Black Identity Series: Am I Black Enough?

Who makes up the Black Diaspora? How do we create and make space for all expressions in the Black Diaspora? Who defines what Blackness is? What are the root causes for some our intra-communal conflicts? How do we learn about the vast expansiveness of the Black Diaspora? How do we teach ourselves and others about the idiosyncrasies of being Black? How does art, religion, socio-economic class, media etc. shape our understanding of all this:

These are the questions our amazing panelists will tackle in the first installment of the Black Identity Series. The Black Identity Series is a partnership between Boston University's Howard Thurman Center and African American and Black Diaspora Studies.

Everyone is welcome to attend this exploration of culture regardless of race or ethnicity.

Panel: 6 pm

Reception: 7 pm

Moderator:

Saida Grundy

BU Associate Professor of Sociology and African American & Black Diaspora Studies

Saida Grundy is a feminist sociologist specializing in race and ethnicity, her research centers on gender and racialization within the Black middle class, focusing particularly on Black men. Her recent work explores how Morehouse College graduates experience racialization and manhood in the context of national discourses on Black male identities. Her book Respectable: Politics and Paradox in Making the Morehouse Man (2022) expands on this research. Saida’s current interests include masculinity, social justice capitalism, and campus sexual assault, with support from major foundations such as the Mellon Foundation and the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship.

Panelists:

James Hill Jr.

BU Assistant Professor in the Department of Religion

James Howard Hill, Jr. is an Assistant Professor of Religion. He specializes in Black studies, religion and culture in the U.S., cultural criticism, Black liberation theologies, and critical theory. His forthcoming book, The Michael Jackson Cacophony: Religion and the Politics of Black Popular Culture, 1963–1989 (University of Chicago Press), explores the intersections of race, religion, and popular culture. Hill’s work has been supported by the Henry Luce Foundation and the Mellon Cluster Research Fellowship. His cultural criticism appears in venues including Black Agenda Report and The Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs.

Pamela Ortiz

BU Assistant Professor in Sociology

Pamela Zabala Ortiz is a sociologist of race & ethnicity with a focus on migration, identity-formation, and Latinx communities in the U.S. Her research has focused on Afro-Latinidad, questions of race and racism within Latinx spaces, and constructions and contestations of Blackness in the U.S. and Latin America. Her work has been supported by the Social Science Research Council and the Russell Sage Foundation.

Nicole Smythe-Johnson

BU Assistant Professor, African Diaspora Arts

Nicole Smythe-Johnson is an Assistant Professor of History of Art and Architecture and African American & Black Diaspora Studies at Boston University. A writer, educator, and curator from Kingston, Jamaica, she has curated notable exhibitions such as “If we are here…” at UT Austin and contributed to the 2022 Kingston Biennial and John Dunkley: Neither Day nor Night exhibition. Her published work appears in various periodicals and upcoming anthologies, including Beyond Boundaries: Seeing Art History from the Caribbean (Yale University Press, 2025).

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