#UMBlackout: Mobilizing Black Communities for Radical Transformation in the Digital Age

In honor of Black History Month and co-sponsored by the UM Social Work Community Organization Learning Committee, the #UMBlackout: Mobilizing Black Communities for Radical Transformation in the Digital Age symposium invites your participation in a working session about contemporary black activist leadership for transformative change through digital forums. Through workshops, lectures, and a panel discussion, a wide variety of scholars, campus and grassroots organizers will engage in diverse reflections about the role of the internet in social change efforts through strategic mobilization. Join us in a collective discussion to advance discourse and direct action in community practice in the digital age.

Collective Working Goals

• Unpacking the role of the internet in community mobilization
• Building bridges among scholars, national and campus activists
• Learning from black activist leadership for transformative change
• Establishing coalitions through solidarity across social identities
• Promoting youth engagement

Facilitators & Presenters

• Alexis Pauline Gumbs Ph.D - Community accountability scholar, activist and organizer
• Andre Brock Ph.D - Department of Communication Studies, faculty, University of Michigan
• Austin McCoy - Department of History Doctoral Student, and Campus organizer, University of Michigan
• Desmond Patton Ph.D - Professor of Social Work, Columbia University
• Jamie Moshin Ph.D - Communications and Discourse Scholar, Staff at the National Center for Institutional Diversity
• Jonathan Jackson - Head of Branding & Strategy, Blavity
• Kim Katrin Milan - Human rights educator, activist, organizer, artist
• Mark Anthony Neal Ph.D - Professor of African and African American Studies, & Director for the Center for Arts, Digital Culture & Entrepreneurship (CADCE)
• Morgan Willis, Allied Media Conference Program Director, Detroit - based activist and organizer
• Muniba Saleem Ph.D - Department of Communication Studies, University of Michigan
• Zellie Imani - National community activist, Black Twitter contributor, organizer, and youth educator

Download the mobile conference app Guidebook on your cell phone or iPad for access to the schedule, workshop descriptions, speaker biographies, live social media streaming,and more. The guidebook code is umblackout16

Continental breakfast and lunch served

RSVP here »

University Community Co-Sponsors

School of Social Work Community Organization Learning Committee, Department of Afroamerican and African Studies, Office of Academic and Multicultural Initiatives, Department of History, Department of Communications, Office of Multiethnic Student Affairs, Rackham Graduate School, Ginsberg Center, Spectrum Center, Department of Screen Arts and Culture, Trotter Multicultural Center, National Center for Institutional Diversity, People of Color Collective, Students of Color of Rackham, Association of Black Social Workers, Community Action and Social Change (CASC), Center for the Education of Women, Department of American Culture