This conference features emerging work on black women's contributions to black thought, political mobilization, creative work and gender theory.  Scholarly Panels, Roundtables, and Keynotes delivered by Professors Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham and Elizabeth Alexander will focus on black women as intellectuals across a broad geography including Africa, the Caribbean, North and South America, and Europe.  Over a period of three days we aim to piece together a history of black women's thought and culture that maps the distinctive concerns and historical