Institute of the Black World:
One of the founding institutions at the 1960s birth of Black Studies, the IBW reignited the radical Black tradition by linking academic work with the Black Liberation Movement. The IBW Legacy Group has organized seven ZOOM seminars exploring IBW history and more (see below). You can register at this link: bit.ly/IBW50Plus
History is not only about the past. We need to use historical reflection as a guide to the future. Abdul Alkalimat, as an IBW founder, has generously opened his personal IBW archives to the people; click here: http://alkalimat.org/ibw/
SESSION#1: Tuesday, June 29
The Origins and Mission of IBW
This program critically assesses IBW’s role as a think tank for black struggle, discusses the role of Dr. Vincent Harding within the Institute and explores ways in which IBW’s experiences are relevant to today’s struggles. WIlliam “Bill” Strickland is the featured presenter in this opening session.
SESSION #2: Tuesday, July 13
Understanding the New Black Poetry
Dr. Stephen Henderson, an intellectual architect of the Institute, taught in the first of IBW’s Summer Symposia in 1969 and wrote and produced the book Understanding the New Black Poetry. This collection framed the seismic shift that occurred in African American arts and letters in the 1960s. This session looks at the ways in which that shift has developed and morphed over the years since.
SESSION #3: Tuesday, July 20
Remaking the Past to Make the Future: The New Black History
This program explores the evolution of Black History from the late 1960s to the present and its relevance to the future of Black America.
SESSION #4: Tuesday, July 27
Education for Liberation
This session will look at our goals in the struggle for a New Black Education. As an IBW Monthly Report said in August 1973, “The education of our children is our responsibility. We cannot place it in anyone else’s hands.”
SESSION #5 : Tuesday, August 3
The New Black Studies
This session assesses IBW’s role in promoting, informing and supporting the development of Black Studies with an emphasis on two seminal Black Studies conferences and a variety of publications and consultancies.
SESSION #6: Tuesday, August 10
The New Black Agenda
IBW drafted “The Gary Declaration….” With additions and revisions, it became the National Black Agenda of 1972. This session discusses contemporary black agendas against the backdrop of the Gary Declaration.
SESSION #7: Tuesday August 17
Following the Ancestors’ Footsteps into the Future
Tribute to the Ancestors.
Abdul Alkalimat, born Gerald A. McWorter, is Professor Emeritus in the Department of African American Studies and School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Amilcar Shabazz, Professor in the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts and is the President of the National Council for Black Studies.