Celebrating an American Milestone: Negro History Week / Black History Month
Sponsored by the Dr. Carter G. Woodson Lyceum, Marshall University, Huntington, WV
With Cosponsors Marshall health and the City of Huntington.
DRAFT PROGRAM
THURSDAY, March 5th, 2026 – St. Mary’s Center for Education
Room A: Literature and Signification
Chair: Dr. Leonard Deutsch, Professor Emeritus of English, Marshall University
“‘Champion of Liberty!’ Discovering Bessie Woodson Yancey’s Life, Poetry, and Political Voice”
Dr. Katharine Capshaw, Professor of English and Social and Critical Inquiry, University of Connecticut
“Erasure, Amputation, and Regeneration: The Strange Case of A Gathering of Old Men”
Dr. Joel Peckham, Associate Professor of English, Marshall University
“Signifying in Language and Literature”
Dr. Delores Johnson, Professor Emerita of English, Marshall University
Comment: Dr. Carol Taylor Johnson, Professor of English, West Virginia State University
Room B: Black Innovation in the Arts, Letters, and Sciences
Chair: Dr. Clinton Arnold, Assistant Professor of Marketing and Business, West Virginia State University
“Dr. W.E.B. DuBois and the 1900 Paris Exposition”
Sandra Reed, Professor of Art, Marshall University
“Primitive doesn’t always mean primal, and other tips for Blues historians”
Edward Komara, Distinguished Librarian, State University of New York at Potsdam
“Black West Virginia Scientists”
Dr. Anna Mummert, Associate Dean of the College of Science, Marshall University
Comment: Dr. Gregory Breeden, Assistant Professor of Health Sciences, Marshall University
- Break: 10:30-10:45
Room A: Black Appalachian History, Preservation, and Information Access
Chair: Ms. Beverly Gray, Co-founder David Nickens Heritage Center
“The Black Appalachian Cultural Center: Creating a Cultural Heritage Tourism Sector
in Southern West Virginia”
Dr. Cicero M. Fain, III, Assistant Provost for Access and Opportunity, Marshall University
“Huntington, West Virginia’s Black City: How Segregation Shaped a Community, 1938-1965”
Ms. Jillian Kendell, M.A. student, Public History, West Virginia University
“Hidden in Plain Sight: The Role of Academic Libraries and LibGuides in Preserving and Promoting Black Appalachian History”
Ms. Tomeka Jackson, Linked Data Librarian, Assistant Professor, Middle Tennessee State University and Ms. Sahara Scott, Global Black Studies Librarian, Brown University
Comment: Dr. Billy Joe Peyton, Professor of History Emeritus, West Virginia State University
Room B: Gender and Identity
Chair: Dr. Jennifer Robinette, Drinko Academy and Simon Perry Center Program Coordinator, Marshall University
“From the Monster to the Victim? Blackfishing and White Women Tears”
Dr. Julie Snyder-Yuly, Associate Professor of Communication Studies, Marshall University
“Travelling Through this World: Black and Multiracial Motorcycle Clubs in Appalachia”
Dr. Kelli Johnson, Professor, Marshall University Libraries and
Dr. Paul Robertson, Assistant Professor of English, Marshall University
Comment: The audience
Honoring a Century of Scholarship: The Journal of African American History
Welcome by Marshall President Brad Smith, Comments by Professor Burnis Morris and Dr. Montserrat Miller. Presentation by: Dr. Bertis English, Professor of History, Alabama State University, editor, The Journal of African American History, “Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Carter G. Woodson and the Development of The Journal of African American History”
Room A: Roundtable Discussion
The Historical Significance and Agency of Black Fraternity and Sorority Organizations
Moderator: Mr. William Smith, Jr., Marshall University Board of Governors (Kappa Alpha Psi)
Former West Virginia State Senator Marie Redd (Alpha Kappa Alpha)
Ms. Debra Hart, President, Co-Motion (Delta Sigma Theta)
Mr. Corey Cunningham, Associate Director of Student Life, Marshall University (Omega Psi Phi)
Room B: Initiatives Addressing Black Public Health and Community Wellbeing
Chair: TBA
“The ‘Science’ of Racism: The Shame Psychology Must Acknowledge”
Dr. David Jett Pittenger, Professor of Psychology, Marshall University
“Black Health in Appalachia-Coal Mining in West Virginia and the Associated Health Outcomes for African Americans”
Dr. Georgiana Logan, Associate Professor of Health Sciences, Marshall University
“When Women are Not Heard: Health, Power, and Resilience in Appalachia”
Dr. Paris Johnson, Marshall University
Comment: Dr. Onyechi Magafu, Medical Director, St. Mary’s Medical Center Pain Relief Program, Marshall Health Network
FRIDAY, March 6, 2026
- 8:00 a.m. Bus from Delta Hotel by Marriott Downtown Huntington to Malden WV
- 9:30 -10:00 a.m. Tour of J.Q. Dickinson Salt-Works
- 10:15 a.m. Tour of African Zion Baptist Church complex
- 10:30 -11:15 a.m. Special Symposium Address
African Zion Baptist Church
“A New History of Booker T. Washington,” Mr. Larry L. Rowe, Esq., Public Historian - 11:30 a.m. Bus from African Zion Baptist Church to West Virginia State University
- 12:00-1:00 Lunch on own in the Wilson University Union, West Virginia State University
Wilson University Union, West Virginia State University
Welcome by West Virginia State University President Ericke Cage, comments by Professor Burnis R. Morris, Director of The Dr. Carter G. Woodson Lyceum and Co-Chair of the American Milestone Celebration Committee, and by Dr. Montserrat Miller, Executive Director, John Deaver Drinko Academy for American Political Institutions and Civic Culture. Presentation by: Rev. Matthew Watts, Senior Pastor, Grace Bible Church, founder of Hope Community Development Corporation.
