SIUE to Host Black Lives Matter Conference Jan. 20
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville will host “Black Lives Matter – Inside the Movement” Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016, in the Morris University Center Conference Center. The SIUE Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion will present the event.
“Our goal is to provide an educational morning that will provide insight to understanding the Black Lives Matter movement,” said Venessa Brown, PhD and SIUE associate chancellor.
Jessica C. Harris, PhD and an assistant professor of historical studies in the SIUE College of Arts and Sciences, will deliver the opening keynote address.
Harris earned a bachelor’s in history from Dillard University in New Orleans and completed her graduate work at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. She specializes in 20th century African American history, with a particular interest in the long black freedom struggle and the contributions of black women. Her current research examines the activism of black women in Oakland, Calif.’s civil rights struggle in the decades preceding World War II.
Brown will welcome attendees at 8 a.m., followed by remarks from SIUE Interim Chancellor Stephen Hansen. The morning will include a student panel discussing what the movement means to them.
Anthony Cheeseboro, PhD and an associate professor of historical studies in SIUE’s College of Arts and Sciences, will moderate a faculty, staff, community panel. Cheeseboro will provide closing remarks about the future of the movement.
Free registration begins at 7:30 a.m. with a continental breakfast included. Register by Tuesday, Jan. 12 at siue.edu/blm2016.
The annual MLK Luncheon follows at 11:30 a.m. Rev. Tracy Blackmon, of Florissant, is the featured speaker. Separate registration is required, and the cost is $25. Call 618-650-3210 to register.
