Symposium Themes 

• Community Archives and Black Memory Work 
• Sustainability and Climate Change 
• Black Educational Institutions and Black Educators 
• Decolonizing Educational Curricula 
• Black Pedagogies and Epistemologies 
• Digital Humanities and Access to Black Archives 
• Education Policy and Historical Erasure 

Preconference Workshops (add-on, optional) (June 9, 2026) 

Location: College of Charleston’s Avery Research Center for African American History | 125 Bull St. | Charleston, SC 29401 

Hands-on educational and archival workshops rooted in community practice and public scholarship. 

Theme: Education (June 10, 2026) 

Location: Francis Marion Hotel | 387 King St | Charleston, SC 29403

Exploring Black education and educators from Reconstruction to the present, inside and outside traditional classrooms through keynotes and concurrent sessions. 

Theme: Archives & Sustainability (June 11, 2026) 

Francis Marion Hotel | 387 King St | Charleston, SC 29403

Centering preservation, community archives, sustainability, and access to Black historical records through keynotes and concurrent sessions. 

Costs

Pre-conference (June 9th)

Workshops (add-on, optional) $50

Registration Includes:

• Attendance for three workshops on June 9th
• Taste of the Lowcountry bites from Chef Rashundra Grant

Symposium (June 10th and 11th)

Student rate: $50/$100 (early/regular)
General: $235/$275 * see what’s included for more details
If you have a financial hardship, please email DaNia Childress for more information [email protected]

Registration Includes:

• Continental breakfast
• Keynote speakers and luncheon panels
• Concurrent sessions
• Networking convening
• Closing reception

Register Now

We are excited to have the Francis Marion Hotel as the symposium’s host hotel. To book your room, please use the phone number below.

Online Code: AVERY26 or call 843-722-0600 ext 8201 or toll-free at 877-756-2121 and use the code AVERY26. The conference rate ends April 7, 2026.
The online link is for check-in and check-out between June 8 and June 11. If you are checking out on June 12th, you can still use the Symposium Rate but must call 843-722-0600 ext 8201 or toll-free at 877-756-2121. The code is AVERY26

Address: Francis Marion Hotel | 387 King St | Charleston, SC 29403

Map

If you are interested in Volunteering please contact DaNia Childress [email protected]

Volunteers are needed for the following:

• Registration
• Time Keepers
• Moderators
• Way Finders

We invite organizations, publishers, institutions, and community partners to support the symposium through sponsorship and exhibitor participation. Sponsorship provides meaningful visibility while directly supporting access, programming, and community engagement. 

Sponsorship opportunities may include: 

• Logo placement on symposium materials and website 
• Complimentary registrations 
• Recognition during keynote sessions 
• Exhibit table placement 

Exhibitor opportunities are available for: 

• Book vendors and publishers 
• Cultural organizations and nonprofits 
• Academic programs and initiatives 

Sponsorship and exhibitor rates are available upon request. For more information, email DaNia Childress, Avery and Liberatory Literacies Project Director [email protected]  

You can access the conference program online here!

https://builder.guidebook.com/g/liblitsymp/

You can access a PDF of the Program Book below

Symposium Program Book

With symposium registration, registrants are provided breakfast, lunch, and reception passed plates.  Below is a PDF of all meals.

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to the committee at [email protected]

Symposium Meals

Listings For Symposium Meals  

June 9, 2026-Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture (125 Bull Street) (for workshop registrants only)

Breakfast  

• Signature Shrimp and Grits with Assorted Toppings 
• Eggs 
• Bacon 
• Croissants 
• Biscuits  
• Coffee and Hot Tea Station 
• Pastries  
• Baked Goods 
• Whole Fruit 
• Yogurt   

Lunch 

• Oven Roasted Chicken 
• Vegetarian Red Rice  
• Seasonal Vegetables 
• Buttermilk Cornbread 
• Chicken Perloo 
• Shrimp and Okra cooked with Carolina Gold Rice 
• Sea Island Field peas cooked with rice and smoked turkey  
• Vegetarian Okra Soup 
• Classic Lemonade and Sweet Tea Station 

