Date: Friday, January 30, 2026
Time: 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Pacifica Christian High School – 20th Street Seminar Room
Lyceum Student Seminar
This honors seminar explores two of the most influential African American leaders at the turn of the 20th century. Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois offered competing yet complementary visions for how newly emancipated Black Americans might achieve freedom, dignity, and equality in the decades after Reconstruction. Through close reading, discussion, and debate, students will analyze their philosophies, leadership styles, and legacies—examining how Washington’s emphasis on vocational training and accommodation contrasted with Du Bois’ call for political action and higher education for the “Talented Tenth.” The seminar invites students to wrestle with enduring questions of leadership, strategy, and social change in the face of deep injustice.
Attendance is by invite only.
Speaker: Jim Knight
Jim is the Head of School at Pacifica Christian High School. Previous to his work at Pacifica he was an award winning classroom teacher for 14 years and was the Executive Director of the Culver City Academy of Visual and Performing Arts. Mr. Knight was the Los Angeles County Teacher of the Year, the Culver City Unified School District Teacher of the Year, and the Culver City High School Teacher of the Year. He received is Masters Degree in American Studies from Pepperdine University, M.Ed from UCLA and Bachelors Degree in History from UCLA. He specialized in American foreign policy and civil rights. Mr. Knight enjoys the beach, his home away from home in the Swiss Alps, cooking, and all 37 Shakespeare plays. He and his wife Susan have four adult children all of whom attended Pacifica.