Black Studies at University of Illinois at Chicago

NEXT TUESDAY! Celebrate the fourth annual Accessible Juneteenth, hosted by the UIC DCC and Chicagoland Disabled People of Color Coalition! Join us for an afternoon of free food, games, giveaways, and an open mic. The theme of this year's celebration is "Black National Anthems," and the event will feature music from DJ Matt and performances of Domo Moons’ rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” For more information, visit the DCC's "Programs and Events" page on their website!

Date: June 18, 2024
Time: 4pm-7:30pm CST
Location: UIC Quad

ID: On a background of yellow and white diamonds the Disability and Human Development and Disability Cultural Center logo present the details of the Accessible Juneteenth 2024 event. On the right, white text on a strip of brown announces the performers, the free elements of food, vendors and the open mic and sign up link. On the left the date and time are captioned by the graphic symbols for closed captioning, ASL and masking indoors. At the bottom black text on a white background invites guests to view full details on the site link. At the bottom are over a dozen logos of sponsors listed in the program description.

Join us THIS WEEK for our annual Grace Holt Lecture on April 18th! We can't wait to see you all to celebrate our Black Studies community and honor our department founder, Dr. Grace Holt. Check out our calendar of events for everything we have planned this week, including several opportunities to meet our keynote speaker, Dr. Sami Schalk! Don't forget to RSVP: https://go.uic.edu/GRACEHOLT

NEXT THURSDAY! Join us for a Meet and Greet with our Grace Holt Lecture Keynote Speaker, Dr. Sami Schalk! The event will take place on Thursday, April 18th from 11am-12:30pm in 1250 UH. This event will be an informal gathering of peers, so we invite you to join us before the Grace Holt Celebration later that afternoon! Refreshments provided! Register here: https://blst.uic.edu/events/meet-and-greet-schalk/

Only TEN days until the 2024 Grace Holt Lecture and Celebration! Have you RSVP'd yet? If not, make sure to register here: go.uic.edu/GraceHolt See you there!

Pilsen Community Books invites you to their upcoming Book Discussion with Dr. Orisanmi Burton, author of "Tip of the Spear: Black Radicalism, Prison Repression, and the Long Attica Revolt." Dr. Burton will be joined by Damon Locks and Maryam Kashani as they discuss prison abolition and Black liberation. The event is April 9th at 7pm at Pilsen Community books (1102 W 18th St.) This event is co-sponsored by UIC Departments of Anthropology and Black Studies, as well as the SJI and IRRPP. Visit our website for more information. Hope to see you there!

Welcome back to our Grace Holt Weekly posts! The celebration is only 15 days away! We invite you to join either in person or online. If you haven't already, don't forget to register here: https://go.uic.edu/GraceHolt

Join the Black Cultural Center and Disability Cultural Center for a reading discussion of Dr. Sami Schalk's book: Black Disability Politics! The readings are available on the Grace Holt Event website - read what you can, and come as you are! Lunch will be provided, and the discussion will also include a giveaway of Dr. Shalk's book! This event is part of the 2024 Grace Holt Celebration; RSVP on the Grace Holt event page: https://blst.uic.edu/events/bttxdcc/

For week 5 of our Grace Holt Weekly Series, we invite you to Meet our Speaker! Dr. Sami Schalk is an Associate Professor in Gender and Women’s Studies at UW-Madison. Check out our calendar of events for opportunities to meet and hear from Dr. Schalk in just a few weeks!

Students: Don't forget to apply for this year's Grace Holt Awards! The application is due MARCH 22ND, so don't delay in submitting your materials! Recipients of the awards will be recognized at this year's Grace Holt Celebration on April 18th. Visit our website for information on how to apply for the awards, as well as how to RSVP for the celebration!

Welcome to week 3 of our Grace Holt Celebration weekly series: Meet Priscila Pereira! Priscila received the Grace Holt Memorial Award at last year's Grace Holt Celebration. Read about Priscila's experience receiving the award, as well as her current research efforts and future goals, by checking out our Q and A with her here and on our website (https://blst.uic.edu/about/our-community/archived-interviews/awardee-spotlight-2023-priscila-pereira/?fbclid=IwAR2ErZa2rdc37HNV3V4avbnffddfNvdSaKRgimjRSgBH9RPC-pYtmu4-XKQ). Don't forget to apply for this year's Grace Holt awards, due MARCH 22nd!

Register for the Grace Holt Celebration event here: https://blst.uic.edu/events/grace-holt-24/

Thank you to everyone who joined us for Douglass Day 2024! We sincerely appreciate your time, enthusiasm, and commitment to creating a more accessible archive of the correspondence of Frederick Douglass. In total, over 50 schools and organizations participated in Douglass Day, and we transcribed over 1700 letters, invitations, and other forms of communication. If you are interested in continuing to digitize materials, we invite you to visit the Douglass Day website, which provides a link to the transcription page from the Library of Congress. See you next year for Douglass Day 2025!

