'Lead, Love, and Act'
Ohio Wesleyan Celebrates Black Art and Culture at the Second Melvin Van Peebles Symposium
DELAWARE, Ohio – Graffiti artist Lance Johnson steps up to the canvas, prepared in advance with the word wisdom painted at the top and the word beauty painted at the bottom. Jazz and hip-hop music swells as he writes more words and strategically covers them with bold swaths of paint and then with more words and more paint – imbuing his canvas with positivity, color, and hope.
When dancer Candice Flows joins Johnson for the outdoor performance, he sprays her cream-colored clothes with the same bright colors, transforming her into a living canvas that personifies the joy of community, collaboration, and creativity.
"We have to support each other and celebrate ourselves," Johnson tells those watching their performance, part of Ohio Wesleyan University's second Melvin Van Peebles Symposium, held March 27-29, 2025, on the OWU campus to study and celebrate Black art and culture.
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."
Amplifying Vital Voices
University President Matt vandenBerg welcomed attendees to the 2025 symposium, themed "Disruption!! Signal Fires, Reckoning, and Jubilee Through Black Art" and inspired by the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s when "disruptive innovators" in the Manhattan neighborhood launched Fire!!, a short-lived magazine dedicated to Black artists.
"We gather to celebrate artistic expression," vandenBerg, Ed.D., told those attending the biennial event. "We gather to affirm that art is not just a reflection of society but a force that shapes it. We gather to amplify voices – especially those that challenge, disrupt, and inspire positive change.
"At Ohio Wesleyan University, we lead with our values," vandenBerg continued. "And when it comes to what matters most – our commitments to justice, belonging, and freedom – we have no choice but to lead, love, and act. … History does not remember those who watch and worry – it remembers those who stand and act.
"At Ohio Wesleyan, we stand up," he said. "We step forward. And we refuse to sit back and watch as hard-fought progress unravels."
During his talk, vandenBerg borrowed a quote from the symposium's keynote speaker, actress and activist Erika Alexander, who also encourages people to work to make the world better for everyone: "Don't just stop because you did one thing," vandenBerg said, echoing the award-winning performer.
Sharing Wisdom
Alexander herself took the symposium stage on March 29, with OWU Professor Phokeng Dailey, Ph.D., hosting her in conversation, followed by audience questions in which everyone learned about one of her surprising dream roles: "I'd love to be the Pink Panther," she confessed, referencing Peter Sellers' iconic physical comedy performance as Inspector Clouseau.
Alexander is best known for roles including Maxine Shaw on TV's "Living Single," Detective Latoya on "Get Out," and Cousin Pam on "The Cosby Show." Her movie credits include "American Fiction," which was screened during the OWU symposium. Alexander also is a co-founder of Color Farm Media, whose projects include 2020's "John Lewis: Good Trouble," a documentary film about the legendary congressman and civil rights icon.
Alexander's career began with 1986's "My Little Girl," which led the teenager to rethink her plans to become a scientist. When her next three roles involved playing "a foster child, a prostitute, and a slave," Alexander realized that she needed to expand her skillset to move beyond the stereotypical acting box being built around her.
"I did not feel like any of those things," Alexander told the audience. "I did not want to be that."
At 17, Alexander toured the world with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and at 23, she auditioned for the career-changing role of lawyer Maxine Shaw in "Living Single." As her career progressed, Alexander said, she continued to take charge of her own destiny, right down to how she wore her hair: "I had already made the decision, if there were choices, they were mine," she proclaimed.
Asked by Dailey how Alexander gained wisdom, the actress shared: "You have to have discernment first. You have to listen first and stop talking. … You need to make mistakes to have wisdom."
Drawing upon her experience with the Royal Shakespeare Company, she added: "Traveling the world is its own education. … You get a choice when you see how other people live."
And asked specifically to advise the many young college students and creatives in the audience, Alexander said: "I actually believe it's important to read as much as you can," listing Octavia Butler and Toni Morrison among her favorites, while also noting her love of comic books and children's stories. "To learn storytelling, take a look at children's books," she said.
Black Art Is…
The schedule of events for Ohio Wesleyan's three-day Van Peebles Symposium also included a Disruption!!-inspired tastings menu created by award-winning vegan chef Bryant Terry, an artist's talk from Jamaican contemporary realist painter Alicia Brown, as well as multiple live performances, film screenings, and academic presentations, highlighted by a six-person panel discussion of "Black Art in America: Arts and Cultural Policies from Reconstruction to Afrofuturism."
Among the live performers were OWU professor and playwright Brian Granger, Ph.D., and students from Ohio Wesleyan's sister school Claflin University, a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) located in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Their piece, "Unknown," featured vignettes written by current and former Claflin students about life as college students and as young Black women and men.
The live performances also included "The Voice of Freedom: From Harlem to Civil Rights," created and directed by Destiny Coleman, who also serves as director of Ohio Wesleyan's Woltemade Center for Economics, Business and Entrepreneurship. After the presentation, Coleman and her five co-performers were asked by an audience member to complete the sentence "Black art is." Their answers were both illuminating and inspiring, perfectly summing up OWU's second Van Peebles Symposium.
Black art is … necessary, love, everywhere, love (a repeat answer), now, and beautiful and powerful.
A Labor of Love
Ohio Wesleyan's Melvin Van Peebles Symposium was planned by representatives of Ohio Wesleyan's Department of Africana, Gender, & Identity Studies; Department of Journalism & Communication; Department of Performing Arts; and Office of the Chief Diversity Officer in collaboration with a committee that included representatives of the professional arts and education communities and Claflin University.
Co-chairs were Ohio Wesleyan Chief Diversity Officer Dawn Chisebe and Journalism and Communication faculty members Phokeng Dailey, Ph.D., associate professor and department chair, and Ashley Kennard, Ph.D., assistant professor. OWU's Richard M. Ross Art Museum also supported the event, and works by Johnson will be on display at the museum beginning April 12.
In concluding OWU's second Melvin Van Peebles Symposium, Chisebe thanked everyone for coming and invited them to return in 2027, noting "This is a labor of love." See more photos from the 2025 event at owu.edu/2025MVP.
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.