This April marks the 50th anniversary of the Willard Straight Hall occupation and the resulting founding of the Africana Studies and Research Center.
The Cornell Institute for Comparative Modernities mourns the loss of Okwui Enwezor, distinguished writer and extraordinary curator, and who was a member of our Advisory Board since the founding of ICM over ten years ago. The many major groundbreaking exhibitions and platforms he realized have decisively transformed scholarship and curation of modern and contemporary art. He was a mentor and example to numerous emerging scholars and curators from across the world. His legacy exemplifies the ongoing labor of decolonization, in imagining global modern and contemporary culture beyond canonical hierarchies and towards greater equality.
Please join Stefan Bradley for a book discussion.
Stefan Bradley is currently the chair of the Department of African American Studies and associate professor at Loyola Marymount University. He has received numerous honors and awards including the Don Brennan Humanitarian Award; the Better Family Life Excellence in Educational Leadership Award; the SLU Faculty Excellence Award; the Ernest A. Calloway, Jr. Teaching Excellence Award; and, the St. Louis American’s Salute to Excellence Young Leaders Award. He was selected as one of Delux Magazine’s Power 100. In the wake of the tragic events in Ferguson and St. Louis, he engaged in discussions with representatives from the US Department of Justice, Civil Rights Commission, and Department of Education.
Students and alumni will lead a commemorative walk starting at the Africana Studies and Research Center, stopping at Wari House and the former site of the Africana Center, and ending at Willard Straight Hall. Along the way, speakers will share each location’s role in the events surrounding the occupation of Willard Straight Hall. At Willard Straight Hall, student dance and music groups will perform pieces to signify the occupation’s importance in the broader civil rights movement, and participants are invited to view photographs in the building’s gallery and share their reflections and stories on a community banner. Alumni who participated in the occupation will share stories at a fireside chat in the International Room. Free refreshments will be served along with music by a local DJ.
