Black & Latino Male Summit 2019

Join us at this year's 2019 Black and Latino Male Summit. The theme this year will be Dismantling Barriers and Building Alliances Between Black & Latinx Men!

This year's summit is concentrated on deconstructing the social barriers that hinder solidarity between Black and Latinx men, and how to implement stronger, more conscious levels of communication and relation in our communities. Our purpose is to have a conscious discussion on what is keeping us from working together as one, how can he break this cycle of division, and in what ways can we construct a better sense of unity.

Summit Details

• Date: Saturday, April 20th, 2019
• Time: 8:30 am – 4:30 pm
• Location: I-Hotel and Conference Center
  1900 South 1st Street, Champaign, Illinois

Black & Latino Male Summit 2018

Decolonizing Our Minds, Body, and Culture

Saturday, March 31st, 2018

This year's summit is concentrated in the decolonization of concepts that have impacted and continue to negatively impact Black and Latino men. Our purpose is to deconstruct narratives, build consciousness as to who we are as Men of Color, and to continue our drive to serve as an agent of positive change in our communities.

Black & Latino Male Summit 2017

“Reviving Our Roots: The Cultivation of the Afro-Latino Diaspora”

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Sponsored by the Bruce D. Nesbitt African American Cultural Center & La Casa Cultural Latina

The theme of the 2017 Black and Latino Male Summit (BLMS) is “Reviving Our Roots: The Cultivation of the Afro-Latino Diaspora.” This year’s summit strives to provide a forum for Black and Latino men to discuss the role of history in today’s Black and Latino male experience.Summit Details

• Date: Saturday, February 25th, 2017
• Time: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
• Location: I-Hotel and Conference Center
• 1900 S. 1st Street, Champaign, Illinois

Black & Latino Male Summit 2016

Uniting for Change: Affirming Our Legacy to Influence Future Efforts

Saturday, March 5, 2016

The theme of the 2016 Black and Latino Male Summit (BLMS) is Uniting for Change: Affirming Our Legacy to Influence Future Efforts! This year’s summit strives to provide a forum for Black and Latino men to discuss the role of history in today’s Black and Brown culture.

Black & Latino Summit 2014

Saturday, February 22, 2014

The 2014 Black and Latino Male Summit (BLMS) provides a forum for Black and Latino men to discuss issues on manhood and to develop strategies to achieve academic success, professional development, and wellness. Furthermore, the organizers and sponsors of this summit seek to promote camaraderie, coalition building, and community between Black and Latino men at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Black and Latina Womxn's Summit - Phenomenal Womxn

BLWS is pleased to announce our 5th Annual Black and Latina Womxn Summit.

The purpose of BLWS is to provide an opportunity for Black and Latina Womxn to build coalitions as well as discuss issues of Womxnhood. The summit also provides a space to develop strategies to achieve academic success, professional, development and wellness. We are happy to welcome students, community members, staff, and faculty from various high schools and universities to participate in these critical discussions.

On Saturday, February 29th 2020 BLWS will host the event at the I-Hotel Confrence Center! Please register in advance and join us!

2019 Black and Latina Womxn Summit

Decolonization: Our Rebirth.

• Date: Sunday, April 14, 2019
• Time: 9:30 am-4:30 pm
• Location: Student Dining and Residence Programs Building
  301 E. Gregory Dr., Champaign, IL 61820

The institutionalization of colonial practices has historically been forced into our existence as Womxn of Color in all parts of the world; including Africa, Latin America, and the U.S. This year’s theme will explore colonized ideologies that have been forcefully instilled in us and have oppressed us at the institutional, psychological, and emotional level.

In doing so, we will discuss ways to dismantle the structures that have marginalized and deemed us as subordinate by exploring ways to unlearn what we have been taught within ourselves and our daily lives. This theme will take an analytical approach to our cultures and socialized practices that have been historically ingrained in us through colonization. In doing so, we hope to reclaim our identities by acknowledging our past and taking control of our present for a greater future.

The purpose of the Summit is to provide an opportunity for Black and Latina Womxn in the campus community to build coalitions as well as discuss issues of womxnhood. The summit also provides a space to develop strategies to achieve academic success, professional, development, and wellness. Our goal is to provide an environment for undergraduates, graduates, and staff, to connect and develop a network. Furthermore, we aim to provide a safe space to have deep conversations as well as provide knowledge of the resources that campus provides.

2018 Black and Latina Womxn Summit

Womxn of Fire: Embracing Our Flame

• Date: Sunday, April 8, 2018
• Time: 9:30 am to 4:30 pm
• Location: I Hotel and Conference Center
  1900 South First Street, Champaign

The purpose of the Summit is to provide an opportunity for Black and Latina Womxn in the campus community to build coalitions as well as discuss issues of womxnhood. The summit also provides a space to develop strategies to achieve academic success, professional, development, and wellness. Our goal is to provide an environment for undergraduates, graduates, and staff, to connect and develop a network. Furthermore, we aim to provide a safe space to have deep conversations as well as provide knowledge of the resources that campus provides.

