14th Annual Black New England Conference:
BLACK WOMEN ROCK:
Leading the Charge for Social and Political Change
A Virtual Conference
September 25 and 26, 2020
Conference Registration
We want to ensure that this conference is available to all who are interested in attending. Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, we are able to reduce the registration fee and offer a number of complimentary tickets and student scholarships to attendees. Please inquire at info@box2307.temp.domains or call 603-570-8469 for more information.
Download 2020 BNEC Program Booklet PDF
Download 2020 BNEC Playlist PDF
Conference Schedule
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2020
Available Throughout the Conference
VIRTUAL TOUR – Concord, NH
THE UNBRIDLED TRUTH: BLACK HISTORY IN CONCORD, NH
Sankofa Scholar: David Watters and Rev. Robert Thompson With Special Guest Melanie Levesque
Concord’s history reveals complex connections with displaced and enslaved African and Indigenous people of the Atlantic and Caribbean colonies. People of color served in the Revolutionary War and would play significant roles in the new state capital as military honor guards, musicians and caterers during musters and Election Day festivities. This tour includes a site where native people attacked the early settlers’ garrison, stories of enslaved Black construction and agricultural workers, and free craftspeople. Hear how anti-abolitionist President Pierce opposed anti-slavery leaders like John Parker Hale and Frederick Douglass, frequent guests on the local speakers’ circuit. To acknowledge unmarked graves of unidentified enslaved and free people of color, we will see North Cemetery and the potter’s field of the Asylum for the Insane. Our tour ends at the gravesite of Mel Bolden, a twentieth-century African American civil rights activist, artist and illustrator, well known for his portrait of Christa McAuliffe.
The tour will conclude with a conversation with African American state legislators.
8:45 AM
WEBINAR WAITING ROOM OPENS (VIDEO & OPENING REMARKS)
9:00-10:30 AM
PANEL 1, BLACK WOMEN AS PURVEYORS OF CHANGE
“I find, by close observation, that the mothers are the levers which move in education. The men talk about it . . . but the women work most for it.” –Frances Harper
From 19th century trailblazer and suffragist Sojourner Truth declaring “Ain’t I a woman?” to Fannie Lou Hamer registering Black Mississippians to vote during the Civil Rights Era, to the current global movement for Black Lives–Black women have always been at the forefront of social and political change. Black feminist leaders have a long legacy of advocating from within and agitating from outside entrenched systems, employing a diversity of tactics and approaches–including popular music–to convey messages of dignity and human rights that systems of racism and sexism deny them. Too often Black feminist contributions are overshadowed or presented in one-dimensional fashion. Panelists will excavate and explore Black feminism’s historical contributions to America’s struggle, progress, and potential.
PANELISTS
L’Merchie Frazier, Director of Education & Interpretation, Museum of African American History, Boston, MA
No Rights Which The Laws Would Acknowledge
Elizabeth Salas Evans, Southern New Hampshire University, Manchester, NH
Phyllis Ann Wallace: A Black Woman’s Labor
John Berst, Independent Scholar, Durham, NH
Strange Fruit, Stormy Weather, and the National Anthem: Black Women Entertainers/Activists Change the World
Moderator:
Dottie Morris, Associate Vice President for Institutional Diversity & Equity, Keene State College, Keene, NH
10:30 AM
VIDEO PRESENTATION
Featuring NH Activists, Jaden Smith & Claudette Williams
10:45 AM-NOON
PANEL 2, BODY POLITICS & MOVEMENTS TOWARDS THE SACRED
“The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.” –Audre Lorde
Oppression of Black women in the United States is and always has been enforced on physical and emotional planes, and so these same women’s resistance necessarily engages both body and spirit to move toward liberation. Panelists share their lived experience and critical analysis of how Black women’s bodies move in, through, and beyond spaces delineated by white male dominance. And they explore the ways movement, ritual, and spiritual practices sustain Black women. To resist a culture so deeply entrenched in racism and misogyny, Black women connect to ancestors and powerful legacies of creativity and resistance.
PANELISTS
Courtney Marshall, Instructor in English, Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, NH
“If You Can’t Run, Then Walk”: Girl Trek and Black Women’s Fitness Activism
Karen DeAnn Dorough-Adams, Ed.S., Retired Assistant Special Agent, Drug Enforcement Administration, Washington, DC
Secrets of my Success as an Executive in Federal Law Enforcement
Loretta Bradey, St Anslem College, Manchester, NH
Black Women Who Rock: Employing Womanist Oriented Leadership Strategies
Moderator:
Kabria Baumgartner, Assistant Professor English Department, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH
12:15 PM
VIDEO PRESENTATION
Featuring NH Activists, Latonya Wallace & Performance by Layne Davis
12:30 PM
LUNCHTIME KEYNOTE ADDRESS FEATURING SHERYL LEE RALPH
Divinely Inspired Victorious Activism!
The Black woman…A supernatural force – proven by 400 years of enslavement, back-breaking work, inequality, misogyny, inequity, and sexism; and yet still found ways to smile, to create, to rise, and to raise children and still give them hope! Our voice changes atmospheres, gives life to the world, and calls for change. The DIVA: Divinely Inspired, Victorious Activist Sheryl Lee Ralph shares her journey of using her platform to raise her voice and fight the good fight!