Wilson University Union, West Virginia State University
From Abolition to Integration: Case Studies from the 19th and 20th Centuries
Chair: Mr. Maurice R. Cooley, V.P./Dean, Intercultural and Student Affairs, Emeritus & Founding Director, Marshall University Society of Black Scholars
“How the Vanguards of Abolition Defied the Spiral of Silence about Slavery in America”
Dr. Jennifer Robinette, Drinko Academy and Simon Perry Center Program Coordinator, Marshall University
“Frederick Douglass, Journalist”
Professor Dan Hollis, Professor of Journalism and Mass Communications, Marshall University
“William J. L. Wallace: The Man of the Hour”
Dr. Carol Taylor Johnson, Professor of English, West Virginia State University
Comment: Mr. David Harris, Marshall Health Network Board Member and Community Organizer
- Reception: 4:00-5:00
Wilson University Union, West Virginia State University - Bus back to Huntington: 5:15
SATURDAY, March 7th, 2026 – Drinko Library, Marshall University
- Drinko Atrium: Student Poster Exhibit
Drinko Library Room 138
High School and College Essay and Poster Design Winners
Chair: Dr. Montserrat Miller, Executive Director, John Deaver Drinko Academy for American Political Institutions and Civic Culture
Five ten-minute presentations by high school and undergraduate students
NAMES PENDING ANNOUNCEMENT AT KICKOFF EVENT 1/30
Comment: Ms. Alicia Gray, Ross County Historical Society
- Break: 10:15-10:30
Drinko Library 138
Pedagogies of Race, Pedagogies of Care
Chair and comment: Dr. Eric Lassiter, Director of Graduate Humanities, Marshall University
“Race All Around Us: Historical Monuments and the Politics of Public Memory”
Dr. Anthony Kwame Harrison, Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies, Virginia Tech
“Learning from the Community at the Buildings-Landscapes-Cultures
Public Humanities Field School”
Dr. Arijit Sen, Associate Professor of History, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
“Centering Students’ Stories in and about K-12 Schools”
Ms. Anna L. Osborne, English Language Specialist, Greenbrier County Schools
- Break: 12:00-1:00 – Drinko Atrium
Light lunch
Drinko Library Atrium
Approaching the Bicentennial of America’s Black Press and Making the Centennial of Negro History Week/Black History Month a Reality
Chair: Ms. Crystal Good, Founder and publisher of Black By God.
“In Pod we Trust”
Dr. Rob Quicke, Director and Professor, W. Page Pitt School of Journalism and Mass Communications, Marshall University
“Revisiting Carter G. Woodson’s Harvard Years through The HistoryMakers Digital Archive: Reframing the Foundations of Black Historical Consciousness”
Dr. Zebulon Vance Miletsky, Associate Professor of Africana Studies, Stony Brook University
“Black History Month in the Contemporary Black Press”
Dr. George Daniels, Associate Professor of Journalism and Creative Media, University of Alabama
“Enabling Woodson: How the Black Press Helped Popularize Black History”
Professor Burnis Morris, Journalism and Mass Communications, Director of The Dr. Carter Woodson Lyceum, Marshall University
“Discredit, Disrupt, and Destroy: Federal Attempts to Intimidate and Suppress the Black Press”
Dr. Rob Rabe, Independent Scholar
Comment: Ms. Jacqueline Proctor, Deputy Director of the West Virginia Bureau of Senior Services
Concert:
- Dr. Ollie Watts Davis and the University of Illinois Black Chorus
“Yet with a Steady Beat: The Sacred Music of Black Americans since 1619”
Joan C. Edwards Playhouse, 4:00
Closing Banquet:
- Symposium Banquet: 7:00 p.m.
21 Club, Frederick Ballroom
940 4th Avenue, Huntington, West Virginia
Register for the Online Black History courses honoring the Centennial of Negro History Week/Black History Month.
