Join the CCNY LGBTQ+ Student Center, CCNY Black Studies Department, and CCNY Department of Anthropology and Interdisciplinary Programs (AIP) for a special panel discussion on the book "Souls of Queer Black Folk" and conversation on queering Black History Month.

Souls of Queer Black Folk anthology began as a three-panel discussion during Black History Month on the City College of New York campus from 2014-2017. The book also traces its roots to the first black LGBTQ+ course offered in 2013 in the CCNY Black Studies Program (now the Black Studies Department). The title of the course is Black Art in the Age of AIDS and is still offered at CCNY.

The purpose of this panel will be to commemorate these past discussions by bringing in panelists that were involved in these panels and are featured in this book. This conversation will be facilitated by Tod Anthony Roulette - CCNY Professor and editor of "Souls of Queer Black Folk: Queering Black History Month" - and LGBTQ+ student leaders from A. Philip Randolph High School. Panelists include William Gibbons, J. Jwahir Hawkins, and Norval Soleyn. We will discuss how academics, professional writers, clergy, and undergrad students contribute a robust variety of stories, lived experiences, and histories of black queer people and help regenerate their importance. There is also a planned audience Q&A towards the end of the program.

When: Thursday, February 27, 2025 | 12PM-2PM

Where: HYBRID | CCNY LGBTQ+ Student Center (NAC 1/101B) & Zoom

RSVP: Click the "Select Tickets" tab

Questions: Email lgbtq@ccny.cuny.edu

THE FIRST 50 IN-PERSON GUESTS WILL RECIEVE A FREE COPY OF "Souls of Queer Black Folk: Queering Black History Month"

Free food and refreshments provided.

About Tod Anthony Roulette

Tod Anthony Roulette is the editor of Souls of Queer Black Folk an anthology which traces its roots to three years of Roulette convening discussions on black LGBTQ+ subject matter at the Cohen Archives library at City College of New York. Roulette is a published writer on the arts and culture and Independent Lecturer His work has appeared regularly in print and online for Harlem World magazine for the past 8 years, Paper Magazine, OUT, Men's Style and others. Roulette is a fine art curator who focuses on Latino, Asian and African American contemporary work as well as consulting for collectors with major auction houses.

His academic concentration is on Women and Gender Studies, LGBTQ Studies and specific cultural focus on the American Civil War and issues of race and gender.

About William Gibbons

William Gibbons is an Associate Professor at The City College of New York and an award-winning librarian and archivist. He teaches gentrification, Harlem, and archiving and preserving the African American experience. His published works span various subjects, including basketball, libraries, archives, and music. His scholarly interests encompass literacy and critical thinking, youth athletics, and the preservation and accessibility of archival and special collections.

About J. Jwahir Hawkins

J. Jwahir Hawkins is an artist who lives and works in Harlem, New York City. Sensitive to multilayered visual rhythms, Jwahir's work relies on a gestalt of juxtaposed compositions and improvisations to seek healing for herself and others. An award-winning alumnus of the City College of New York with a BA and MFA in Studio Art, Jwahir studied closely with sculptor Colin Chase for ten years, and was an artist-educator with the Whitney Museum of American Art until the pandemic. A citizen-artist of her Harlem community, Jwahir is a creative partner for a longrunning live music series, and interim director of a Harlem-based nonprofit arts organization. Jwahir (whose life is always better when she dances) is the founding artistic director of The Artists Way, a Harlem speakeasy gallery creative space, featuring a revolving solo exhibition of Jwahir’s artwork, and is part of an innovative wellness+art initiative. Jwahir has walked the path of shaman for nearly 30 years.

About Norval Soleyn

Norval Soleyn is the Associate Director of Transfer Evaluation Services in the Office of Admissions at The City College of New York (CCNY).

Norval has taught social studies at Morris High School in The Bronx and at the Frederick Douglass Academy in Harlem, Social Science at the School of New Resources of the College of New Rochelle, Public Speaking at Borough of Manhattan Community College, African Heritage and the Caribbean/Brazilian Experience for the Black Studies Department at CCNY, and Bridge to Success for the Colin Powell School at CCNY. He has also served as the Upward Bound Program Counselor at Fordham University, as the director of the College Now program at CCNY, and as the director of the Urban Mentoring and Achievement Network, or UMAAN, a CUNY Black Male Initiative at CCNY.

Norval has a B.A. in History from CCNY, an M.A. in Liberal Studies from Fordham University, and an M.A. in the Study of the Americas from the CCNY Center for Worker Education.

Norval is a native of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, was raised in Brooklyn, NY, and resides in Hackensack, NJ. In his spare time, he writes songs on the piano and guitar, sings in a choir that features music of the African American sacred experience, participates in an amateur theater group, and occasionally frustrates himself on the golf course and on the racquetball court.

About CCNY Black Studies Department

Located in Harlem, New York, as one of the oldest Black Studies initiatives in the United States, the CCNY Black Studies Department (BLST) is concerned with the African, African-American, and the global African diaspora communities, with a special focus on transnational perspectives in relation to the U.S. and the Black world.

About CCNY Anthropology and Interdisciplinary Programs

The Department of Anthropology and Interdisciplinary Programs (AIP) at CCNY is an academic and activist space for students committed to engaging issues ranging from global economic inequality in the past and the present, to peace building in war-torn societies, to gender and racial justice globally and locally.