The 21st Annual Walter Rodney Symposium
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The 21st Annual Walter Rodney Symposium —
Day One
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Day One —
Liberation: Memory as Resistance & After Man, Toward the Human: Grounding with People(s)-Centered Human Rights
Friday, April 9, 2026 …………..….. 12noon - 7pm EST
Biographies
DAY ONE
Session 1: Liberation: Memory as Resistance
Facilitator: Arlin Hill
Bocafloja
Andrea Jackson Gavin
Lewanne Jones
Amani Makee Hill
Babacar MBow
Terrance Nance
Holly Smith
Sarah Tanner
Nicole Aschoff?
Session 2: After Man, Toward the Human: Grounding with People(s)-Centered Human Rights
Moderator: Charisse Burden-Stelly
Devyn Springer / Musa
Tamanisha John
Onyesonwu Chatoyer
Keynote Address: Bayinnah Bello
Schedule
DAY ONE | Thursday, April 9
11:45am
Doors Open
12:00 – 12:15pm
Occasion & Greetings
12:15 – 2:15pm
PANEL 1 | Liberation: Memory as Resistance
This session explores memory as resistance, and how individual and collective memory is created, preserved, shared, and activated through journalism, publishing, oral history, film, the arts, museum preservation, digitization, and archiving to sustain and advance struggles for liberation.
2:15 – 4:00pm
Lunch Break (Lunch on your own)
In-person participants at Brown University are welcome to view the Port Cities Exhibit during the break.
In-person participants at the Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library will view the film Walter Rodney: What They Don’t Want You to Know.
4:00 – 5:15pm
PANEL 2 | After Man, Toward the Human: Grounding with
People(s)-Centered Human Rights
The panel examines human rights as forged through popular struggle rather than granted by state or empire. Drawing on People(s)-Centered Human Rights and the works and activism of Walter Rodney and Sylvia Wynter, it situates rights-making in mass participation and self-determination, and links it to present-day movements for justice and liberation.
5:15 – 5:30pm
Break
5:30 – 6:45pm
KEYNOTE ADDRESS | Dr. Bayinnah Bello
6:45 – 7:00pm
Closing Remarks
Day One Presenter Biographies
Location
Bank of America Auditorium
in the Shirley A. Massey Executive Conference Center
830 Westview Dr SW, Atlanta, GA 30314
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The Shirley A. Massey Executive Conference Center is located in southwest Atlanta on the campus of the historic Morehouse College, just off I-20.
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Parking is free behind the building.
Ample parking is also available at the Morehouse College Parking Garage, located above the Visitor Center at 830 Westview Dr SW. From the intersection of Joseph E Lowery Blvd SW and West End Ave SW, on Westview Dr SW. The Visitor Center and parking garage will be on the right. Additional street can be found along West End Ave SW.
Handicap parking is located in the lot behind the performance venue, accessible via Joseph E Lowery Blvd SW.
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The Shirley Massey Executive Conference Center is an event and conference venue at Morehouse College. It features the Bank of America Auditorium, Motorola Lobby, and a banquet space which can be divided into six smaller rooms. The venue is named after former Morehouse first lady Shirley A. Massey.