Black Collections Symposium

The Community-Driven Archives (CDA) Initiative's third annual Black Collections Symposium took place on Oct. 17 at Hayden Library and Oct. 19 at Burton Barr Public Library. The theme of the 2024 symposium was the "Legacy and Future of Black Student Activism" and the event was free and open to ASU students, staff, faculty and community members.

Many of the sessions were recorded and are now available to view online.

ASU Library’s Black Collections, a new archival repository within the Community-Driven Archives (CDA) Initiative, is committed to empowering and centering the lived experiences and knowledge of Black and African American communities who are breaking cycles of erasure. 

Image credit: The Dunbar Social and Literary club, Sahauro Yearbook, 1940. LD 179.47 .S3 1972 University Archives, ASU Library.  

Presentations at Hayden Library 

Welcome Remarks

MDT (Music, Dance, and Theatre) Liberation Coalition: Developing and Performing an Equity Coalition for BIPOC Students in Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (HIDA)
 

Like many other institutions nationwide, arts colleges in the United States need equitable leadership frameworks that center Black and Brown students. This panel discusses how 30 to 40 ASU students and alumni activists from ASU Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (HIDA) formed the MDT (Music, Dance, and Theatre) Liberation Coalition to respond to that demand. In this panel session, four members of the MDT Liberation Coalition reflect on their experiences as students advocating on behalf of Black students in HIDA following the murder of George Floyd during the height of the Black Lives Matter Movement. This presentation explores how Dontá McGilvery formed the Coalition, the methods employed by the Coalition, and the goals and strategies, challenges and successes they experienced in their advocacy efforts from the summer of 2020 to early 2022.

Moderator: Donta McGilvery
Jisun Myung
Olivia Herneddo
Ri Lindegren 
 

South Phoenix: A Different Portrayal

Video recording

South Phoenix has been a hub for significant civil rights activism. Unfortunately, this rich history is overshadowed by news outlets that have shaped and perpetuated a negative image of the community. Through the use of oral histories we seek to challenge this negative portrayal, aiming to historicize and recover narratives to challenge contemporary ones, and, more importantly, reclaim Black spaces in Arizona.

Arturo Perez Lopez
Dr. Summer Cherland 
Moderator: Jessica Salow 
 

Keynote: Organizing in the Black Tradition: Imagination, Liberation, and Archives 

Video recording

What is organizing in the Black Tradition and what role do archives play in documenting student activist movements that capture our imagination for what is possible in a liberated future.

Lae’l Hughes-Watkins is the Associate Director for Engagement, Inclusion, and Reparative Archiving in Special Collections and University Archives at the University of Maryland. She is the creator of the reparative archive framework, an educator, and an advocate for social justice, equity, and inclusive archives. She is the founder of Project STAND. 

Black Collections Remarks (during lunch)

Reclaiming Black Spaces in Arizona 

Video recording

There is a growing interest in recognizing, interpreting and celebrating Black history in Arizona. Communities, institutions, organizations, and individuals have been working hard to collect archival materials, preserve historic sites and conduct oral histories to tell the rich, complex, and sometimes tragic, stories of Black history in Arizona. This session aims to facilitate a roundtable discussion to identify Arizona’s many Black collections and sites, their stewards, curators and champions, as well as the opportunities and challenges they face, with the goal of creating a consortium focused on collectively advancing Black history in Arizona.

Moderator: R. Brooks Jeffery
Margaret Hangan
Freda Marshall

 

Black on Route 66: Community Archives, Historic Preservation, and Black Pedagogies on the Plateau

Video recording

On the plateau, community-based organizing has encouraged institutional commitments to ethnic studies in higher education. These efforts have helped sustain local Black history through public art installations and historic preservation projects. But Black studies, as a discipline, produces scholarship that requires pedagogical innovation to help illuminate hidden local histories to college students and community members. This panel explores the synergies between activism, preservation and Black Studies in Northern Arizona.

Anthony Pratcher 
Dr. Tadzia Dennis 
L. Greg McAllister
Moderator: Jessica Salow
 

Burton Barr Central Library, Pulliam Auditorium

Welcome Remarks

Crafting Battle Songs: An Interactive Experience with Courageous Conversations LLC Workshop

Crafting Battle Songs is an engaging workshop hosted by Taelor Bishop, South Mountain Community College Student and COO of Courageous Conversations LLC and our nonprofit, the National Black Leadership Summit. This session will spotlight how we support the Black community in expressing themselves through various avenues including activism, fashion, STEM and the arts. Our focus will be on helping participants create a personal album and playlist that reflects their lives and aspirations, with an emphasis on developing what we call "battle songs" for their activism.

Taelor Bishop
 

Black Family Legacy In Arizona 

A discussion on discovering family roots, as Black Arizonans unpack what was created and what was left after the migration West.

Shantia Estes
Todd Bailey
Rosalind Matthews

Community Conversation: The preservation of Black History in the Southwest and the importance of coalition building to facilitate preservation and storytelling across Arizona

Facilitators: Jessica Salow and Margaret Hangan