Teaching Black History Conference
Each year, the Teaching Black History conference, our signature event, convenes hundreds of teachers to learn the best curricular and instructional practices surrounding Black history education. We host expert speakers and entertainment, but the stars of the conference are our teachers. Each conference session is led by a classroom teacher who shares their Black history strategies. The sessions are interactive, so participants will have hands-on experiences to bring to their classrooms. We welcome community educators, parents, school-aged students, librarians, museum curators and anyone who loves to learn about Black history. Attendees are eligible for 24 professional development credits.
2025 Conference Theme
In 2025, the conference theme is Black Boy Joy, Black Girl Magic: The History of Black Childhoods. Join us as we delve into the rich and powerful narratives of Black childhoods, highlighting the joy, resilience and brilliance that have shaped generations. Educators, historians and advocates are invited to engage in meaningful discussions and transformative learning experiences that honor the past and illuminate the path forward.
Mark Your Calendars
The conference will be held over three days:
July 25-27, 2025
Information is being added daily. Please check back frequently to keep up with the most current developments.
Center Director and Conference Leader
LaGarrett King
LaGarrett J. King, PhD joined the University at Buffalo’s Graduate School of Education in January 2022 as an associate professor of social studies education. He was previously the Isabella Wade Lyda and Paul Lyda Professor of Education at the University of Missouri. He received his PhD from the University of Texas at Austin after an eight-year teaching career in Georgia and Texas. His primary research interest examines the teaching and learning of Black history in schools and society. He also researches critical theories of race, teacher education and curriculum history.
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Call for Proposals
The 2024 Teaching Black History Conference call for proposals is now open!
This is a great opportunity to present to hundreds of K-12 educators about the best practices for Black history education. While the theme for 2024 is Black to the Future: Afro-futurism as Black History, your proposal can include any topic related to Black history education.
This year, the conference will have two days dedicated to in-person learning and one day of virtual learning. This year we will not have asynchronous or live stream learning for our virtual attendees.
Below, you will find our call for proposals and a link to submit your idea.
Proposals are due by March 2, 2024.
Registration To Attend
This year, the conference theme is "Black to the Future: Afro-futurism as Black History." Afrofuturism is seen as a cultural aesthetic combining science-fiction, history, and fantasy to explore and connect the African American experience to their forgotten African ancestry. Others have noted that Afrofuturist imagines a world absent of white supremacist thought and institutional structures hindering and oppressing Black communities. Afrofuturism evaluates the past to create a better present and prepare for a future void of those problematic histories. Afro-futurism is about using science fiction that is fact based to teach about Blackness that diverges from societal understandings about Black people and their history.
Afrofuturism is typically associated with Black science fiction and includes various sub-categories, including cyberpunk (art in futuristic settings focusing on futuristic technology and scientific achievement, think Artificial Intelligence, and cyber culture), Black speculative fiction (futuristic literature focusing on race and the history of race, may also include fantasy and horror), and music such as Afropunk and funk, art, fashion, costumes, and films. Yet, it is history education that ties everything together. To reimagine a safe and free world for Black people, Afrofuturism must use history as its foundation. For many, it is commentary on where we have been. In many ways, it is about teaching us about our history that has been forgotten or ignored.
Conference Dates
Three Days
Friday, July 26, 2024 (in-person)
Saturday, July 27, 2024 (in-person)
Sunday, July 28, 2024 (online only)
Pricing:
Researchers/Teachers/Educators: $115
College Student: $50 (must upload proof of student status)
Conference Location
Diefendorf Hall
University at Buffalo
South Campus
Buffalo, NY 14214
Accommodations
125 High Street
Buffalo, NY 14203
Guests can start booking rooms beginning Monday, February 19, 2024.
All guests can book at the discounted rate of $117/night until Tuesday, June 25, 2024.
- Book by Phone
Call the reservation line: (877) 999-3223 - Book Online
Wyndam Garden hotel website
When booking use GROUP/BLOCK CODE: 072324TEA
10 Lafayette Square
Buffalo, NY 14203
- Book by Phone
Please contact Hilton Reservations at 1-855-446-1178 or contact the hotel directly at 716-848-1000. Please inform an associate of the dates that your guests wish to book under the code UBBH to receive event rate. - Book Online
Hilton Garden Inn hotel website
On the homepage, enter the arrival and departure dates for the stay. Before selecting the Check Rooms and Rates button, click the link underneath to “Add a Special Rate" and enter your group code UBBH.
