The Color of Justice (Grades 9-12)
The historic quest to recreate the color blue invites us to wrestle with complicated questions of global justice. For example, indigo was a major pillar of West African economies and was in such demand globally that it was eventually used to buy and sell Africans into slavery around the world. Indigo was branded “devil’s dye” in Scotland and made illegal for a time because Scottish producers of woad dye were losing money since woad was considered inferior to indigo. It became affordable to the masses after the chemist Adolf von Baeyer created a chemical version of indigo, yet its availability undermined indigo economies in places like Nigeria and India while making traditional artisan techniques of creating the dye less practical and causing many of these traditions to be lost. Today, learning what we have from those who came before us, what are the pros and cons of focusing on justice in our communities and country even if it’s at the expense of others? What are some ways we can balance the needs and interests of all?
- This event has passed.
