Greetings and overview of the conference program, features, and theme: “Teaching Africa in the World.”

Young people share their views and reflections on the role of Africa and its vast diaspora in the creation of “Western civilization” and the modern world.

This session will illuminate how and why dominant mainstream (white European and American) conceptions of classical antiquity—in pedagogy and popular culture—exclude Africa from (or present it as antithetical to) the Greco-Roman empires, “Western civilization,” and the creation of the modern world.

How can we recover knowledge about Africa in ancient and medieval times? What new research tools and methods make it possible to expose students to African peoples’ many contributions to the modern world?

In this session three members of the Hansberry Society—a trans-continental network of emerging scholars—share the personal journeys and research passions that led to and inspire their ongoing work. They’ll also talk about Society’s mission to make the study of antiquity more inclusive and welcoming to students of African descent, and in doing so open up new vistas.

The Society was formed in 2020 to build on the intellectual legacy of AAI co-founder, William Leo Hansberry, the pioneering black scholar who created the first African studies program anywhere in the United States, at Howard University in 1922.

Discussion and Q&A with:

In this clip, Howard French, author of ‘Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War’, explores this question with Sean Jacobs, founder and editor of the opinion and analysis website, Africa is a Country. This program was originally offered by the Brooklyn Public Library’s Center for Brooklyn History, in connection with their major public history initiative, Brooklyn Resists.

Focusing on the pathbreaking efforts of black intellectuals and scholars at Howard University from the 1920s through the 1950s—a group that included Alain Locke, Ralph Bunche, Merze Tate, E. Franklin Frazier, Rayford Logan, and Eric Williams—this session examines other instances of historical erasure and how assumptions of racial hierarchy inspired the creation of international relations as an academic discipline.

Keynote and Q&A with:

This conference session will aim to illuminate the transformational potential of centering black students in curricular design and discuss ways to address barriers to developing efficacy in this pedagogical practice.

Keynote and Q&A with:

This is a conversation between the Africa America Institute (AAI) and University Preparatory Charter Schools (U – Prep) in Detroit, Michigan about their collaboration to promote and implement a culturally responsive Africa and African diaspora-centered teaching and learning initiative for student achievement, equity, and justice.

Discussion and Q&A with: