University of Kentucky African American and Africana Studies (AAAS) and The Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies (CIBS) will host the 27th annual Black Women’s Conference from 10 a.m.-4:45 p.m. Friday, April 15. The conference will be on Zoom.

This theme this year is “Appalachian Mountains, Digital Valleys, and Everything in Between: Black Feminist Subjectivities.” Anastasia C. Curwood, director of AAAS and CIBS, will begin the conference by welcoming audiences and introducing the four topics that will be covered during the event.

“The experiences of Black women and girls have universal relevance in today’s world, which is why we continue to hold the Black Women’s Conference in its third decade,” Curwood said. “This year we will be exploring ideas about Black women’s humanity in southern and Appalachian life, the experience of girlhood and in online spaces.”

The sessions will include:

• “Covid, Clapbacks, and Curation: Blackness in the Digital Era,” led by Kim Gallon Ph.D., Regina Hamilton Ph.D. and Kishonna Gray Ph D. Nazera Wright will moderate the talk.
• “Appalachia Ain’t White: Locating Black Feminists in the Region,” led by Jillean McCommons Ph.D., and Crystal Wilkinson. Kishonna Gray will moderate the topic.
• “Reading Buy Black: An Author and Critics Conversation,” led by LaKisha Simmons Ph.D., Oneka LaBennett Ph.D., and Aria Halliday Ph.D. DaMaris Hill, Ph.D. will moderate the talk.
• “What Fast-Tailed Guhs Whisper Under the Blossoming Pear Tree,” led by Regina Bradley, Ph.D., the conference’s keynote speaker. Halliday will moderate the talk.

If interested in attending, you must register here. You will receive a confirmation email containing links to join the conference.

View the conference schedule here.

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