The African American and African Diaspora Studies department will conclude its 50+1 Anniversary celebration with a symposium on April 21 at the Cook Center for Public Arts and Humanities, according to the AAADS website. The 50th anniversary celebration was moved to 2022 to avoid complications from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the AAADS website.
The 50+1 Anniversary is a celebration throughout this spring semester honoring 51 years of the AAADS department at IU. The celebration includes events such as panel discussions on African and African American history, contemporary issues in African American culture and more.
The symposium will also feature the history, culture and achievements of AAADS students, according to the symposium website. AAADS professor Valerie Grim will lead the symposium along with Michael Tillotson, associate professor of Africana Studies at the State University of New York Cortland.
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The AAADS department was founded in 1970 as the Department of Afro-American Studies, making it one of the oldest departments in the United States of its kind, according to a report from IU Today.
Past events for the anniversary include a discussion panel on reparations, a presentation of feminist issues and African diaspora through film, and a discussion of the Jayna Brown book “Black Utopias: Speculative Life and the Music of Other Worlds,” according to the AAADS website.
