Feb. 24, 1 p.m. — In 1970, ΢²ªÊÓƵ psychology Professor Robert Sommer created Blacks & Whites, a socially conscious Monopoly-style game intended to teach the realities of race in America. Fifty years later, two comedians have produced an updated version of the game. Sommer died in 2021, and the ΢²ªÊÓƵ Library has now collected his papers and early drafts of the game.
This Thursday on ΢²ªÊÓƵ LIVE, hear about the history of Blacks & Whites, the updated version and the intersection of board games and racial justice.
Our guests:
- Kevin Miller is head of archives and Special Collections and university archivist at ΢²ªÊÓƵ Shields Library. He coordinates the long-term preservation and access of ΢²ªÊÓƵ faculty research assets and university records of enduring historical value.
- Nehemiah Markos and Jed Feiman are writers and comedians based in New York, forming the comedy duo Never Sad. They are the creators of an updated version of Blacks & Whites.
- Jorge Peña is an associate professor in the ΢²ªÊÓƵ Department of Communication. Among other topics, he studies communication in video games and virtual environments, and content analysis of online communication. He is currently vice chair of the Game Studies Division at the National Communication Association.
The conversation, hosted by Soterios Johnson, will be streamed live on and beginning at 1 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 24.
Questions can be submitted via Facebook and Twitter either in advance or during the show.
Media Resources
Media Contact:
- Andy Fell, News and Media Relations, 530-304-8888, ahfell@ucdavis.edu