The cutoff date for reserving under the block is June 23, 2024 at midnight. Rooms not reserved in the block will be released back into the general inventory.
2 Fountain Plaza
Buffalo, NY 14202
- Book by Phone
Please contact Hyatt Reservations at 1-888-591-1234. Please inform an associate of the dates that your guests wish to book under the code Teaching Black History Conference to receive event rate. - Book Online
https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/group-booking/BUFFA/G-TBHC
The cutoff date for reserving under the block is July 3, 2024 at midnight. Rooms not reserved in the block will be released back into the general inventory.
CONFERENCE FORMAT
Please note that this year we will not have asynchronous or live stream learning for our virtual attendees.
Retreats
Black History & Racial Literacy Writing Retreat
This year's conference will include the opportunity to participate in a writing retreat. This two‐day session best serves researchers and scholars who are interested in writing collaborations around Black history and race research. Snacks and drinks are provided.
Price: $50/person
Dates: July 24-25, 2024
Time: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Location: University at Buffalo South Campus, Diefendorf Hall
Questions?
Contact LaGarrett King at lagarret@buffalo.edu or 716-645-2455
Social Studies Curriculum Coordinators Retreat
This two-day retreat will include presentations by social studies coordinators about developing Black history and racial literate curriculum. Each day will also include collaborative planning sessions. Snacks and drinks are provided.
Price: $125/person
Dates: July 24-25, 2024
Time: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Location: University at Buffalo South Campus, Diefendorf Hall
Questions?
Contact LaGarrett King at lagarret@buffalo.edu or 716-645-2455
Conference Swag
Keynote Speakers
Friday, July 26
Buffalo’s African American Cultural Center (AACC) Dance and Drum Performance Company
Stephanie Toliver, PhD
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Title of Talk
Wakanda vs. Everybody: A Layered Account of Speculative Mundanity
Saturday, July 27
Film Session 1
Moderator: Daphanie Bibbs
Graduate Research Fellow, Center for K–12 Black History and Racial Literacy Education
Title of Film
Pushed Out
Film Session 2
Moderator: Asif Wilson
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Title of Film
Towards Inquiry
Film Session 3
Moderator: Bobby Morgan
Liberation Lab
Title of Film
Cultural War: Focus on Black Youth
Sunday, July 28
Franklin Oliver
University High School (Indiana)
Title of Talk
Building A High School Afrofuturism Class
Presenters and Room Numbers
All room assignments are within Diefendorf Hall on UB's South Campus unless otherwise noted.
| Keynote: 8-9:30 am | ||
|---|---|---|
| Speaker | Presentation Title | Room |
| Stephanie Toliver | Wakanda Vs. Everybody: A Layered Account of Speculative Mundanity | 147 |
| Session One: 9:45-10:45 am | ||
| Speaker(s) | Presentation Title | Room |
| Njemele Anderson | The Youth Have Spoken: Redefining the Future of the Education of Black People in America | 146 |
| Amirah Ali & Alyssa Liles-Amponash | Teaching Black History Through Immersive Play | 205 |
| Jillian Ford, Kristie Smith and Samuel Sasser | Tubman and Banneker’s Cosmic Legacies: Using the Stars to Chart Our Future | 148 |
| Latif Tarik | "A Brother from Another Planet” An Examination of a Black Science Fiction Movie in College Africana History Courses | 202 |
| Session Two: 11:00 am-12:00 pm | ||
| Speaker(s) | Presentation Title | Room |
| Dr. Daryl Rock | They Were Black All Black: A High School Success Story | 202 |
| Dr. Shokry Eldaly | Afrofuturism and Emancipatory Paradigms: Transforming Education and Social Justice | 146 |
| Frederick Douglass | Let Freedom Ring: Deconstructing the emergence of the Civil Rights Movement and Examining Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's facing the challenge of a New age speech | 148 |
