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Program
The program is subject to change. Please sign up for updates.
All conference activities will be hosted at the Halifax Marriott Harbourfront Hotel with the exception of the October 18th Open House and October 21st Brunch at the Black Cultural Centre. Delegates pre-registered for excursions will be provided return transportation.
Downloadable USS 2023 Program [PDF]
The USS Conference Keynote Addresses will be available on Zoom. Refer to the agenda below for the times on October 19th and 20th. Some speeches may not be available by Zoom.
Wednesday, October 18th
Open House at the Black Cultural Centre & Tour of Africville
9 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Bus departs hotel at 9 a.m. and returns to hotel at approximately 2 p.m.
Thursday, October 19th
Presidents’ Opening Breakfast
8 a.m. – 10 a.m.
H.E. John Mahama, former President of Ghana
Morning Breakouts/Plenary Sessions
10:30 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Concurrent Panel #1: Reparations and Politics
Annapolis Room
Delvina Bernard, Saint Mary’s University, Canada
Michael Heslop, Northern Virginia Community College, United States
Thando Hyman, Toronto District School Board, Canada
Cikiah Thomas, Global African Congress, Canada
Omali Yeshitela, African People’s Socialist Party and Leader, Uhuru Movement, United States
Concurrent Panel #2: Universities and Slavery
Acadia Room
Elizabeth Beckman, Johns Hopkins University, United States
Monica Kristin Blair, Johns Hopkins University, United States
Summer Perritt, PhD Candidate, Rice University, United States
Luncheon Keynote Address
12 p.m. – 2 p.m.
Dr. Sylvia D. Hamilton, renowned filmmaker, writer, journalist and artist, and University of King’s College Inglis Professor
Afternoon Breakouts/Plenary Sessions
2:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Concurrent Panel #1: A Pan-African Intervention in Undertaking Reparations
Annapolis Room
Carlos Alvarez, Articulación Latinoamericana para el Decenio Afrodescendiente, Argentina
Shari Garcia, La Asociación de Mujeres Afrocolombianas/The Association of Afro-Colombian Women (AMUAFROC), Colombia
Kwesi Ochosi, Global African Congress, United Kingdom
Marvin Slaughter, University of Chicago, United States
Concurrent Panel #2: Institutions and Communities
Acadia Room
Politics in the Archives of Slavery and Abolition, Mary T. Freeman, University of Maine, United States
Outcomes and Observations from the Columbia University & Slavery Project, Thai Jones, Columbia University, United States
Rethinking the Shelburne Riots: Exploring Community Perspectives, Graham Nickerson, PhD candidate, University of New Brunswick, Canada
Race, Tax, and the Funding of Universities in Loyalist Nova Scotia, Shirley Tillotson, University of King’s College and Dalhousie University, Canada
Evening Reception and Dinner
5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Reception
6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Dinner
Keynote speaker: Sir Hilary Beckles, Vice-Chancellor of the University of the West Indies and Chairman of the CARICOM Reparations Commission
Friday, October 20th
Breakfast Keynote Address
8 a.m. – 10 a.m.
Dr. Afua Cooper, distinguished historian and poet, and Killam Research Chair in Black and African Diaspora Studies at Dalhousie University
Morning Breakouts/Plenary Sessions
10:30 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Concurrent Panel #1: Nova Scotia and Slavery
Annapolis Room
Held in Slavery, Indentured or Free? Recovering the Black Voices in John Clarkson’s Halifax Notebook, Eleanor Bird, Lancaster University, United Kingdom
A New Freedom in Christ: Black Christian Abolitionists in Loyalist Nova Scotia, Alphonso F. Saville, Princeton University, United States
Freedom, Foodways, & Fugitive Ecologies: Subsistence as Resistance, from Halifax, North Carolina to Halifax Nova Scotia, Tony N. VanWinkle, Guilford College, United States
Roundtable: Examining Black Loyalist Historiography and Proposing New Directions in Black Loyalist History
Acadia Room
Dr. Ibrahim Abdullah, University of Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone
Dr. Afua Cooper, Dalhousie University, Canada
Andrea Davis, Black Loyalist Heritage Centre & Museum, Nova Scotia, Canada
Graham Nickerson, University of New Brunswick, Canada
Carole Watterson Troxler, Elon University, United States
Luncheon Keynote Address
12 p.m. – 2 p.m.
Dr. Harvey Amani Whitfield, leading historian of Black history and slavery in Colonial Canada and a Professor in Black North American History at the University of Calgary
Afternoon Breakouts/Plenary Sessions
2:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Concurrent Panel #1: Loyalists and Enslavement at King’s College, Nova Scotia
Sable AB
Bonnie Huskins, Assistant Professor, University of New Brunswick, Canada
Karolyn Smardz Frost, Adjunct Professor at Acadia University and Harriet Tubman Institute, York University, Canada
David W. States, Parks Canada historian and independent genealogist, Canada
Concurrent Panel #2: Together We Can: Intersectional Collaboration among Faculty, Staff, Students, and the Broader Community
Annapolis Room
Erica Johnson Edwards, Francis Marion University, United States
Allison M. Steadman, Francis Marion University, United States
Linda Sullen, Francis Marion University, United States
Concurrent Panel #3: Legacy: Dead and Living Hand
Halifax Room
Valerie Borum, Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada
Sujaya Dhanvantari, University of Guelph, Canada
Tejash Kumar Singh, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Evening Reception and Dinner
5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Reception
6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Dinner
Keynote speaker: Dr. George Elliott Clarke, renowned poet and E.J. Pratt Professor of Canadian Literature at the University of Toronto
Saturday, October 21st
Brunch — Black Cultural Centre, Dartmouth, NS
9 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Bus departs hotel at 9 a.m.
Keynote speaker: H.E. David Comissiong, Barbadian lawyer, former senator and founder of the Clement Payne Movement
Exclusive viewing of the film: I am the Bridge by Bernard Cook | Melisande Short-Colomb
Learn more about the creative team behind the multi-year, multi-film documentary project, Since Last We Met, developed by Bernie Cook in collaboration with members of the GU272+ community, the living descendants whose ancestors were owned by the Jesuits of Maryland.
Bus returns to hotel at approximately 2 p.m.
Must pre-register for transportation to this excursion which is limited to registered delegates only. Includes return transportation. Seats are limited.
