We are excited to kick off celebrating Black History Month with this spotlight of one of our esteemed alums, Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman! Congratulations to Anna Gifty on publishing her new book: The Black Agenda: Bold Solutions For a Broken System. Anna Gifty was in our first Lower School graduating class of 2007 and the first African-American Lower School student to graduate from SJPDS. Anna gifted SJPDS a copy of the book inside of which she wrote this lovely dedication: "To the school community that believed in me before I even knew to believe in myself. Thank you for teaching me to love learning."
Apart from being an SJPDS alumna, Anna Gifty is a researcher, writer, science communicator, and activist. Her work has been featured in Teen Vogue, The New York Times, Slate Magazine, NPR, Fortune, Marketplace, and The Guardian. She is the co-founder of The Sadie Collective, the only nonprofit organization addressing the lack of Black women in economics and related fields. In 2020, she became the youngest recipient of the CEDAW Women's Rights Award by the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
Anna Gifty's new book is a collection bringing together leading Black scholars and experts for a policy-oriented approach to the fight for racial justice in America. The book features Black voices across economics, education, health, climate, and technology, speaking to the question "What's next?" as it pertains to centering Black people in policy matters in our country.
The book went on sale on February 1st and is available wherever books are sold. For more information about the book, visit www.blackagendabook.com.
We are so proud of Anna Gifty and wish her much continued success! Go Bears!