Join Us for ASWAD's 25th Anniversary!

Welcome to ASWAD 2025 - 12th Biennial Conference and Anniversary Program

Theme: 'I've known rivers': The Ecologies of Black Life and Resistance

Program Events Highlights

Wednesday, October 29

2:30 – 4:00 pm - Tour - Contemporary Art Museum and Pulitzer Arts Foundation (30 slots – Free) - Meet at the Contemporary Art Museum, 3750 Washington Ave., St. Louis, MO 63108

4:00 – 6:30 pm  - Executive Board Meeting, Hawthorne Room 

Thursday, October 30

7:00 – 7:45 am - Yoga Session, Landmark 5 - 6 (Online sign-up required - $10)

5:00 – 6:00 pm - Keynote Speaker, Rep. Cori Bush, Landmark 4 -7

6:15 – 8:30 pm  - Opening Reception, Statler Ballroom, featuring Washington University Student Jazz Trio

Friday, October 31

7:00 – 7:45 am - Yoga Session, Landmark 5 - 6 (Online sign-up required - $10)

8:30 – 4:50 pm - ASWAD Film Day, Gateway A

5:00 to 6:30 pm - ASWAD Business Meeting (open to all members), Landmark 4-7

7:00 - 9:00 pm - Leadership Networking Reception (Online sign-up required) -  Offsite: Northwest Coffee, 4251 Laclede Ave, St. Louis, MO 63108

Saturday, November 1

7:00 – 7:45 am - Meditation Session -- Landmark 5 - 6 (Online sign-up required - $10)

2:00 – 5:00 pm - Tour  - Great Rivers Greenway Tour of Mill Creek Valley neighborhood (Destination site of the Great Migration) (40 slots total - Free) - Departs from the Marriott St. Louis Grand Lobby @ 2:00 pm

8:00  - 12:00 am - Closing Reception – ASWAD 25th Anniversary Celebration, Landmark Ballroom 4 – 7

Featuring: Afro-Colombian Artists – Asondeke Group; Red and Black Brass Band; and  DJ Good Peoples

Sunday, November 2

9:00 – 10:15 am Tour - Black History on the Mississippi River Riverboat, boarding 8:45 am - Cost: $40 (224 slots total) - Departs from St. Louis’ riverfront cobblestone levee: 50 S. Leonor K. Sullivan Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63102 (20-minute walk from Marriott St. Louis Grand)

Panel Highlights

Saturday, November 1

10:20 - 11:50 am - Currulao and Bunde Approaches to other Protagonists of Colombian Music, Landmark 4  – Musical Presentation

2:00 - 3:30 pm -  Reparations in Greater St. Louis, Landmark 5 – 6 -  Discussion of the history of slavery in St. Louis, the current state of African-American life in the city and county, and the movement for reparations.

2:00 - 3:30 pm - Black Studies and the Shifting Winds of our Nation: Strategies for Advancing the Discipline, Landmark 4 

Mentorship Highlights 

Friday, October 31

3:20 to 4:50 pm -  Leading and Advocating in Black Studies: A Workshop for Current and Future Black Studies Chairs and Program Directors, Westmoreland-Kingsbury

7:00 pm - Leadership Networking Reception  -Northwest Coffee Roasting (Black-owned), 4251 Laclede Ave, St. Louis, MO 63108 - lease RSVP at the link to reserve your spot: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeXnyMoOoZuXbZFeqvqljnEQJtG08pOVIcOkUFLVDQVMNou9w/viewform?usp=header.

Saturday, November 1

3:50 - 5:20 pm  - Mentoring in a Time of Crisis - Landmark 4