Alumni

Afro-American Studies Well-Represented at National Black Studies Conference

From left, Professors Amilcar Shabazz and John H. Bracey, Jr. with Kwanzaa founder Maulana Karenga of California State University, Long Beach; civil rights activist Muhammad Ahmad, founder of the Revolutionary Action Movement, and Juliana Goes, graduate student in sociology and the African diaspora certificate program.
From left, Professors Amilcar Shabazz and John H. Bracey, Jr. with Kwanzaa founder Maulana Karenga of California State University, Long Beach; civil rights activist Muhammad Ahmad, founder of the Revolutionary Action Movement, and Juliana Goes, graduate student in sociology and the African diaspora certificate program.

Nine faculty and students from the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies, along with several alumni, took part in the 42nd annual conference of the National Council for Black Studies (NCBS) held March 14-17 in Atlanta.

Faculty members John H. Bracey, Jr., Agustin Lao-Montes, Amilcar Shabazz and Demetria Shabazz were joined by graduate students Evan Howard Ashford, Candace S. King, Juliana Morais de Goes, Yelana Sims and Cecile Yezou.

Also attending were five alumni of the department’s Ph.D. program: H. Zahra Caldwell of Westfield State University, Stephanie Y. Evans of Clark Atlanta University, Chris Tinson of Hampshire College, Jonathan Fenderson of Washington University in St. Louis and Jamal Watson of Diverse Magazine.

The scholars participated in academic paper sessions, roundtable discussions and plenaries.

Department chair Amilcar Shabazz served as the vice president and chair of this year’s conference committee. Demetria Shabazz was a member of the conference committee that helped review hundreds of submissions and organized the program.

NCBS is the premier professional organization of Africana studies scholars in the world and was founded in 1975. UMass Amherst was the host site of the 2nd annual conference when John Bracey was in his first term as department head. Chet Davis, a former faculty member who recently died, was an active member of the council for many years.