As the student organizer for the eighth annual Black Solidarity Day conference at Elon University, sophomore Amanda Carter wears many hats. From planning and running her own session to shopping for snacks at BJ’s with other student staff members, Carter has spent countless hours preparing for the conference taking place Feb. 25 in McKinnon Hall.
This year, Carter worked with Interim Program Coordinator for the Center for Race, Ethnicity, & Diversity Education, Simone Royal — who planned Elon’s very first Black Solidarity Day conference in 2015.
“It's a day for people of all different backgrounds and identities to come and learn and grow and heal,” Carter said. “Come with an open mind, open heart and ready to learn and ready to heal.”
Black Solidarity Day began in 1969 as a demonstration of Black liberation, due to the work of Brooklyn College Professor Dr. Carlos Russell. Black Solidarity Day came to Elon’s campus in 2014, and the first conference took place in the fall of 2015.
Royal, who was a student coordinator in the CREDE at the time, planned the first conference for Black students, staff and faculty. The event remained solely for Elon’s Black community until 2019, when it was first opened up for the entire campus community. Similarly to when the event was first held, Royal hopes the conference will build “unity amongst the community.”
“It's been full circle now to see how things have changed and evolved over time,” Royal said.
This year’s conference features keynote speaker Jaki Shelton Green, the first African American and third woman to be appointed as North Carolina’s Poet Laureate. The conference also includes 12 educational sessions and nine roundtable discussions, including one from Carter. Carter’s roundtable discussion is titled “Let It Go,” all about working through past trauma through the form of letter writing.
“Journaling is a great way to free your mind and clear your mind of everything. So, getting it on paper, recognizing the trauma, or the person who hurt you, and then close it up,” Carter said. “When you're ready to let go of that situation, let go of that person, you can dispose of it yourself.”
Carter said she has found personal benefits through journaling, and hopes participants at the conference will reap the benefits at the conference and beyond.
For both Carter and Royal, Black Solidarity Day is a day for everyone on Elon’s campus to heal. That want for healing is reflected in the conference’s theme “A Black Joy Love Letter.”
“Everyone's joy matters, no matter what identity or background you are part of,” Royal said. “The love that is shown amongst one another is how we continue to uplift our community and how we continue to uplift that joy within our own identity groups, our own friend groups.”
While there are over 100 people signed up to attend the conference, Royal encourages students passing by McKinnon Hall on Friday to sign up the day of and enjoy the conference.