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DELAWARE, Ohio – Ohio Wesleyan University will explore the evolution and impact of Black art and culture during its second Melvin Van Peebles Symposium from March 28-30, 2025. The three-day event will include academic presentations, roundtable discussions, screenings and performances, an art exhibition and artist talk, and a moderated keynote address.
The theme of the 2025 Melvin Van Peebles Symposium is "Disruption!! Signal Fires, Reckoning, and Jubilee Through Black Art." The event will include ticketed sessions, as well as free events open to the community.
Ohio Wesleyan launched the symposium in 2023 to honor the legacy of Van Peebles, a 1953 OWU graduate and groundbreaking Black filmmaker whose best-known works include "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song," "Watermelon Man," and "The Story of a Three-Day Pass."
Co-chairs of the upcoming Van Peebles Symposium are Ohio Wesleyan Chief Diversity Officer Dawn Chisebe and OWU Department of Journalism and Communication faculty members Phokeng Dailey, Ph.D., associate professor and department chair, and Ashley Kennard, Ph.D., assistant professor.
"Black innovators are messengers," the co-chairs said in explaining the theme of the 2025 symposium. "Our artists in the fine/performing arts and literature, our pioneers in community activism and business, have long served as the makers of 'signal fires' for culture and for the multiple communities they live in and serve – sending their life-saving information across vast distances. …
"During the Harlem Renaissance, Black innovators regularly turned to the multivalent properties of Fire as metaphorical inspiration," they continued. "One particular group of disruptive innovators in Harlem launched a short-lived quarterly magazine, Fire!!, which was dedicated to Black artists and utilized the suggestion of this ancient symbol of strength, beauty, spirit, and news-giving in its very title. This year's symposium honors both the boldness of that historical project and its pioneering disruptors, as well as disruptive innovator Melvin Van Peebles … a true signal fire in his physical presence and in the lasting light, heat, and smoke of his works."
The symposium is being planned by representatives of Ohio Wesleyan's Department of Africana, Gender, and Identity Studies; Department of Journalism and Communication; Department of Performing Arts; and Office of the Chief Diversity Officer in collaboration with a committee that includes representatives of the professional arts and education communities and of Ohio Wesleyan's sister school, Claflin University, a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) located in South Carolina. The committee is working to bring a contingent of Claflin students to Ohio Wesleyan for the symposium and to plan a simultaneous film screening on both college campuses to broaden the event's impact.
To learn more about the 2025 Melvin Van Peebles Symposium or submit presentation proposals, visit owu.edu/VanPeebles.
Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation's premier liberal arts universities. Located in Delaware, Ohio, the private university offers more than 70 undergraduate majors and competes in 24 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Through its signature experience, the OWU Connection, Ohio Wesleyan teaches students to understand issues from multiple academic perspectives, volunteer in service to others, build a diverse and global perspective, and translate classroom knowledge into real-world experience through internships, research, and other hands-on learning. Ohio Wesleyan is featured in the book "Colleges That Change Lives" and included on the U.S. News & World Report and Princeton Review "Best Colleges" lists. Connect with OWU expert interview sources at owu.edu/experts or learn more at owu.edu.