Remembering: International Struggle for Civil and Human Rights

he fifty-year anniversaries of major events of the American civil rights movement provide occasion for reflection on milestone events in the American civil rights movement. We take pause to recall the significance of Brown v. Board of Education, the Freedom Rides, the March on Washington, and the major civil rights legislative achievements. Various commemorative events are taking shape across the United States, from the unveiling of the plaque of the Birmingham church bombing, an event that took the lives of four African American girls, to the re-enactment of the March on Washington. The multiple meanings of universal themes of liberty, equality, justice, fairness, and equal opportunity have characterized an era of sacrifice, mourning, and guarded optimism that marked the African American fight for freedom.

Kennesaw State University’s Center for African and African Diaspora Studies invites scholars, artists, activists, and practitioners to participate in a three-day summit in Kennesaw (an Atlanta suburb) on October 28-30, 2015. The summit is designed as a multi-disciplinary platform to remember, reflect, celebrate and interrogate historical and contemporary civil and human rights issues that are both national and transnational. It incorporates discussions in all formats – visual and performance arts, spoken word, fine arts installation, panel and roundtable discussions, and open forum discussions.