CCSU Center for Africana Studies Hosting Annual Conference Celebrating ‘The Cookout’

The CCSU Center for Africana Studies is hosting “The Cookout: A Celebration of African Diasporic Resilience and Culture,” at its Annual Conference.

The 31st Annual Conference, in its 31st year, is the Center’s signature event.

Planned for March 6, 2025, from 10:00am to 6:00pm, organizers say,

The conference will offer a variety of educational, recreational, and cultural activities throughout the day. Central faculty and staff will offer remarks, along with keynote speakers Dr. Helen Neville, a professor of Educational Psychology and African American Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Dr. Daniel Broyld, an associate professor of African American History at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

Attendees will be invited to explore their roots at the ancestry and family tree table; learn about the flavors of their heritage with a recipe exchange; and indulge in a feast that celebrates unity.

Music and dance performances are to include, “African line dancing led by Sistah Iya Anyangō Yaa Asantewaa, a multi-award-winning empowerment freedom coach and the CEO and founder of The FLYY Movement, LLC, and a drum circle with Leonard Epps, president of the Brother Carl Hardrick Institute for Violence Prevention.”

The event is to be in the Constitution Room at CCSU’s Memorial Hall.

The Center for Africana Studies at CCSU says its mission, “is to foster and advance interdisciplinary understanding and appreciation of Africa, African Americans, and individuals of African heritage across the diaspora.”