University to host National Council for Black Studies 40th conference

The UNC Charlotte Africana Studies Department will host the 40th annual conference of the National Council for Black Studies (NCBS) from Thursday, March 17, through Saturday, March 19, at the Omni Hotel. The 2016 theme is “Forty Years of Black Studies in the Local, National and Global Spaces: Past Accomplishments and New Directions.”

This year’s conference is historic for NCBS as well as for the University and the city of Charlotte. The idea of NCBS as a professional organization developed at UNC Charlotte through the initiatives of faculty, staff and students led by Bertha Maxwell-Roddey, the first chair of Africana studies. The University hosted the initial planning meeting for the council’s creation in March 1975. Later that year, on July 18, NCBS was formed, and Maxwell-Roddey was appointed its first chair.

The 2016 conference is a homecoming for NCBS. More than 400 presentations are scheduled for the three-day event. They will focus 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.

Conference highlights will 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 on poverty and academic achievement for Charlotte-area schoolteachers and administrators.

Trevor Fuller, chairman of the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners, and Mayor Jennifer Roberts will bring greetings to the conference.

UNC Charlotte and the Harvey Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture are the institutional sponsors of the 2016 National Council for Black Studies conference.

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 co-sponsors 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.