SOE 2024

“What is ‘the African Diaspora’—and Why Should it Matter to Me?”

AAI’s 8th annual State of Education on Africa conference on “Africa, the Global Climate Crisis, and Reparations” took place virtually on Friday, January 20th, 2023. The conference theme explored the changing meanings of “the African diaspora” and “African American" in today’s cultural and political landscape and the value of centering Africa and its worldwide diaspora in K-12 education. Our speakers discussed the interconnections between reparations and the climate crisis in Africa and the world at large, and set stage for people of all ages and backgrounds to simultaneously draw lessons from world history and pursue practical approaches to achieving climate justice and repair.

Virtual Conference

January 19, 2024

“The moment of displacement was also the moment of a making of a new identity, a global identity, a transnational identity, a trans-ethnic identity that gave birth to to the identity that is called black today.”
— Maboula Soumahoro, 1:05:57

Watch the Conference

Conference Speakers

OPENING REMARKS

Kofi Appenteng

President, AAI

VIDEO GREETINGS

  • Deniece Laurent-Mantey serves as the Executive Director of the President’s Advisory Council on African Diaspora Engagement in the United States and the senior State Department representative for the U.S.- Africa Leaders Summit. From April 2021 – February 2023 she served as the Director for Africa at the White House National Security Council where she led over 18 U.S. government agencies and coordinated with various stakeholders to execute President Biden’s priorities for the 2022 U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit and was the policy architect behind the President’s Advisory Council on African Diaspora Engagement. Laurent-Mantey led efforts to help generate $15 billion to support trade and investment across Africa, and a $55 billion commitment to advance U.S.- Africa shared priorities. Under her guidance, the White House launched the $800 million Digital Transformation with Africa initiative. Since 2008, Laurent-Mantey has served on the Secretary of State’s policy planning staff, held the position of Acting Deputy Director and Desk Officer in the Bureau of African Affairs, served as Special Assistant to Secretaries of State Clinton and Kerry, and worked as a Staff Assistant and intern in the Bureau of Oceans, Environment, and Science; the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor; and the Bureau of African Affairs from 2008-2012. Laurent-Mantey is the recipient of two Department of State Superior Honor Awards and two Meritorious Honor Awards. She was named one of the Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD) in 2018. She has an MA in African Studies and Public Policy from Howard University and a BA in International Relations from Syracuse University.

KEYNOTE: “Reflections on the Importance of Afro-Latin America in the Global Black World”

  • Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and Diversity and Professor of African & African American Studies, Washington University in St. Louis

KEYNOTE: “Africans and African Americans: Evolving Historical Connection”

  • Professor of 19th Century African American and African Studies, The Carter G. Woodson Institute for African American and African Studies, University of Virginia

SCHOLARS PANEL on Key Terms: “The African Diaspora, “Pan-Africanism,” and “African Americans”

  • Associate Professor, Department of English, University of Tours and Visiting Professor, Bennington College

  • Associate Professor and Director, Center for African Studies, Department of African Studies, Howard University

  • Assistant Professor and William Dawson Chair, Department of History, McGill University

K-12 PRACTITIONERS GALLERY

  • Principal, Marygrove High School and Elementary School

  • Principal, Ralph Bunche K-8 Academy

  • Teacher and Howard University Masters Candidate

AUTHOR BOOK TALK on Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library

  • Poet, Author, Critic and Professor, Fayetteville State University

  • Award-winning Librarian, 2015 Recipient, Coretta Scott King/Virginia Hamilton Practitioner Award for Lifetime Achievement

Next

SOE 2023: Africa, the Global Climate Crisis, and Reparations