Exhibit Opening Reception 

• Collard Green Spring Rolls 
• Sweet and Spicy Beef Meatballs 
• Hot Buffalo Chicken Dip 
• Fresh vegetable served with classic Derby Benedictine dip, and a Lowcountry Lima Bean Hummus 
• Sea Island Red Peas and Black-Eyed Peas, diced onion, peppers, and herb tossed in a light vinaigrette  
• Salmon dip served with sliced cucumbers or bagel chips 
• Mini crab cakes  
• Assorted Southern Desserts Station  

 June 10, 2026 –Francis Marion Hotel (387 King St) 

Breakfast  

• Sliced Fresh Fruit and Seasonal Berries  
• Individual Fruit Yogurts  
• Assorted Bagels, Muffins, and Pastries with Cream Cheese, Creamy Butter and Fruit Preserves and Jams 
• Regular and decaffeinated coffee 
• Herbal Teas 
• Assorted Juices  

Lunch  

Lowcountry Buffet 

• Baby Spinach Salad with Cucumber, Tomato Wedges and Chopped Eggs Creamy Buttermilk Ranch Dressing, Red Wine, and Herb Vinaigrette 
• Creamy Coleslaw with Carrots and Red Cabbage 
• Pulled Pork BBQ and Soft Rolls 
• Southern Fried Chicken 
• Grilled Fish with Chef’s Selection of Sauce 
• Charleston Red Rice 
• Bacon Braised Collard Greens  
• Biscuits and Corn Bread with Butler 
• Charleston Cheese Crisps  
• Seasonal Fruit Cobbler and Banana Pudding  
• Iced Tea, Regular and Decaffeinated Coffee and Charleston Tea Garden Teas  

Un Networking Reception 

• Lump Crab Salad in cherry tomato with citrus chive aioli 
• Vegetable Spring Rolls with Plum Sauce 
• Petite Beef Wellington tender filet of beef and mushroom duxelles wrapped in puff pastry 
• Lemon Drop Squares 
• Pimento Cheese Canapes on Cucumber 
• Freshly Brewed Decaffeinated Coffee 
• Freshly Brewed Regular Coffee 
• Iced Tea with Lemon – unsweetened 
• Iced Tea with Lemon sweetened 
• Lemonade  

June 11, 2026 –Francis Marion Hotel (387 King St) 

Breakfast  

• Assorted Fresh Bagels with Cream Cheese 
• Selection of Scones with Creamy Butter and Preserves 
• Sliced Fruit with Seasonal Berries  
• Individual Fruit Yogurts 
• Selection of Individual Cereals with Whole and Skim Milk 
• Includes Regular and Decaffeinated Coffee, Herbal Teas, and Assorted Juices  

Lunch 

Farmers Buffet  

• Farmers Market Vegetable Soup 
• Hydroponic Mixed Greens, Green Tomatoes, Corn, Mushrooms, Broccoli with Herbed Honey vinaigrette 
• Green Bean, Cherry Tomato, and Onion Salad 
• Herb Grilled Flank Steak with Fresh Chimichurri 
• Pecan Crusted Chicken with Drunken Honey Mustard 
• Grilled Local Market Catch with Seasonal Accoutrements 
• Rigatoni with Oyster Mushrooms, Broccoli, Sundried Tomato and Pecan Pesto, Olive Oil, garlic, and Herbs 
• Wild Rice Pilaf 
• Sourdough Pumpernickel, Whole Grain Rolls and Butter  
• Charleston Cheese Crisps  
• Seasonal Fruit Cobbler and Strawberry Shortcake 
• Preset Iced Tea and Iced Water with Lemon 
• Iced Tea Regular and Decaffeinated Coffee and Charleston Tea Garden Teas  

Closing Reception 

• Fried Green Tomato Moons Pimento Cheese Bacon Marmalade Scallions 
• Spinach and Feta Spanakopita 
• Lowcountry Skewer with onion sausage, shrimp, and potato 
• Vegetable Spring Rolls with Plum Sauce-hot 
• Assorted Mini Cupcakes: Vanilla, Chocolate, and Red Velvet  
• Freshly Brewed Decaffeinated Coffee 
• Freshly Brewed Regular Coffee 
• Iced Tea with Lemon – unsweetened 
• Iced Tea with Lemon sweetened 
• Lemonade  

The symposium will kick off with four add-on workshops. Purchasing the workshops will provide you access to all four as well as breakfast and lunch.

