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Symposia & Panels
“Policing Alternatives in Baltimore: Panel and Town Hall Meeting”
This program featured leaders of progressive political and social organizations serving Baltimore’s neediest communities, who are pioneering innovative solutions to unemployment, mass incarceration, criminal justice reform and youth violence.
"Black Museology Now! Telos, Ethos, Insurgency”
Africana curators and museum professionals are redefining the traditional aims and methods of museological knowledge production. In this state-of-the-field roundtable, experienced thought leaders doing cutting edge work in history centers, art galleries, community museums, public archives, and commemoration sites commented on the philosophy, strategies, political frames, and epistemes that guide how and why they curate Africana experience. Collectively, panelists considered what "black museology" suggests as a critical intellectual and liberatory practice that can be applied within museums and across a variety of exhibition locations and sites of congregation.
“Transnational Atlanta: Exploring Diasporic Regional Geographies”
When we layer our definition of metropolitan Atlanta – from a political territory of cities and counties to a spatialized nexus of black diasporic networks – what new terrains come into view? This roundtable explored metro Atlanta’s black cultural cartography by invoking diasporic histories and conceptual frames that center the place-making experiences and knowledge of "traditional", "queer/quare" and "transnational" African diasporic communities in Atlanta. Read the accompanying essay here.
“Becoming American: New Scholarship on Immigration”
From understanding contemporary migration patterns to the United States (including the Latinx, Asian and African Diasporas) to understanding how current debates over immigration can change political identities and voting behavior, this program explored the diversity of contemporary US immigration and how it is politicized.
This program explored black women's cultural and spiritual heritage work across two African diaspora locations: Alabama, USA and Bahia, Brazil. Focusing on the varied uses of textile-based arts in Africana sacred ritual and ancestral communication, the conversation featured master quilters from Gee's Bend, Alabama, and Elders from the Terreiro do Cobre Candomblé Community in Bahia, Brazil.
“The Past, Present, and Possible Futures of Atlanta Studies: Re-Centering the Legacy of W.E.B. DuBois”
This roundtable explored the origins and current state of the field of Atlanta Studies. With a particular focus on the questions and conditions shaping the study of Black Atlanta, this panel engaged local scholars and other community voices to assess present and future pathways for research and teaching on race, blackness, and equity issues in Atlanta.
“Still the Black Mecca? Race, Social Inequality, and Urban Displacement in 21st-Century Atlanta”
This full-day public symposium addressed the status of racial equity in Atlanta. Three goals were at the center: (1) to showcase research initiatives of area universities concerning the vectors of structural racism in the greater metropolitan area; (2) to critically examine and uplift political, cultural, and economic solutions with viable potential to advance racial justice locally; and (3) to connect local and national scholar-activists, academics, grassroots leaders, policy-makers, and students as collaborators in justice-oriented transformation.
“Reflections on the Black Panther Party at 50: Elaine Brown with Beverly Guy-Sheftall”
This one-on-one dialogue reflected on the Party’s legacy in ongoing struggles for racial justice, and honored black women’s leadership in the black power movement.