The Council of the Great City Schools will hold its 70th Annual Fall Conference, Oct. 21-25, in Boston, featuring journalist Jorge Ramos, the musical group Black Violin, and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin.

Ramos immigrated to the United States from Mexico as a student in 1983 and five years later, at age 28, became one of the youngest national news anchors ever. For 38 years, he anchored Univision's flagship evening news program “Noticiero Univision,” where he covered seven wars, and reported on numerous world events, including the fall of the Berlin Wall and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He is the recipient of 10 Emmy Awards.

Ramos’ weekly column is currently published on Substack and in more than 40 newspapers in the United States and Latin America. He hosts an internet-based news program, “Así Veo Las Cosas,” which recently received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding News Program in Spanish. The author of 15 books and bestsellers, Ramos is known for his efforts to promote literacy among Latinos. 

Black Violin features Kev Marcus on violin and Wil Baptiste on viola, who together merge string arrangements with modern beats and vocals. The two met in orchestra class in high school, received classical training in college, later won “Showtime at the Apollo” in  
2005, and sold out a two-night headline show at the Kennedy Center, among other successful appearances. They have produced five albums and been nominated for two Emmys.

Both musicians are graduates of Florida’s Broward County Public Schools, where they received a big boost from James Miles, their orchestra director at Dillard High School of the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale. Among other efforts, he bought Baptiste’s first viola and Marcus’s first violin. 

Paying it forward, the duo has performed at numerous schools for thousands of students over their careers. They have set up the nonprofit Black Violin Foundation to help young musicians “foster the creativity within themselves to bring their original takes on music to life.”

Howard Hepburn, superintendent of Broward County Public Schools, will moderate a conversation with Marcus and Baptiste at a luncheon on Thursday afternoon, Oct. 23. That evening, Black Violin will perform at the Excellence in Urban Education Awards Ceremony, where several awards will be presented, including the Green-Garner Award, honoring the nation’s top urban educator.

Goodwin is a Pulitzer Prize–winning historian famous for her knowledge of historic figures and events and their relevance to modern times. She is the author of "Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream" (1977), "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln" (2005), "No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II" (1994), and "Wait Till Next Year: A Memoir" (1997), featuring Goodwin and her family's love for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

The Council’s five-day conference will be held at the Boston Marriott Copley and hosted by Boston Public Schools.