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Category: Lemon Project Symposium

At the Root: Exploring Black Life, History, and Culture Symposium Call for Proposals

The Lemon Project team invites you to submit proposals for the 13th Annual Lemon Project Spring Symposium, an in-person and virtual event, that will be held on March 24-25, 2023. View the Call for Proposals below.

About The Lemon Project: A Journey of Reconciliation

Founded in 2009 by the William & Mary Board of Visitors, the Lemon Project is the second institutionally funded project of its kind in the United States. The Lemon Project is a multifaceted and dynamic attempt to rectify wrongs perpetrated against African Americans by William & Mary through action or inaction. An ongoing endeavor, The Lemon Project explores and encourages scholarship on the 330-year relationship between African Americans and William & Mary. The Lemon Project builds bridges between William & Mary and African American communities through research, programming, and supporting students, faculty, and staff.

Call for Proposals

Individual papers or panels of 3 or 4 are welcome

The first Lemon Project Spring Symposium, held in Williamsburg, Virginia in 2011, “brought together students, faculty, and community members to discuss ongoing research into our past, as well as the ways that history continues to define relationships between African Americans and the university in the present.” In that vein, we return to our roots, centering local Black histories and their vast influences.  

The 2023 Spring Symposium will explore the following questions: In what ways are African American communities taking charge and telling their stories? How are colleges and universities working with local African American communities to foster belonging? What methods are communities and scholars using to tell fuller narratives of African American life, history, and culture? In what ways are researchers contributing to the emancipatory aims of Black Studies through research collaboration with Black communities?

Our symposium is multi-disciplinary and open to all. We seek proposals from people who focus on Black life, history, and culture, including but not limited to academic and descendant researchers, educators, activists, and members of Greater Williamsburg communities and beyond. We invite a broad range of topics from the fields of American Studies, Black Studies, Anthropology, History, Public Humanities, Preservation, and STEM. We also invite community organizers and activists to submit proposals in areas such as cultural production (art, poetry, music), wellness, and spirituality. We welcome submissions from people of all genders, including trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming individuals.

Please submit your proposals by November 18, 2022.

The symposium has three main objectives, focusing on the past, present, and future:
  • Reflect on what is happening in African American communities and consider the ways these communities are transforming narratives
  • Explore the ways that colleges and universities work with African American communities
  • Contribute to strategies and best practices for institutions dealing with their involvement in slavery and its legacies
 Possible topics include but are not limited to:
  • African American memory and heritage studies
  • Community engagement and best practices
  • Descendant communities and their histories
  • Environmental history, land conservation, and displacement
  • Family histories, local histories, and genealogical studies
  • Reparations and reparative efforts
  • Shared Authority and transforming narratives
  • Universities and colleges studying slavery and its afterlives
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Join us for the 12th Annual Lemon Project Spring Symposium- The Time is Now: The Lives of Black Men Past, Present, and Future

By Dr. Sarah Thomas, Lemon Project Associate Director

A Twitter Graphic Shared with Our Call for Proposals

The Lemon Project team is busy preparing for our upcoming Symposium—it’s less than two weeks away! This will be an in-person and virtual event and our first in-person event during the COVID era. We are looking forward to coming together around the theme, “The Time is Now: The Lives of Black Men Past, Present, and Future.” Registration is free, and we will be providing breakfast and lunch on March 25 and March 26.

Why are we focusing on the lives of Black men?

The following is excerpted from the Call for Proposals, written by Dr. Jajuan Johnson, our Mellon Postdoctoral Research Associate. “The lives of Black men are valuable. The purpose of this symposium is to center the realities of Black men past and present while imagining future possibilities. In the words of Black Male Studies scholar T. Hasan Johnson, we plan to “delve into the lives of Black males beyond stereotypes, conjecture, and opinion.” 

“The symposium prompts us to pause and listen to the stories of Black men across time, age, class, region, and sexuality. Given the historical marginalization of Black males and the evident atrocities over the past decade with the violent deaths of Black men and boys, there is an urgency to lean into the humanity of Black men and imagine a future where they (we) can thrive in all realms of life.”

Dr. Jajuan Johnson, Call for Proposals, 12th Annual Lemon Project Spring Symposium

Keynotes by Tommy Curry & Kiese Laymon

Dr. Tommy Curry and Kiese Laymon are joining us in Williamsburg for keynote talks—Dr. Curry on March 25 at 6 pm ET and Mr. Laymon on March 26 at 9:00 am ET. After each of their keynotes, Dr. Curry and Mr. Laymon will be signing books, which you can purchase from the William & Mary Bookstore on site.

Plenary Session—The Time is Now: The Lives of Black Men

Dr. Daniel Black, Dr. T. Hasan Johnson, and Dr. O’Shan Gadsden will serve as panelists for the plenary session, “The Time is Now: The Lives of Black Men Past, Present, and Future,” on the morning of Friday, March 25. Dr. Jamel Donnor, of the William & Mary School of Education, will be the moderator. Dr. Jajuan Johnson notes that “the panelists bring various perspectives with backgrounds in Black Male Studies, psychology, and Africana Studies. They will present facts challenging enduring stereotypes that dehumanize Black men and boys, offer insight on present inequities, and discuss ways Black men are transforming themselves and their communities. Lastly, they will provide visions that improve the lives of Black males based on their areas of expertise.”

One of 2021’s Symposium panels, featuring students who made art to remember people enslaved by William & Mary

Future of Ethnic Studies

On March 25 at noon, the Asian Centennial and the Lemon Project join together for a panel discussion on Ethnic Studies in Virginia. During this year of celebrating the accomplishments of the first Asian students at William & Mary, we also look forward to a more inclusive future. Our panelists are Monika Gosin, Krystyn Moon (from the University of Mary Washington), Laura Guerrero, Steve Prince, and Chinua Thelwell.

Interdisciplinary and Multi-disciplinary Panels

In addition to the keynotes, plenary session, and the Ethnic Studies panel, there are 11 panels on a variety of topics given by presenters who are community members, scholars, researchers, genealogists, working professionals, and students. From folks sharing their genealogy and family histories to students sharing their summer research and discussions of Black professionals in the corporate world to cell phone videos and police violence, these panels are real, timely, and offer a roadmap of where Black males have been, where they are now, and what the future could hold.

Everyone is welcome! Registration is free, and we’re providing breakfast and lunch for in-person attendees on March 25 and March 26.

As always, everyone is welcome to attend. Please share the Symposium with your friends, family, and anyone else who might be interested in this two-day multi-disciplinary conversation about Black men past, present, and future.

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