1:22 PM
VIDEO PRESENTATION
Featuring NH Activist, Jackie Weatherspoon
1:30-3:00 PM
PANEL 3, BLACK WOMEN’S PRESENT-DAY LEADERSHIP & ACTIVISM
“One had better die fighting against injustice than die like a dog or a rat in a trap”― Ida B. Wells
Black women’s leadership and activism today deeply engage the framework of intersectionality originally put forth by the Combahee River Collective in the late 1970s. Widespread criminalization of Black Americans– with Black women the fastest growing prison population in the country–makes the criminal legal system a natural place for Black women’s leadership and activism to bloom. Panelists discuss Black woman-led projects that foster leadership and fellowship among those who experience criminalization, providing real-life models of Black women’s leadership and activism.
PANELISTS
Erin Corbett, Co-Founder and CEO, Second Chance Educational Alliance, Hartford, CT
“I didn’t have to be thrown away.”
Breea Willingham, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, State University of New York, NY
Bahiyyah Muhammad, Assistant Professor of Criminology, Howard University, Washington, DC
Chaquanzha Stephenson, founder of DOPE INC. (Don’t Oppress People, Educate!), a youth advocacy and empowerment organization.
Moderator:
Lowell Matthews, Organizational Leadership, Southern New Hampshire University, Manchester, NH
6:30 – 8:00 PM
EVENING KEYNOTE ADDRESS FEATURING
SUSAN TAYLOR
“Black Women; Fierce Angels”
The power and strong voices of Black women over the centuries cannot be overstated. From the warrior women in African nations, to those who defied their enslavers throughout the Americas and Diaspora, resistance and advancement is a proud legacy of Black women. It is time for that history to be known.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2020
8:45 AM
WEBINAR WAITING ROOM OPENS (VIDEO & OPEN REMARKS)
9:00-10:15 AM
PANEL 4, ART SPEAKS: ACTIVISM THROUGH THE CREATIVE
“I’ll tell you what Freedom is to me. No fear.” ―Nina Simone
Black women’s artistic expression has been foundational to all movements for social justice and uplift. Our society confronts Black women with racism, colorism, hyper-sexualization, caricature, stereotyping, and erasure. Yet Black women’s creative culture remains the most copied and least credited in mainstream media and discourse. This panel explores ways Black women artists make their truths seen, felt, and heard.
PANELISTS
Cashawn Thompson, Creator Black Girl Magic, Washington, DC
What I Know of Womanhood.
Dorothy Clark, Editor Historic New England, Boston, MA
360 Degrees of Power: Centering Sister Souljah’s Sphere of Change
Karen McLean Dade, Professor of Secondary Education, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA
Black Women Activism through the Lens of Critical Art Pedagogy
Moderator:
Shari Robinson, Director Psychological and Counseling Services, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH
10:25 AM
VIDEO PRESENTATION
Featuring NH Activist, Samantha Searles
10:30-11:45 AM
PANEL 5, FIRED UP & READY TO GO: BLACK WOMEN AND ELECTORAL POLITICS
“If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” –Shirley Chisholm
Electoral politics remain a powerful avenue for change in U.S. society and an arena where Black women are vastly underrepresented. Today Black women are running for elected seats at municipal, state, and national levels in higher numbers than ever before. Once elected, Black women carry forward the hopes and expectations of entire communities, while also facing extreme public scrutiny. This panel showcases Black women leaders currently holding elected office, as they speak to us from inside the world of representative democracy.
PANELISTS
Andrea Jenkins, City Councilor, Minneapolis, MN, (SNHU Alum, ’02 G)
Pat Spearman, Nevada State Senator, North Las Vegas, NV
Kiah Morris, Former Vermont State Senator, Bennington, VT
Moderator:
Melanie Levesque, New Hampshire State Senate, Concord, NH, ( SNHU Alum, ’02 MBA)
11:45 AM
VIDEO PRESENTATION
Featuring NH Activist, Yvonne Goldsberry
11:55 AM
LIVE MUSICAL PRESENTATION
Featuring, Rev. Robert Thompson
NOON-1:00 PM
LUNCHTIME KEYNOTE ADDRESS FEATURING
CONGRESSWOMAN AYANNA PRESSLEY
“Legislative Healing, Protecting Black Joy”
12:45 PM
VIDEO PRESENTATION
“My Crown,” Featuring NH Hair Stylist, Kettia Fenestor
Featuring NH Activist, Royaline Edwards
1:15-2:30 PM
PANEL 6, MOVING IT FORWARD: THE NEXT GENERATION OF BLACK FEMALE ACTIVISTS
Young Black women activists and leaders of today inherit a rich legacy of struggle, innovation, and pioneering thought from generations of courageous Black women who came before them. Today’s leaders also face unprecedented challenges of climate change, a global pandemic amidst a globalized economy, and massive student loan debt–as well as opportunities, including a groundswell of support for defunding police and abolishing prison systems that disproportionately harm Black Americans. During this panel, we hear reflections on activism from young Black women advancing environmental, racial, and gender justice in the midst of widespread political, social, and economic upheaval.
PANELISTS
Ronelle Tshiela, Black Lives Matter, Manchester, NH
Tanisha Johnson, Black Lives Matter Seacoast, Portsmouth, NH
Julian Maduro, University of New Hampshire, Durham
Sonja Moffett, University of Southern New Hampshire, Manchester
Moderator:
Victoria Adewumi, Board Member, Organization for Refugee, and Immigrant Success (ORIS)
2:35 PM
CLOSING EVENT “CELEBRATING MOVEMENT & VOICE”
Spoken Word Poetry by Kiah Morris
Dance Performance by Bring It Dance Team
“Quarantine Soul” by Andrea Jenkins
Conference Closing Remarks by JerriAnne Boggis
