University of Delaware and Wilmington Public Library personnel collaborated to create the community-focused inaugural James E. Newton Symposium. From left to right: Alicia Fontnette, assistant professor, Department of Africana Studies, director, National Council for Black Studies; Carl Shaw, assistant director of community engagement, Wilmington Public Library; Kimberly Blockett, chair, Department of Africana Studies; and Kathryn Benjamin Golden, assistant professor, Department of Africana Studies.

The Future of Africana Studies

Article by Megan M.F. Everhart Photo by Evan Krape October 23, 2024

The inaugural James E. Newton Symposium honored Newton’s legacy of activism and people-centered scholarship

On Oct. 12, 2024, scholars and community members gathered for the inaugural James. E. Newton Symposium, a partnership between UD’s Department of Africana Studies and the Wilmington Public Library (WPL). “The Future of Africana Studies” brought together prominent scholars in the field to discuss issues including Black feminism and agency.

The event marks an important moment for the department, whose mission includes connecting to the local community, and is the first collaboration in what is hoped to be an ongoing partnership between the two institutions.

“Africana Studies has long been a leader in community engagement at UD, and the partnership with the Wilmington Library creates exciting opportunities for the department to further share and expand its educational and scholarly connections,” said Wendy Bellion, associate dean for the humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences.

“Dr. Newton, a founder of our department, was devoted to eliminating barriers between higher education and the community it’s intended to serve,” added Kimberly Blockett, chair of the Department of Africana Studies. “The department strives to strengthen our connections to Black Delawareans.”

Alicia Fontnette, assistant professor of Africana studies and director of the National Council for Black Studies (NCBS), which is headquartered at UD, explained that active community partnership is essential to allowing faculty to address the needs and concerns of the people they are studying, contributing to social change by applying research to real-world issues in the community.

“This practice is essentially what we are grounded in daily,” she said. “To truly engage in Africana, is to ground ourselves in the study of the experiences and lived realities that foster a deeper understanding.”

Serving the community

The Wilmington Public Library was established in the 1700s, and it serves as a community center for the city’s population, which is 70% people of color. WPL executive director Jamar Rahming explained that many of the library’s constituents have never left the city limits, making it paramount for the library to bring culture to them.

“We try to bring as many celebrity and pop cultural icons as possible so working-class people in the city can have these cosmopolitan experiences,” Rahming said.

WPL has brought prominent Black Americans to Delaware, including Levar Burton, Rick Slick Caruso, Felicia Rashad, Omari Hardwick, Angela Davis, Misty Copeland and Cornel West. In 2022 WPL was honored with the National Medal for Museum and Library Service for its dynamic programming and community engagement.

Jamar Rahming has led the Wilmington Public Library’s efforts as a community institution since 2018.

“It is incumbent upon us to meet and respond to community needs,” said Jamar Rahming, WPL executive director. “Cultural competency drives the work we do and infuses our programming offerings.”

The partnership with the Department of Africana Studies is another opportunity for WPL to promote engagement, while also making the academic discipline more accessible to community members.

“We can create space and create some synergy between intellectualism and swagger,” Rahming said. “We hope to create culture, build community and that everybody walks away with exposure to a different worldview.”

Students and activists

First-year graduate student in Africana studies Dha’’zhea Freeman said that events like the Newton Symposium are important for those who care about the history, present and future of Africana studies, people like Beatrice “Bebe” Ross Coker, a long-time Delaware advocate and activist who received UD’s Medal of Distinction in 2021.

Coker said she was blessed to grow up in a home where she learned about Black history, giving her a strong sense of who she is as a person, but not everyone has that experience. She appreciated learning from the panel discussions and hopes the Department of Africana Studies and WPL host many more events for the community that further explore the depth and magnitude of Africana studies.

“There is so much we don’t know that needs to be shared, from one side of the Atlantic to the other,” she said.

For UD students beginning their journey in Black history and advocacy, events like the Newton Symposium offer a way to bridge the academic and social experiences at an institution with a record of bringing everyday people, artists, scholars, authors, dancers and singers to community events.

“Attending a library event supplements academic education with cultural competency and emotional intelligence,” Rahming explained.

Black placemaking

Keynote speaker Charlene Caruthers, writer, filmmaker and Black studies Ph.D. candidate at Northwestern University, also touched on themes of community in her presentation.

Part of Caruthers’ research is on the town of Boley, Oklahoma, founded in 1903 as an all-Black town, which thrived without a police department thanks to residents’ commitment to community well-being.

She told the audience that how Black people make place for themselves is a key component of the future of Africana studies, and that looking at how placemaking occurred in the past is what allows us to understand the present and future.

“I wanted to better understand how Black people governed themselves after their relationship with slavery changed through emancipation and how they created place for themselves,” she said.

The symposium also included a panel on “Generations and Genealogies: Black Feminist Bonds and Binds” with panelists Barbara Savage, Geraldine R. Segal Professor Emerita of American Social Thought and professor emerita, Department of Africana Studies, University of Pennsylvania; Marquis Bey, professor, Department of Black Studies, Northwestern University; and Chelsea Frazier, assistant professor, Department of Literatures in English, Cornell University; and moderated by K. Marshall Green, assistant professor, Department of Africana Studies, University of Delaware.

The second panel, “Agency and Black Futures,” was moderated by Michael Tillotson, professor, Department of Africana Studies, SUNY Cortland, and the panelists were Alicia Fontnette, assistant professor, Department of Africana Studies, University of Delaware, and director of the National Council for Black Studies; and Jorge Serrano, director of undergraduate studies, Department of Africana Studies, University of Delaware.

About James E. Newton

James E. Newton (1941-2022) was an award-winning artist, scholar, and advocate for Black study and student life at the University of Delaware. As a driver of the fields of African American and African diaspora studies at UD, his lasting impact brings us together in community to critically reflect on the future of Black life and study.

Dr. Newton joined the UD faculty in 1972 as an assistant professor of education, and the following year he became associate professor and director of the Black American Studies Program (now the Department of Africana Studies). During his UD career, Dr. Newton also chaired the University’s Commission to Promote Racial and Cultural Diversity and served as a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Delaware State Advisory Committee.

Dr. Newton received the University’s highest accolade, an honorary doctor of humane letters degree, and his many other University honors included the Excellence in Teaching Award, the Black Student Union Faculty Award and an award for teaching excellence from the Mortar Board honor society.

In 2012, he received the James H. Gilliam Sr. Chairman’s Award from the Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League, which recognizes pioneers for outstanding contributions and leadership in the fight for civil rights and a more equal and inclusive America.