African American and African Diaspora Studies – CACE 2026
February 24 @ 9:30 am – 5:00 pm
African American and African Diaspora Studies Presents CACE 2026
Conference on African American and African Diasporic Cultures and Experiences.
This conference is free and open to the public. Registration is required.
CACE 2026: Race and Education
THIS YEAR’S THEME
The 36th annual CACE 2026 addresses Race and Education. Academic panels, workshops, roundtables, keynotes, poetry, and performances address history, memory, unconventional archives, North Carolina African American educational institutions, popular culture, media and digital history, mentorship and leadership, the power of autobiography and intersectionality, music, representation, incarceration and structural inequality, care, and mental health advocacy.
36th ANNUAL CACE CONFERENCE
Our annual conference, established in 1989 with the first conference taking place in 1990, brings national and international speakers and showcases student participation from UNCG majors, minors, and alumni who often go on to careers in leadership and advocacy. Community partners include area educators, librarians, farmers, artists, musicians, environmentalists, preservationists, museums, and partner colleges and universities. Keynote speakers have included Annette Gordon-Reed, bell hooks, Michael Eric Dyson, Cornel West, and Lenora Fulani.
100TH ANNIVERSARY OF BLACK HISTORY MONTH:
AADS honors the educational legacy of Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950), who initiated Negro History Week in February 2026. Woodson, an accomplished historian and journalist, recognized the importance of education and awareness of African American accomplishments and contributions to the U. S. These accomplishments were, in his words, “overlooked, ignored, and even suppressed by the writers of textbooks and the teachers who use them.” He created “Negro history kits” and teacher curriculum to counter this ignorance. Woodson dedicated his life to advancing research and education about African Americans. He founded a press, a journal, and a professional society to support academic discourse and understanding of African American history and life. The son of enslaved people from Virginia, Woodson worked as an agricultural laborer and later a miner while earning a high school diploma. He went on to earn a BA (Berea), an MA (UChicago), and a DPhil (Harvard). https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/woodson-carter-g-1875-1950/
Ongoing exhibits through August 1, 2026:
Weatherspoon Art Museum (1109 Spring Garden Street):
Precious D. Lovell: Harriet’s Powers
Of Salt and Spirit: Black Quilters in the American South