Events

Upcoming Events

*March 17-18, 2023- The Past Into The Future: Afrofuturism & Ancient Egypt [Featured Speaker], Berkeley Center for New Media [BCNM]-UC Berkeley (Berkeley, CA), Free to Attend, For More Info

*March 25th, 2023 (10am)- [Keynote Speaker], Friends of the Library Presents-CulpeperCon 2023– Culpeper County Library (Culpeper, VA), Free to Attend

2023

*February 7th, 2023- Afrofuturism with Dr. Grace Gipson [Featured Speaker], Suffolk Discovers + Black and Super Live Talks – Suffolk Public Library-(Suffolk, VA)

*February 6th, 2023-“Expanding the Archive & Classroom: Channeling Blackness, Comics and the Speculative” [Featured Speaker], Black History Month Lecture series, The University of Virginia-Wise (Wise, VA)

*January 28, 2023 – 2023 National Education Symposium -Analyzing the future of education…For US [Webinar-Featured Panelist], The Delta Research & Educational Foundation and DTEC-TAG (Washington, DC), [You can view the recorded event here!]

2022

*November 15th, 2022- [Featured Panelist] Indigenous Peoples’ Representations in Comic Books & Other Media Discussion-VCU Culture & The OMSA-University Student Commons (Suite 215), (Richmond, VA)

*November 17th, 2022-[Moderator] Opening Keynote Conversation with Shobo Coker and Shof Coker (“New Masters,”) & Tillie Walden (“Clementine”) -Library Con Live! (Richmond, VA)

*November 3rd, 2022- [Featured Panelist] “Freedom School Panel with Alumni Professors,” 30th Anniversary Student Protest Celebration-Department of Africana Studies-Georgia State University (Atlanta, GA)

*October 21st, 2022- “Reality and Fiction: Are Cultural Images Fueling Our Bias?” [Keynote Speaker] 3rd Annual Inclusive Excellence Week, VCU School of Dentistry and VCU Dental Care (Richmond, VA)

*September 24, 2022- “Behind the Veil: Who Do You See?” [Featured Speaker] Saturday Sojourners Program, Light Community Resource Center (Richmond, VA) [See the flyer below]

*July 11-13, 2022-“Re-writing the Comic Script into the Digital: Creating ‘New Normals,’ ‘New Frontiers,’ and ‘New Modes of Engagement'” [Keynote Speaker] Comics Strike Back: Digital Comics, Digital Audiences, Digital Practices-Ghent University (Ghent, Belgium)

*May 21, 2022-“CRT 101: Let’s Have a Conversation about Critical Race Theory” [Guest Speaker], Action in Bloom-Annual Meeting, League of Women Voters of the Richmond Metropolitan Area (Richmond, VA

*April 21-22, 2022- “#BlackGamersMatter: Gaming and the Black Imaginary”, Present Encounters: Digital Humanities meets Afrofuturism Symposium-Temple University (Philadelphia, PA)

*April 14, 2022 -What’s The News! Hot Topics in African American Studies-Spring 2022 Lecture Series [Moderator]-Department of African American Studies-Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, VA)

*April 3, 2022- “Rewriting Black Girl Narratives and Experiences in Comics” (Part of Comics Arts Conference Session #7: ‘Centering Silenced Voices’)-WonderCon (Anaheim, CA)

*March 18th, 2022-“To Reimagine Time: Historical Fantasy” [Moderator/ Virtual Author Discussion with Natashia Deón (The Perishing), Nicole Glover (The Undertakers), and Shelley Parker-Chan (She Who Became the Sun)], Virginia Festival of the Book (Charlottesville, VA/Richmond, VA)

*February 23-26, 2022–“The Future is in Her Hands: Rewriting Black Girlhood Narratives and Experiences in Comics,” 43rd Annual Southwest Popular/American Culture Association (SWPACA) Conference, [Conference Presenter], (Albuquerque, NM)

*February 19th, 2022- “Black Women and Theories of the Future” (virtual) [Invited Panelist], Schomburg Center-Black Feminist Future series, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture-The New York Public Library (Harlem, NY)

*February 15th, 2022- “The Art of Storytelling: Black Imagining of Politics and Pop Culture”, [Featured Series Speaker], Berglund Seminar Series-Virginia Commonwealth University-Honors College (701 West Grace St. Room 1303) (Richmond, VA)

*February 14th, 2022- Black and Super Live Talks: “Afrofuturism in Media” with Dr. Grace Gipson [Virtual Talk], [Featured Guest], Suffolk Public Library (Suffolk, VA)

*February 7th, 2022- “Black History Month in the Workplace”, Having Tough Conversation Series-Monthly Series (Virtual Lecture) [OCOO-Office of The Chief  Operating Officer]…(Washington, DC/Richmond, VA)

2021

*November 10th, 2021- [Moderator] Closing Keynote Conversation with Nnedi Okorafor (Akata Woman/Penguin Young Readers) & Victor LaValle, Eve (BOOM! Studios)-Library Con Live!

