About Racism Untaught
We facilitate workshops with partners in academia, industry, and community to facilitate people in identifying, analyzing, and re-imagining forms of Racialized Design – design that perpetuates elements of racism. Racism Untaught was developed due to an identified gap and opportunity to foster conversations and learning environments focused on the development of anti-racist and anti-oppressive designs.
Meet Our Team
This work is co-developed by Terresa Moses and Lisa Mercer. Our team has since expanded with facilitators of the toolkit, Billie Conaway and Angelica Sibrian. Please reach out to us with any questions.
Terresa Moses (she/her) is a proud Black queer woman dedicated to the liberation of Black and brown people through art and design. Terresa is an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at the University of Minnesota’s College of Design (CDes) and the Director of the CDes Design Justice Network. She is also the Creative Director at Blackbird Revolt, a social justice-based design studio. Her design research interests include; Project Naptural, which creates spaces to educate, connect, and empower Black women about their natural hair and self-identity, and Racism Untaught.
Personal Narrative: I identify as a Black Queer Cisgender Woman. I’m an army brat born in Panama City, Panama and I am proud of my heritage and cultural upbringing.
Lisa Mercer (she/her) is an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design and Design for Responsible Innovation for the School of Art and Design, at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.Her research interests are in developing and executing design interventions that responsibly fuel and sustain responsible design for social impact. Her work has been integrated into academic, industry, and community settings. The developed frameworks and tools are meant to create a space for conversation and knowledge exchange where participants can actively collaborate in the creation of new ideas and solutions. This type of methodology is evident in all of her major projects
Personal Narrative: I identify as a person of color and mixed-race, my ethnicity is Mexican, cisgender woman. When I was growing up I was always proud of being mixed-race and my family.
Billie Conaway (she/her) is a Montessorian who has dedicated her practices in education to social justice, culturally responsive pedagogies, elevating the voices of the Global Majority and dismantling systems of oppression. She is a workshop facilitator and project manager with Racism Untaught and Blackbird Revolt. She has an equal passion for advocacy for anti-racist education and recently graduated from the Wilder Foundation Community Equity Program. She has organized many large scale events with and for the community, all rooted in joy and liberation.
Personal Narrative: I identify as a Black, Queer, Cisgender woman. I am proud of my upbringing, being taught to always care for my community has brought me a lot of love, joy and beautiful experiences.
Angelica Sibrian (she/her) is a designer, educator and researcher interested in people-centered design. She earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Design from the University of Texas at Austin in August 2016. Her design practice is rooted in the belief that design can affect change. Her current research focused on the marginalization and underrepresentation of Latinas in higher education. This interdisciplinary investigation sparked an object-making workshop which was designed to empower Latinas to persevere in higher education. The project drew methods and theories from education, sociology, psychology and design.
Meet Our Advisory Team
We appreciate support and feedback from our advisory team!
Heidi Bakk-Hansen
Historian, Researcher, & Organizer
Dr. Jeanine Weekes Schroer
Philosopher & Race Theorist
University of Minnesota, Duluth
Dr. Gioconda Guerra Pérez
Assistant Vice Chancellor for Diversity
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Jennifer White-Johnson
Art Activist, Designer, & Educator
Dr. Paula Pedersen
Inclusive Excellence
University of Minnesota, Duluth