13th Annual Lemon Project Spring Symposium (Virtual)

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?

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

View the symposium schedule here.

Read panel descriptions here.