“Black Lives Matter in Art, History and Literature,” will be the topic of a panel hosted by the Department of African American Studies, which will take place on Nov. 9 in 214 Slocum Hall from 5:30-7 p.m. The event will feature scholars in art, history and literature whose interdisciplinary research intersects with the current social and political conversations surrounding the modern civil rights movement Black Lives Matter. The scholars will engage the Syracuse student body, faculty and staff on the historical trajectory of Black Lives Matter and how its origins trace back to the early formation of protest and resistance within Black America and the African diaspora at large.

Participants include: Casarae L. Gibson, assistant professor of African American studies; Clemmie Harris, visiting professor of African American studies; and Meina Yates-Richard, assistant professor of English. The event is free and open to the public.

“We want to highlight the conflicting tensions between Black communities, Black Lives Matter protesters and law enforcement that have sparked a national conversation about police brutality, reform and the perpetual killings of Black people in an overtly militarized and surveillance society,” says Gibson. “We want to examine the influence of Black Lives Matter protest and rhetoric in art, history and literature that endorses a humanitarian message on what it means to be human in a society where the critical matter of Black lives is devalued.”

“It is our hope that students, faculty, staff and the Greater Syracuse community come to understand why Black Lives Matter is a movement that is challenging the world to confront our own humaneness and how we treat underrepresented groups in a violent and sometimes hateful manner,” says Gibson. “And to move forward from this perspective, we want our audience to understand that the Black freedom struggle, which Black Lives Matter is a participant of, is a global struggle that embraces peace and demands a just society for every living being.”