Featured here are some photos from the event, taken by Katie Klema and Peter E. Hernandez. The photo credit for each individual photo is included in the image description.



Image Description: a collage of photos. in the center is a graphic of Frederick Douglass with his shadow outlined. There is beige text that repeats "Thank you!" in a gradient. Below that text, there is purple and beige text that says "for participating in Douglass Day 2024!" Black Studies Logo. Individual photos described below:
Top left: student wearing a green jacket working at a computer and smiling. two individuals in the background looking at a computer and talking. a third person in the background working at a computer. Photo by Katie Klema.
Top center: two people wearing glasses looking at a computer. One person wears a UIC sweatshirt. Photo by Katie Klema.
Top left: group of people in a library classroom working on computers. Photo by Peter E. Hernandez.
Photo below top left: student wearing glasses and a blue shirt smiling at the camera next to a computer. Photo by Peter E. Hernandez.
Photo below top right: student wearing a pink shirt and glasses typing at a computer. The computer has a wall of text and a photo of a letter. Photo by Peter E. Hernandez.
Photo above bottom left: Douglass Day flyer attached to a glass window. Photo by Katie Klema.
Photo above bottom right: person smiling at two people sitting at computers. The people at the computers look to their left. Photo by Katie Klema.
Bottom left: three students sit at a row of computers. One student wears a jacket and Douglass Day pin. Another wears a baseball cap. The third wears a jean jacket. Photo by Peter E. Hernandez.
Bottom center: a group of Douglass Day pins next to a button maker. Photo by Peter E. Hernandez.
Bottom right: a student smiles while working at a computer. The computer has a wall of text and the image of a letter. Photo by Katie Klema.

Over the next several weeks, we will be featuring different aspects of the annual Grace Holt Lecture and Celebration as we ramp up to April 18th! This week, we invite you to learn more about our founder, first director, and honored figure for the event: Dr. Grace Holt herself! Hope you can join us in just under two months for the celebration, and don't forget to register!

Link to register: go.uic.edu/graceholt

Join us for our 2024 Grace Holt Lecture and Celebration! Each year, we honor the life and legacy of Dr. Grace Holt, the founder and first director of the UIC Department of Black Studies. This year, our featured speaker is Dr. Sami Schalk, Associate Professor at UW-Madison! We will also recognize the recipients of this year's Grace Holt Memorial Award and Black Studies Departmental Award (there is still time to apply for these, too!). Swipe through each image for more information, and don't forget to register at go.uic.edu/graceholt

Reach out to [email protected] with any questions or access needs. This event is co-sponsored by Racialized Body Cluster Initiative, Black Cultural Center, Disability Cultural Center, and Gender and Women’s Studies. Hope you can join us!

Join us for Open Study Hours! Black Studies and Gender and Women's Studies invites you to weekly study hours starting February 20th in UH 1250! Come hang out with us Tuesday through Thursday, 1pm - 5pm and enjoy complimentary tea, coffee, and snacks. Connect with students, study together, and build community! Drop in whenever works for you!

IN ONE WEEK -- Join us for Douglass Day 2024! Celebrate Black History Month and the life of Frederick Douglass through this nationwide "transcribe-a-thon" where we will create new and freely available resources for learning about Black history. Meet us at the Daley Library any time between 11am-2pm, and lunch will be provided! Don't forget to register here: go.uic.edu/DouglassDay

And don't forget check out all of these other great events hosted by the BCC this month! Follow them African-American Cultural Center at UIC and visit their website for more information!

Join the Black Cultural Center this Friday, February 9th, for their upcoming Black History Month Special Event! This event is part of their monthly What's Going On? series, which features discussions around mental health, and this month's topic is "The Healing Power of Creativity." Join them in creating collages, vision boards, and bracelets; art supplies and refreshments will be provided! The event is from 10 am - 12 pm CST in person at the Black Cultural Center (830 S. Halsted St, Addams Hall Room 209). This space is open to UIC Students only. RSVP here: https://blacc.uic.edu/programs-and-initiatives/whats-going-on/

UIC Black Studies invites you to our 2024 Douglass Day Celebration!

Join us in celebrating the life of Frederick Douglass through a nationwide “transcribe-a-thon,” where we digitize materials to create new and freely available resources for learning about Black history. We will join others across the country on Wednesday, February 14th to expand access to the writings of this remarkable abolitionist and social reformer. Meet us at the Daley Library in the IDEA Commons Classroom A from 11 AM to 2 PM. Drop in at any time, and lunch will be provided in room I-470. We hope you can join us for this important work and to celebrate Black History Month!

Register for the event: https://forms.uofi.uic.edu/sec/1893702321

**FILMING AND PHOTOGRAPHY NOTICE**
Photographers and/or news media may be present at this event. By participating and being present during the event, you give the University of Illinois Chicago the right to use photographs or video/audio recordings taken of you during the event for educational or promotional purposes and for sharing with external news media. If you do not wish to appear in photographs or be recorded during the event, please inform an event administrator.

Congratulations to Dr. Barbara Ransby! Dr. Ransby's 2003 biography of Ella Baker, "Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement" (UNC Press), was listed as among the 5 best books on the women the Civil Rights Movement. Read more about Dr. Ransby's book and check out the rest of the list from the Wall Street Journal below!

Five Best: Books on Women of the Civil Rights Movement Selected by Jonathan Eig, the author, most recently, of ‘King: A Life.’

BLST Professor and Department Head Dr. Joseph Jewell recently spoke with internet talk show host Sam Seder about Dr. Jewell's new book "White Man's Work: Race and Middle-Class Mobility into the Progressive Era." Watch the interview below, and don't forget to check out Dr. Jewell's new book!

Link to video:

'White Man's Work': Deciding Who Gets To Be "Working Class" | Joseph Jewell | TMR Professor of Black Studies and Department Head at the University of Illinois Chicago, Joseph O. Jewell, joins Sam to discuss his book White Man’s Work: Race ...

Check out some recent photos of Professor Cedric Johnson's keynote address for the international conference "Plantationocene: Racial Capitalism, Land and Labor" in Brasilia. Congratulations Dr. Johnson!

Photo Credits: Cleiton Gomes

Professor Cedric Johnson to give keynote at the international conference -- Plantationocene: Racial Capitalism, Land and Labor. The keynote will take place today! You can access it here:

Plantationoceno: Capitalismo racial, trabalho e terra Plantationoceno: Capitalismo racial, trabalho e terra Conferência Internacional 13, 14 e 15 de dezembro na UnB

Are you a UIC undergraduate or graduate student committed to racial justice? We invite you to apply for our Grace Holt Memorial Award and Black Studies Departmental Award! These $1000 scholarships recognize outstanding students at UIC and in the Black Studies Department as a part of our annual Grace Holt Lecture and Celebration. Applications are due March 22nd, 2024, and make sure you have all of the necessary materials before you apply! To apply, fill out an application on SnAP by following these links:

BLST Departmental Award - https://uic.academicworks.com/opportunities/12193
Grace Holt Memorial Award - https://uic.academicworks.com/opportunities/11501

SAVE THE DATE! The 2024 Grace Holt Lecture will take place on April 18th, 2024 at 3:30 pm CST in 301 SCE. Join us for our annual celebration of the life and legacy of Grace Holt, founder and first director of the UIC Department of Black Studies. The event will recognize outstanding students in the department, as well as feature keynote speaker Dr. Sami Schalk from UW Madison. Mark your calendars, you won't want to miss one of our biggest events of the year!

Looking for classes for next semester? Check out all of the Black Studies courses offered in the spring!

The UIC WLRC and CAN invite you to their conversation with Dr. Katrina Washington titled "On Being a Student-Parent at UIC." Dr. Washington is a former Black Studies Graduate Concentrator, and she will discuss her journey at UIC being a parent and reaching her academic goals! The talk is Wednesday, November 15th from 12:30-1:30 CST and is offered both on Zoom and in-person at 1700 SSB. You can RSVP here: https://wlrc.uic.edu/events/on-being-a-student-parent/

Our FINAL Global Perspectives on Race and Racism Speaker Series lecture is one week from today! We hope you've enjoyed all of our speakers so far and encourage you to attend this last presentation, featuring Dr. Anna LaQuawn Hinton and her discussion titled "Black Feminist Disability Studies Meets Hip Hop Feminism in Janelle Monaé’s Dirty Computer."

The event is on November 14th from 3:30-4:45

Register here: https://go.uic.edu/TBT

Join UIC Faculty for a teach-in that provides historical context for the current genocide in Gaza and addresses its reverberations across the world, including here in the United States.

Date: Tuesday, November 7, 2023
Time: 3:30 – 5:00 PM
Location: SES 250

For questions and accessibility, contact [email protected]. This teach-in for Palestine is co-sponsored by the UIC Centers for Cultural Understanding and Social Change, Arab American Cultural Center, Gender and Women’s Studies, Global Asian Studies, and Black Studies.

We hope to see you there!

Next Thursday! Join us for the sixth conversation of the Global Perspectives on Race and Racism lecture series with a presentation from Assistant Professor of English at Clark Atlanta University, Dr. brittny ray crowell, titled "When Water is Safer than Land: Warsan Shire's 'Home' as a Work of Witness." The event will take place on November 2nd from 12:30-1:45pm CST, and you can register here: https://forms.uofi.uic.edu/sec/408374776

More about the speaker: Dr. brittny ray crowell earned her doctorate in Literature and Creative Writing with a focus in poetry at the University of Houston. Her current research focuses on polyvocality, personal archives, and intuitive witness in the work of Black women poets.

Can you believe it's already been one week since our Open House? Thank you to everyone that attended! We hope you had a wonderful time full of music, food, and fun among friends. Stay tuned for so many more exciting BLST events headed your way this year!