Call for Papers
The Black Arts Movement and Its Legacies, an International Conference, the University of California, Merced, March 1-2, 2014.

In 2015, we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Black Arts Movement and affirm the creativity and audacity of a generation of proudly Black artists, intellectuals, and activists who challenged racist imperialism and demanded justice and beauty. In Black Women Writers at Work, One of the movement’s most courageous creators, Sonia Sanchez, captures its spirit perfectly: “The black artist is dangerous. Black art . . . negates negative influences, and creates positive images” (135). What is the significance of the Black Arts Movement today? As we celebrate another 50th anniversary, that of the March on Washington and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, and as we celebrate the nation’s first African-American President, we must all ask: Has the dream been achieved? If that dream is not reality, then it is vital that we look back at the Black Arts Movement, engage again with the challenges posed by Black-centered culture, community, and creativity, and examine the legacies the movement has bequeathed us.

We invite you to participate in this celebration at the International Conference on the Black Arts Movement and Legacies, at the University of California, Merced, March 1-2, 2014, sponsored by UC Merced’s African Diaspora Graduate Student Association. Our mission is to consider the Black Arts Movement as both historical movement and legacy, consolidate our understandings of the movement, reconsider our perspectives, chart new paths for future research and creativity, and, most importantly, give praise and respect to our elders, the activists, critics, and artists who stood and proclaimed, “Black is beautiful.”

Special invited guests include Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Ishmael Reed, Askia Toure, John Bracey, James Smethurst, Mike Sell, Juan Felipe Herrera, Genny Lim, Jerry Varnado, Terry Collins, James (Jimmy) P. Garrett, Belva Davis, Marvin X, Adilah Barnes, Nathan Hare, and others.

We invite scholars of all backgrounds to submit proposals for conference-length papers, panels, workshops, and poster sessions that explore the Black Arts Movement, both past and present, seeking to provide new perspectives and signal future directions.

Proposal format:
On a single page, include the following:
a. Title
b. Presentation format (choose one: paper, panel, workshop, poster session)
c. Abstract, not to exceed 150 words
d. Contributor information (name, institutional affiliation, e-mail address)

Email your proposal, include the proposal in the body of the e-mail and as a RTF attachment, to kmcmillon@ucmerced.edu. Receipt of submissions will be acknowledged via email within one week. Deadline for submissions: December 29, 2013.