The 40th annual conference of the National Council for Black Studies marks a historic occasion, with a theme of “Forty Years of Black Studies in the Local, National and Global Spaces: Past Accomplishments and New Directions.” Scheduled from March 16-19, 2016, the conference celebrates an organization that found its beginnings at UNC Charlotte.
This year’s conference, hosted by the Department of Africana Studies in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at UNC Charlotte, is historic not only for the Council, but also for UNC Charlotte and the city of Charlotte. The idea of the Council as a professional organization found its beginnings at UNC Charlotte through the initiatives of faculty, staff, and students led by Bertha Maxwell-Roddey, the first chair of Africana Studies at UNC Charlotte.
The university hosted the first planning meeting for the creation of the Council between March 18 and 21, 1975. On July 18 of that year, the Council was created and Maxwell-Roddey was appointed its first chair.
The 2016 conference at the Omni Hotel, 132 E Trade St, Charlotte, is therefore a homecoming for the organization. More than 400 presentations are scheduled for the three-day event, focused will on wide-ranging topics: social justice and equity, black aesthetics and African civilization, pedagogy of black experience in the critical liberal arts education, ethical humanism and globalization, social policy and social activism, as well as human rights and the global black lives in the 21st century.
The highlights of the conference include a plenary session on UNC Charlotte’s leadership roles in the development of Black Studies as an academic discipline; a keynote by legendary Black Arts Movement scholar Sonia Sanchez; a public forum with Mecklenburg County Commissioners titled “Blacks in Focus”; special sessions on the history and culture of Africa; and a professional development workshop for Charlotte area schoolteachers and administrators on poverty and academic achievement.
Trevor M. Fuller, chairman of the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners, and Mayor Jennifer Roberts will bring greetings to the conference.
UNC Charlotte and the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture are the institutional sponsors of the 2016 National Council for Black Studies Conference. The UNC Charlotte unit co-sponsors are: Chancellor’s Diversity Challenge Fund, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, College of Education, Honors College, J. Murrey Atkins Library, and the Office of the Chancellor. Others are: American Studies Program, Charlotte Teachers Institute, Department of Anthropology, Department of Communication Studies, Department of Dance, Department of English, Department of History, Department of Religious Studies, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Department of Philosophy, Department of Psychology, Multicultural Academic Services, Multicultural Resource Center, Office of Educational Outreach, and the Public Policy Program.
The conference is open and free to UNC Charlotte faculty, staff, and students. Registration is required for attendees who are not affiliated with UNC Charlotte. This can be completed online.
For more informtion, contact Akin Ogundiran (ogundiran@uncc.edu) or Gregory Mixon (gmixon@uncc.edu), co-chairs of the “NCBS at 40 Local Planning Committee,” 704-687-5161 or at www.africana.uncc.edu.
Photo of Bertha Maxwell-Roddey by Lynn Roberson
