A moderated discussion with Jennifer Shoaff (left) and Keynote Speaker Crystal Wilkinson (right) at the eighth annual Black Summit Experience.
Reminder Publishing photo by Tyler Garnet
CHICOPEE — On Feb. 21, Elms College hosted the eighth Annual Black Experience Summit, co-sponsored with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield and YWCA of Western Massachusetts.
This year’s theme, “Harambee,” which means “all pull together” in Swahili, explored the intersection of food justice and the Black community’s historical and cultural experiences.
The event began with opening remarks from Elms College Chief Diversity Officer Jennifer Shoaff, Elms College President Harry Dumay and Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joesph’s of Springfield President Elizabeth “Betsy” Sullivan.
When talking about the summit, Shoaff said, “We are thrilled and thrilled every year. This is one of my favorite events and it’s so lovely to see the community outside of Elms as well as our community, our faculty, staff and students. We have amazing speakers; we have a docuseries to show, and we have an amazing panelist to end our program with.”
The event featured a moderated discussion with Shoaff and Keynote Speaker Crystal Wilkinson, Kentucky’s poet laureate and Bush-Holbrook endowed chair of English at the University of Kentucky.
The moderated panel discussion featured Karen Washington, Rise and Root Farm founder; Liz O’ Gilvie, Springfield Food Policy Council director and Cynthia Feliciano, health and racial equality senior director at Health Resources in Action.
The conversation was moderated by Tyra Good, inaugural executive director of the Center for Equity in Urban Education and an associate professor of education at Elms College.
Dumay talked about previous year’s summit and said, “For eight years now, even when we were forced to meet virtually because of COVID, we’ve gathered year after year for this unique summit. Along the years the summit has had various themes to examine the African American and African experience in education, in healthcare, in housing, through its intersectionality with other identities. We celebrated the shoulders on which we stand, and we’ve explored African American experience within the Catholic Church.”
To highlight this year’s theme, the event also showed two episodes of the docuseries “High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America.”
These two episodes were shown to offer a background for the powerful conversations taking place later in the event.
Dumay also talked about this year’s theme and said, “This year’s theme is particularly appropriate for our times and our traditions at Elms College. It finds its inspiration in the African concept of Harambee, all pull together, and it examines how food has been a catalyst for togetherness injustice within and outside of the African American community.”
He further explained that this year’s theme is particularly appropriate for the time subcase, “The need for all of us, within the Elms College community and within the larger community, to come together and recognize our shared humanity has never been greater. The importance of holding onto the values that they have incumbered has never been more urgent.”
Sullivan talked about the speakers that were scheduled to talk at the event.
She said, “Black women have impacted our history in so, so many ways and today’s program will demonstrate the theme of togetherness within the food justice movement. We are aware in our world at this present time the seriousness of food insecurity and today’s program will challenge us to be conscious of and work for equity among all peoples and in all the ways.”
The event also featured two separate question and answer sessions that evoked deep conversations, and the event ended with a call to action to everyone attending.