*November 10th, 2021- “VCU Cabell First Novelist Award Honors Celebration“-Discussion with Author Raven Leilani-Department of English and VCU Libraries at Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, VA)

*November 4th, 2021– “The Day The Klan Came to Town: A Comic Book Retelling of Community Resistance” [Moderator] (Panel Presentation & Signing) [Hybrid Event], VCU Libraries and VCU College of Humanities and Sciences, James Branch Cabell Library (Rm 303)-901 Park Ave. (Richmond, VA)

*October 1st, 2021- “Portrayals of Women in Media and Entertainment” (Featured Panelist), Women’s Network-University of Rochester (Rochester, NY)

*September 22nd, 2021– “Making Our Stories Visible”: Humanizing the Black Experience through Television”, Freedom School 3.0-Back To School [Department of African American Studies at Georgia State University and Auburn Avenue Research Library] (Virtual Series Speaker) (Atlanta, GA/Richmond, VA)

*September 15th, 2021-“Digging in the Chicago Comic Book Archives”, Summer Fellow Presentations-Black Metropolis Research Consortium (BMRC), Virtual Presentation, (Chicago, IL/Richmond, VA)

*September 13th, 2021- “It’s the Microaggressions For Me: Let’s Talk Pop Culture, Inclusion, Unmasking Privilege, Navigating Inequities, and Taking Action“, “Having Tough Conversation Series”-Monthly Series (Virtual Lecture) [Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT]…(Washington, DC/Richmond, VA)

*June 30th, 2021-This Fourth of July is Yours, Not Mine: Understanding Frederick Douglass’ “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro” (Virtual Public Lecture) [Auburn Avenue Research Library]…(Atlanta, GA/Richmond, VA)

*June 26th, 2021-“Greenwood: Genre Reflections on the Massacre” [Invited Panelist], Lockdown Con II: The Mutant Strain (Virtual Dialogue)

*May 20th, 2021- Pop Culture Scholar Grace D. Gipson in conversation with Cartoonist/Illustrator Bianca Xunise– Chicago Humanities Festival (Virtual Dialogue)… (Chicago, IL)

*May 4th, 2021-“The Black Family and its Representations, Identity, and Complexities” (Panelist)…Richmond Public Library System (Richmond, VA)

*April 23rd, 2021- “Inclusive and Accessible Teaching Practices using Media and Popular Culture”-2021 Virtual Symposia-Inclusive Teaching Practices (Symposium Speaker)…VCU-Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence [Virginia Commonwealth University] (Richmond, VA)

*April 22nd, 2021- “Art, Politics, and Social Justice in Times of Crisis.”-Art History Graduate Studies Symposium (Virtual Keynote)…Art History program (Department of Art)[University of Memphis] (Memphis, TN)

*April 12th, 2021- “Re-Writing the Script: Black Imaginings of Trauma, Politics, and Pop Culture” (Series Speaker)…The Center for Literary Studies (CLS) [University of Oklahoma] (Norman, OK)

*April 9th, 2021- “Alumni Art Talk” (Featured Speaker)…Art Department-Centennial High School (Champaign, IL)

*April 11th, 2021- “‘I Am’: Black Feminist Futures and Possibilities in the Academy” (Invited Panelist)...AERA Presidential Sessions-2021 American Educational Research Association (AERA) Virtual Annual Meeting

*March 29th, 2021- Women’s Herstory: Representation Matters – BMRC Fellows Share Their Research (Research Fellow-Panelist)…Black Metropolis Research Consortium (Chicago, IL)

*March 21st, 2021- “BIPOC Voices in Speculative Fiction-Discussion with Authors Catherine Hernandez and Jordan Ifueko” (Moderator)…Virginia Festival of the Book (Richmond, VA)

*March 20th, 2021- “Race, Media, and Comics” (Moderator)…”The West”- 2021 African American Intellectual Historical Society (AAIHS) Conference-Loyola Marymount University (Los Angeles, CA)

*March 18th, 2021- “Black Women in Higher Education: The R.E.A.L. Conversation” (Panelist)…VCU 2021 Women’s HERstory Series-Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, VA)

*March 16th, 2021- “It’s the Microaggressions For Me: Let’s Talk Inclusion, Unmasking Privilege, Navigating Inequities, and Taking Action” (Virtual Dialogue)… Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion series-Delta Gamma Fraternity-Beta Psi-University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa, AL)

*March 10th, 2021-Online “Afrofututrism and Black Science Fiction Book Club Discussion” [See the Reading List Here]…Ontario Public Interest Research Group-Carleton University (Ottawa, Ontario)

*March 4th, 2021 -“The Impact of COVID-19 on Higher Education and the Future” (Panelist)… Activities Programming Board-Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, VA)

*March 3rd, 2021-Live Online Post-Lecture Conversation & Discussion on “Blackness, Politics and Gaming”…New Commons Project-University of Maine Farmington (Farmington, ME)

*February 25th, 2021 (8:00pm/ET)- “Fandom+Piracy Keynote w/Rebecca Wanzo: “How Should We Theorize Injury in Fan Studies?” (Panelist/Interlocuter)…Berkeley Center for New Media (Berkeley, CA)

*February 24th, 2021-“What’s Your RPG Fantasy?: Let’s Talk Blackness, Politics, and Gaming” (Virtual Lecture)… The New Commons Project-University of Maine Farmington (Farmington, ME)…Watch Here

*February 23rd, 2021- “Are Cultural Images Fueling Our Bias?” (Virtual Panelist)…Unlocking Health Equity [Office of Student Experience-Office of the Senior Vice President for Health Sciences at VCU] Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, VA)

*February 23rd, 2021-“Black Women Portrayals in American Pop Culture Media” (Virtual Lecture)…Chesterfield County Public Library (Chesterfield, VA)

*February 9th, 2021- “Afrofuturism and Black History”: Just Talk/Talk Just webinar series (Panelist)…Union Presbyterian Seminary-Katie Geneva Cannon Center for Womanist Leadership and the Center for Social Justice and Reconciliation (Richmond, VA)

2020

*December 9th, 2020-“Reflections on the Professional Access & Equity Series”- Get Ready to Pivot-2020 Fall VACRAO Conference (Virtual Panelist)…(VA State-wide)

*November 17th, 2020-Reclaiming Her Time” Imagining Black Femme Futures in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Virtual Lecture)… Maryland Institute College of Art (Baltimore, MD)