Recently, Howard University hosted a symposium entitled, “We Center Blackness: Howard, Diversity, and Diaspora” featuring expert speakers from fields such as law, medicine, history, and politics, per a release by Howard-based publication The Dig.
The symposium, held in Founders Library, acted as a way to welcome and introduce the university's new president, Ben Vinson III, Ph.D. to students, faculty, and alumni.
The university described the event as a “symposium that featured an interdisciplinary group of faculty to share their knowledge about Howard’s impact on Africa and those who represent the African diaspora, as well as the University’s prominent role in addressing racial disparities globally.”
Speakers such as John Hope Franklin, Eric Williams, and Cain Hope Felder were just some of the esteemed guests who led the panel discussion. Gay L Byron, a professor at Howard, shared “It was Dr. Felder who convened a conference here in 1991 called the ‘Stoning the Road We Trod Conference' that was held at the School of Divinity. No place else in the country could do this type of convening of scholars to talk about what it means to read the bible from our perspective, our experiences, our land, our culture, and honor who we are. So often we are working in isolation from one another. Having a place like Howard makes a difference for the sense of community and sense of home.”
The symposium brought people across the nation together to celebrate Howard's long-lasting community and contributions to the world of Black academia. Williams stated, “I think the forum was very successful in ways that we planned and predicted and in surprising ways at the same time. It was really important for us to have a balance of gender, racial, and ethnic diversity and to feature faculty of different sexual orientations and perspectives who worked across disciplines.”
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