Institutional and systemic practices have historically placed Black and Latina womxn in subordinate positions and have exploited our communities. But still in the face of adversity, we rise from the ashes in full flame. The purpose of this Summit is to learn to address and deconstruct the power structures and oppressive systems that have historically suppressed our communities and have conditioned us to view ourselves in a negative light, all while recognizing our role within pre-existing and emerging efforts that strive to do so. We seek to reclaim control of our narratives by empowering ourselves and projecting our voices on our own terms.

This year’s summit goals are to provide our communities with the tools to remove oppressive systems, address anti-blackness in our communities, and create a strong and sustainable foundation for liberation within our campus community and most importantly, beyond.

Confront

Within this section, we will confront harmful expectations and assumptions of gender, sexuality, femininity, race, and other aspects of Black and Latina identities. To do so we must center perspectives and voices from our own communities that have historically been erased or silenced, tackling issues that transcend borders. The dominant narratives that exist are only incomplete stories that do not accurately represent the complex identities of Black and Latina womxn.

• Ex. A workshop on colorism in the U.S. and its impacts; workshop on intersectionality/exclusion of this word from the Women’s March (how gender roles/femininity restricts how we see each other and ourselves and this creates further in our communities), The exclusion of Afro-Latinx in both communities
• Ex. A workshop on the consistent violence against tran(s) womxn, and how cisgender women contribute to this oppression. (Transphobia is very present in the Black and Latinx communities)

Deconstruct

In this section, we want to give Black and Latina womxn the knowledge, skills, and inspiration to continue the fight against intersecting systems of oppression. We believe an analysis of historical violence and trauma is necessary to understand our present day struggle. Our hope is to not only to draw inspiration from examples of resistance throughout past and present history, but to also help Black and Latina womxn develop skills to address pressing issues within our communities and transform into better activist and allies.

• Ex. Workshop on activism on college campuses and how we should not detach the surrounding community that are directly impacted by academic institutions, grassroots activism, our role in specific forms of activism (LGBTQ rights, environmental justice)

Empower

Being a womxn of color navigating a society that places privilege and power in whiteness takes a heavy toll on our mental health and overall well-being. We believe that a crucial part of resisting is active self care and unapologetically expressing ourselves through creative outlets. Although healing from individual, collective, and historical trauma is an extensive journey, we hope to gain the skills necessary to build healthy relationships with ourselves, others, and our communities through which we can continue to grow and thrive.

• Ex. A workshop on meditation; workshop on understanding/addressing mental health in our communities, establishing healthy boundaries with yourself/with others

Promote

In this section, we want to uplift and showcase artists of color to amplify their creativity, increase their visibility, motivate future creators, and demonstrate the power of art as the projection of struggle, resistance, liberation, and healing. In addition, we will offer this space to local activists who are advocating for their community through various methods.

• Ex. Workshop that mimics an art museum or showcase (we set up a room with artwork from local artists and booths with grassroot initiatives and let people walk around and look/observe/ask questions about it, etc.)

Wild Card

This area will focus on any issues or topics that address the lives, struggles, and intersectional identities of Black and Latina womxn that may not necessarily fit into one of the categories mentioned above.

2016 Black and Latina Womyn Summit

• Date: Sunday, April 24, 2016
• Time: 9:00 am-4:00 pm
• Location: Student Dining and Residential Programs

The purpose of the summit is to provide an opportunity for Black and Latina Womyn in the campus community to build coalitions as well as discuss topics of womynhood. The summit also provides a space to develop strategies to achieve academic success, professional, development, and wellness. Our goal is to provide an environment for undergraduates, graduates, faculty and staff staff, and community members to connect and develop a network. Furthermore, we aim to provide a space to have conversations of action and unity as expand the knowledge of these topics.

Call for Proposals

For the 2016 program, summit organizers encourage submissions of innovative, diverse, and challenging program proposals that address Black and Latina womyn in higher education. Proposals should align with the one or more of the following themes:

• Self-Identity: Our Many Shades
  This section explores identities and their intersections within Black and Latina womyn communities. Submissions can include issues in regards to colorism and sexism within said communities, but may also explore queerness, gender, religion, ethnicity and any variety of Black and Latina womyn’s identities and experiences. Presenter should be able to help participants explore the diversity in their identities and aesthetics.
• Building Bridges [Over Borders]
  This section explores the cultivation of comm(unity) amongst Black and Latina womyn, as well as how building of bridges matters in a global context. Submissions may include historical alliance between Black and Latina womyn, the overlap of Black and Latina womyn’s resistance and resilience, activism, shared experiences and global perspectives.
• Treat Yo’self
  This section explores mental health and the importance of self-care for Black and Latina womyn. Submissions may include art expression, poetry, self-affirmations, other forms of self-love, the impacts of mental health, and other healing processes for Black and Latina womyn.
• Black & Brown (Miss)representation
  This section explores the misrepresentations of Black and Latina womyn within various spaces and its influence on perception of womyn and self within society. Submissions may include topics on violence against womyn, sexual assault, body image, redefining beauty, eating disorders, leadership, womyn in the media, womyn in education, defining femininity, and intersectional feminism.
• Wild Card
  This area will focus on any topics and issues of Black and Latina womyn that fall outside of the aforementioned categories.