| LUNCH: 12:00-1:15 pm | ||
| Session Three: 1:15-2:15 pm | ||
| Speaker(s) | Presentation Title | Room |
| Alize Scott-Nowell | We Real Cool: The Birth of "Cool" and How "Coolness" Gives Us A Future | 203 |
| Russel Bassarth | Teaching the 1955-1956 Montgomery Bus Boycott through an Intersectional Conceptual Framework | 205 |
| Sonya Sampson | The Power of Imagination | 147 |
| Renee O'Connor | Beyond Pain: Embracing Black Joy Through the Art of Photography | 202 |
| Dr. Shokry Eldaly | Afrofuturism as a Catalyst: Emancipatory Learning and Transformative Education | 146 |
| Session Four: 2:30-3:30 pm | ||
| Speaker | Presentation Title | Room |
| Iman Lathan | The Secondary Diaspora of the Black NCAA Division I Women's Basketball student-athlete | 146 |
| Emmanuel Kulu | Sankofa: I Am because We Are | 148 |
| Dawnavyn James | Who Are Your People? Building Powerful People Sets to Teach Black History | 147 |
| Dorothy Mmaegbunam Afunugo | Leveraging afro and African futurism to transform educational psychology and teacher education through abolitionist teaching practices | 203 |
| Abigail Henry & Liz Wallace | Chain-gang All-stars and the Criminal Justice System | 202 |
| Laura L. Gore | Restorative Justice Circles in the Classroom | 205 |
| Reception 4-5:30 pm | ||
| Film Club: 8:30-9:45 am | ||
|---|---|---|
| Moderator | Film | Room |
| Daphanie Bibbs | Pushed Out | 146 |
| Asif Wilson | Towards Inquiry | 147 |
| Bobby Morgan | Cultural War: Focus on Black Youth | 148 |
| Session One: 10:00-11:00 am | ||
| Speaker(s) | Presentation Title | Room |
| Bobby Morgan | No More Broken Black Boys: Restorative Practices as Racial Justice | 148 |
| Zena Robinson-Wouadjou | Harriet and Other Starseeds: Tapping Into Underground Ways & Wisdoms to Tune Into Free Black Futures | 202 |
| Daphanie Bibbs | The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools: A Strategic Convening of Film Viewing and Reflection | 146 |
| Dr. Shokry Eldaly | Reimagining Futures: Afrofuturism, Community-Based Education, and Social Change | 203 |
| Session Two: 11:15 am-12:15 pm | ||
| Speaker(s) | Presentation Title | Room |
| Laura Gore | Ubuntu-Where I'm From | 146 |
| Ken Granderson | Timbuktu, the Online Black History Content Management Engine (Protecting the Future of Black History, using Technology that WE Created, Control and Own) | 202 |
| Shaquita Smith, Angela Crawford & Karen Williams | Teaching Resistance Through Afrofuturism | 147 |
| Dane Peters | Painting the Narrative: Black Studies in the American Education Landscape | 148 |
| Sheritta Stokes | 1619 Freedom School | 203 |
| LUNCH Sponsored by The Galatic Tribe: 12:15-1:45 pm | ||
| Session Three: 1:45-2:45 pm | ||
| Speaker | Presentation Title | Room |
| Michiko Quinones & Morgan Lloyd | Bringing People In: How we use marketing techniques to bring engage students in Black History | 202 |
| Sylvia Miguelina & Regina Banks | Center Your Career Path in Identity | 203 |
| Akil Parker | Leveraging Historical Black Math Exemplars to Reach a Brighter Future | 148 |
| Dr. Shokry Eldaly | Creating Futures: Emancipatory Education and Social Change in the Age of AI | 146 |
| Gloria Boutte, Jarvais Jackson, Saundah Collins, Janice Baines, Anthony Broughton and George Jonshon | ProBlackness in Early Childhood Education | 147 |
| Session Four: 3:00-4:00 pm | ||
| Speaker | Presentation Title | Room |
| Daphanie Bibbs | Using Beyonce to Speak to, Advocate for and Celebrate Black Girls | 146 |
| Dr. Karla Manning | Conducting a Black Studies Curriculum Audit for K-12 Schools | 148 |
| John Gass | Sunken America: Teaching The History of Sunken Black Towns | 202 |
| Raymond Hamilton | Rethinking Social Studies in DC Public Schools: Centering Black Stories in Curriculum | 205 |
Sponsors
Presenting Sponsor
Silver Sponsors
Bronze Sponsors
