“Hip hop started out in park…”

For 50 years, Hip Hop culture has reached every corner of the globe. One of the U.S.’s top cultural exports, its music is deeply-rooted in African cultural and folkloric traditions. Unfortunately, there have been a lot of disagreements regarding its origins and who is responsible for bringing Hip Hop culture and music to the mainstream. We know Hip Hop can be and has been a place to call home for so many across the Diaspora. This class will discuss the diverse origins of Hip Hop culture and explore the so-called “Diaspora Wars” that plague social media, with Hip Hop as the backdrop.

And African American, Jamaican American, and Nigerian American walk into a room…

Join us for this lively roundtable discussion

Enter into the powerful and transformative world of Black artists who lived and worked during the Jim Crow era in this intensive one-day course which offers a comprehensive exploration of how Black artists used their creative expressions to challenge racial oppression, document their experiences, and inspire change.

Together we’ll journey through a rich tapestry of visual arts, literature, music, performance, film, and photography. This engaging lecture and interactive discussions will provide a deep understanding of the historical context and the enduring significance of these artists’ contributions.

By the end of the course, attendees will not only appreciate the artistic achievements of Black artists in the Jim Crow era but also recognize the vital role of art in social resistance and cultural commentary.

The United States has a violent history of treating people of African descent as well below second-class citizens. One of the ways has been through the simultaneous weaponization of mental health disabilities and unjust (mis)diagnoses and the denial of access to quality, affordable mental health care. This course will explore this history and offer insight into the experiences of people with psychiatric disabilities. We will also discuss how racism within psychology, psychiatry, and social work has caused centuries of harm to people of African descent.

“Black”, as it relates to the notion of “race” is a loaded identifying term that most people understand to mean people of African descent. However, there has been quite a bit of confusion and controversy over the term, when it should be used, and who it describes. In this class, Dr. Taylor will give a historical overview of how “Black” became what it is today, analyze Omi & Winant’s theory of racial formation, offer an Afrocentric approach to understanding “race” (and “culture”), and lead a discussion about the discourse around what it means, globally, in the 21st century.

Deconstructing Systematic Racism is a micro-learning-based approach to dissecting systematic racism and its connections to modern history. The course fosters an environment of pushing comfort for the sake of radical change. Participants will develop a nuanced and educated perspective on the history of terrorism against the Congolese people and it provides information about their current situation and ongoing efforts towards liberation.

Ancestor reverence is the root of Black spirituality. It is deeply embedded in our communal heritage across the African Diaspora, influencing every part of who we are, yet it often goes unacknowledged today. This class explores the historical and cultural significance of honoring our Ancestors. Participants will learn how to create Ancestor altars and techniques to recognize and interpret Ancestral messages. By cultivating self-love and honoring oneself, students will deepen their connection with their Ancestors, fostering personal growth, cultural enrichment, and spiritual connection.

Hip-hop is an African folk art birthed in America. Whether one simply observes the tonal language that puffs the breath of life into the lyric prose of rap music, the poly-rhythms of the “boom-bap” rhythmic phrasings that became a fixture of New York rap music in the late 1980s, the winding syncopation from the pounding “808” drums that are a staple of many Southern rap anthems, the routine manner in which rappers incorporate antiphony in live performances to further facilitate “the cultural demand for collective, participatory music,” or the improvisational nature of true free-styling, hip-hop is innately an African folk art within the American context. Consequently, hip-hop continues centuries-old African and African American rhetorical forms and tropes.

Christianity has had a significant impact on the lives of people of the African Diaspora all over the world. For centuries, people have embraced the religion and turned to it as a source of comfort, healing, joy, and hope. The Black Church, as an institution, has long been an integral institution in Black communities the world over. In the United States, The Black Church has served not only as a place of spiritual respite but also as a gathering space for social justice organizing. This course presents a historical retrospective on the role of faith in the Civil Rights Movement and other social justice actions from American slavery to the present day.

This summer when we turn on the air conditioner, all we really want to know is how much is this going to cost me? However, for the Black community, this question means more than just the dollar amount on your electric bill. As the country and world transitions to “clean” energy, what exactly does this mean and how will it impact the African diaspora? Traditionally, climate advocates have taken a planet-first and communities-last approach. Significant recent policy changes have now created opportunity and space for grass-root communities to empower themselves and center ourselves in the discourse. This class will review the history and current fundamentals of energy climate policy in the United States. Participants in this course will understand how we have always been “climate warriors”, how energy policy decisions are, and how you can get involved to make sure energy policy is used to improve our health and wealth, not just run up a light bill.