They will take place at the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture and will be consecutive

• Workshop 1: Nomadic Archivists Project with Miranda Mims and Steven Fullwood
  • The Nomadic Archivists Project (NAP) is a pioneering initiative dedicated to partnering with individuals, community groups, organizations, and institutions to establish, preserve, and enhance collections that illuminate the global Black experience.
• Workshop 2: Georgia Dusk with Ashby Combahee
  • Georgia Dusk is an intergenerational counter-narrative to the mainstream depiction of Georgia politics and the southern liberation movement. As experts of our own stories, we document grassroots movements led by Black queer and feminist people and reclaim the historical representation of liberation movements throughout Georgia.
• Workshop 3: Citizenship, Freedom, and Liberation: A Community School Collaborative Zine Workshop with Erica Veal and Nate Hubler, both of the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture, College of Charleston, and James Njonjo, independent scholar
  • You can read more about their work in this article, “Citizenship and Liberation: An Analysis of Mid-20th Century Community Schools for 21st Century Organizers.”
• Workshop 4: Culinary Expressions of the Lowcountry with Chef Rashaunda Grant of Carolina Cookery
  • The workshop includes breakfast, lunch, and a cooking demonstration on Lowcountry foodways.

This event is free and open to the public. You may register for this separately here.

The Radical Quad: The History of the Avery Research Center traces the formation of the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture from its roots as the Avery Normal Institute,  the work of the Avery Institute of Afro American History and Culture to preserve 125 Bull Street,  to its present role as an archive and research center of African American history. The exhibition highlights the vision and leadership of its directors, whose work transformed the Avery Research Center into a vital site of preservation, scholarship, and community engagement. Through photographs, documents, and artwork, Radical Quad explores how the Avery Research Center has fostered a liberatory legacy through its pillars: the archive, the library, the community hub, and the museum collections.

Derrick P. Alridge is the Philip J. Gibson Professor in the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Virginia. A scholar of African American educational and intellectual history, his work explores the lived experiences, ideas, and community strategies that shaped Black schooling in the U.S. South. He is the founder and director of the Teachers in the Movement Project, an expansive oral history initiative that has conducted more than 500 videotaped interviews with teachers involved in the civil rights movement and its ongoing legacies. 

Alridge’s scholarship appears in major journals and edited collections. His recent book, Liberation and Education: Perspectives on Black Educational Thought, examines the educational philosophies of Black educators and intellectuals from the early twentieth century to the present. His current book project, Soul Work: An Oral History of Teachers in the Civil Rights Movement, extends the insights of his recent article in the Oral History journal of the British Oral History Society, where he introduced his emerging framework of soul-work epistemology and methodology  

A native of Rock Hill, South Carolina, Alridge is also a committed public historian who collaborates widely with museums, archives, and community organizations. He has delivered invited lectures and keynotes across the country, offering historical insight that speaks directly to contemporary conversations about memory, spirit, consciousness, and the education of Black people—and all people—across the South that shaped him. 

More details coming soon

Moderator

• Dr. Bobby Donaldson, University of South Carolina

Panelists

• Dr. Kellie Carter Jackson, Wellesley College
• Dr. Justin Coles, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
• Dr. Ashley Dennis, College of Charleston
• Dr. Crystal Sanders, Emory University

More details coming soon

More details coming soon

Zakiya Collier is an Afro-Carolinian archivist, memory worker, and educator. Her work and research explore the role of cooperative archival practices in sustaining cultural memory. She leads The Black Memory Workers, a community of over 300 members committed to practicing care and intention in the long-term preservation and celebration of Black life. Zakiya is currently an Adjunct Professor at Queens College (CUNY) and New York University, the Program Director for Archiving the Black Web, and recently a 2025 Create Change Bed-Stuy Artist-in-Residence with The Laundromat Project. She is also a co-producer on the forthcoming documentary film, Somebody’s Gone, and co-editor of a special double issue of The Black Scholar on Black Archival Practice. 

More details coming soon

Moderator

• Micha Broadnax, Harvard University

Panelists

• Chaitra Powell, University of Arizona
• DeLisa Minor Harris, Fisk University
• Dorothy Berry, Writer and Archivist
• Kaitlyn B. Jones, The Black Ordinary

More details coming soon

More details coming soon