. During the pandemic, he implemented the model with students at Seton Hall and then formed a steering committee within the last year to plan and recruit for this week's convention. He soon found a strong supporter and collaborator in TJ Whitaker, a Columbia High School teacher and a co-founder of Maplewood-South Orange Freedom Schools.

The pair has organized volunteer teachers, advisors, and student delegations from six local schools: Science Park High School, Columbia High School, South Orange Middle School, Maplewood Middle School, East Orange Campus High School, East Orange STEM Academy, Sojourner Truth Middle School. A delegation of homeschooled students will also participate. Students will develop position papers and plan for the two-day Model Gary Convention from April 28 to May 1 at Seton Hall.

"One of the major partners we have is the Zinn Education Project. They've been super supportive of teachers in general, but they really wanted to come on board when they heard about us doing the Model Gary Convention. And they've done so in major ways. For example, through the Zinn Education Project, we were able to get in touch with Mr. Leroy Henderson, who was the photographer at the original gallery convention in 1972." said Whitaker. "And in speaking with him, he donated upwards of twenty photos that he took at the original convention for us to use at our convention," he said.  Other partners include Lush Cosmetics, The Amistad Commission, The State Teachers Union, the New Jersey Education Association, State NAACP, and Education for Liberation.

Since January, students from the Maplewood Middle School, East Orange STEM Academy, East Orange Campus High School, Columbia High School, and South Orange Middle School have worked in teams alongside their teachers and advisors on position papers discussing the following issues: politics, education, economics, health, information technology, internationalism, and the prison industrial complex. In what amounts to a controlled exercise in civics, students tackle political matters such as the reform or abolishment of police forces nationwide, economic debates about capitalism and Black liberation, or educational reforms to address white supremacy, slavery, and the genocide of Indigenous people. 

Students will present these arguments at this week's event and work with representatives from other schools to submit unified resolutions on which the General Assembly will vote. Finally, a chosen delegation from the Model Gary Convention will present their resolutions at the National Black Power Convention in Newark in August. 

Organizers aim for participating students will sharpen their leadership, public speaking, writing, research, and conflict resolution skills by researching and debating issues important to African American communities and the African diaspora.

Ideally, Harris said students should recognize their "responsibility to be engaged citizens, but also see themselves as leaders. A leader isn't just someone speaking at the microphone, and leadership comes in many different shapes, sizes, and roles. And part of developing leadership skills is studying understanding public policy, understanding the issues, and forming analysis and an opinion of issues."

Most importantly, "we want students to begin to understand the importance of it, and the importance of their voice, and that they have the capability right now to tackle tough issues, try to understand them, and have their own voice. They don't have to wait until they go to college or graduate college or become full-grown adults. So we want to get them in the habit of identifying problems and trying to solve them."

Everyone involved stands to benefit, said Harris, from the teachers who may be reminded of the need to teach Africana Studies and help make academic careers, particularly in this area, more accessible to students. As for the community members in attendance, he added that witnessing the model convention will underscore "why it's important to have these types of active learning models for students, why it's important to engage them on issues of primary concern to Black and Brown communities."

Theresa Maughn of the East Orange STEM Academy believes the students are excited about interacting with others beyond their school, especially after being remote for so long. She noted the importance of students "connecting [their] learning beyond the classroom walls and into the community." She added that in having these conversations, they will be empowered and know that "when there are important issues that need to be addressed, they can impact it and make a difference."

"Although I started to model this effort, it's working because of all the people who've worked with me, particularly TJ Whittaker. We wouldn't be having this convention here with [middle and] high school students if it wasn't for TJ Whitaker and the work that he's done. So he deserves a lot of credit. And the faculty advisors, in particular Teresa Law and Tracy Prince, have been very instrumental in helping us develop this along with others," said Harris.

Prince looks forward to how the caucusing will play out and how it can "create a new generation of civic minded students who…start to pick up [the] torch and carry it into the future." As for those in attendance, she hopes it motivates them to spread the word about the Model Gary and encourage other schools and teachers to become facilitators or coaches in preparation for the next convention. 

Harris and Whitaker are thankful to all the volunteers, from teachers to Seton Hall students who'll staff the event; and for support from Seton Hall University's College of Arts and Sciences. Building on this year's progress, they aim to host a more robust conference next year, with more participants from across the state.

"We're expecting approximately 70 plus students, which is a good number. We hope to get even more, ultimately,” said Harris. "Generally, when you do model conventions like this, they're held in hotels; students get to stay overnight. So we hope that we can generate support and funding for that effort."

"It's been a really collaborative effort, and we look forward to just improving on it. This is just the inaugural model Gary convention, but we think that it'd be important to continue to do this annually for students," said Harris.

"Right now, they're committing themselves beyond just going to a meeting to study and develop their own organizing capacity to change policy," said Whitaker. "It's one thing to go to conferences or conventions, and it's one thing to go to rallies and one-off events. As a teacher organizer, what I hope for most is that events and programs impact students in a way that moves them to organizing actions.

Fatimah Toure and Esther Paul contributed to this article.