The 16th Annual Lemon Project Spring Symposium
March 20-21, 2026
United We Stand: Fortifying Black Communities through Courage, Dignity, and Joy
This Williamsburg, Virginia, symposium will take place both in person at the 91心頭利 School of Education (301 Monticello Avenue) and virtually over Zoom.
Event Details
91心頭利
The Lemon Project: A Journey of Reconciliation
16th Annual Lemon Project Spring Symposium, March 20-21, 2026
In-Person and Virtual Symposium
Event is free. All are welcome!
Symposium Schedule
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Friday, March 20 |
Symposium Event |
Location |
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8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. |
Registration |
School of Education, Concourse |
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8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. |
Breakfast |
Concourse |
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8:55 a.m. - 9:10 a.m. |
Libation Pouring by Omiyẹmi (Artisia) Green, Theater & Africana Studies Welcome by Dr. Jajuan Johnson, Interim Robert Francis Engs Director of The Lemon Project Greetings by Dr. Iyabo Osiapem, W&M Sure, Africana Studies, & Linguistics Reading of Land and Labor Acknowledgments Introduction of Keynote Dr. Daniel Black by Johnette Gordon Weaver |
School of Education, Matoaka Woods |
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9:10 a.m. - 10:40 a.m. |
We are the Way: Move Forward Together by Dr. Daniel Black, Followed by Q&A |
Matoaka Woods |
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10:40 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. |
Book Signing/Break |
Concourse |
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Three Concurrent Panels |
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11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. |
Panel 1: Reclaiming the 19th Century History of the Amblers House in James City County, Virginia |
Matoaka Woods |
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School of Education, Dogwood |
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Panel 3: Unfinished Business: An Unpanel with Enslaved and Enslaver Descendants |
School of Education, Holly |
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12:15 p.m. - 1:15 p.m. |
Lunch |
Matoaka Woods |
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Three Concurrent Panels |
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1:15 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. |
Panel 4: Curating 400 Years Of African American History on Maryland’s Eastern Shore |
Matoaka Woods |
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Panel 5: The Road to Dawn: Resilience, Repair and the Power of Stories |
Dogwood |
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Holly |
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2:30 p.m. - 2:45 p.m. |
Break |
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Three Concurrent Panels |
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2:45 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. |
Panel 7: Flesh and Fragility: Recentering the Black Male Gaze |
Matoaka Woods |
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Panel 8: Rewriting 300 Years of Public History at the Rosewell Ruins |
Dogwood |
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Panel 9: Resilience of Communities through Art, Culture, and Intellectual Legacies |
Holly |
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4:00 p.m. -4:15 p.m. |
Break |
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Three Concurrent Panels |
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4:15 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. |
Panel 10: Stolen, Trafficked, Enslaved, Erased: Reclaiming and Retelling Their Stories and Ours |
Matoaka Woods |
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Panel 11: The 2025 Preservation Virginia African American Fellowship: A Summer of Community Research |
Dogwood |
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Holly |
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5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. |
Food, Fun, and Fellowship: A Community Reception |
Matoaka Woods & Concourse |
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Saturday, March 21 |
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8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. |
Registration |
School of Education, Concourse |
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8:00 a.m. - 9:10 a.m. |
Breakfast |
Concourse |
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9:10 a.m. - 10:25 a.m. |
Matoaka Woods |
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10:25 a.m. - 10:45 a.m. |
Break |
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Three Concurrent Panels |
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10:45 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. |
Matoaka Woods |
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Panel 14: Joy, Memory, and Power: How Descendant Communities are Fortifying the Future |
Dogwood |
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Holly |
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12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. |
Lunch |
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Poster Viewing |
Concourse |
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Three Concurrent Panels |
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1:00 p.m. - 2:15 p.m. |
Matoaka Woods |
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Dogwood |
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Panel 18: Florence Barber's Norfolk Diary and the Black Women's Diaries Project |
Holly |
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2:15 p.m. - 2:35 p.m. |
Break |
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Three Concurrent Panels |
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2:35 p.m. - 3:50 p.m. |
Panel 19: It Takes a Village: The Evolution of Black Birth in America |
Matoaka Woods |
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Dogwood |
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Panel 21: Together, Lynchburg Stands – with Courage, Dignity & Joy |
Holly |
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7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. |
Unity Gathering at Hearth |
Hearth: Memorial to the Enslaved (Rain location: Lodge 1, Sadler Center) |
Check out these posters in the School of Education concourse.
- Sophia Futrell and Eliana Rougle, Reparative Food & Agricultural Justice through Collaborative Youth Programming At Highland
- Ashley Nelson, Intersecting Social and Clinical Drivers of Black Maternal Mortality and Morbidity
Thank you for the support of the Arts & Sciences Dean’s Innovation Fund, the Vision 2026 Signature Fund, the Harrison Ruffin Tyler Department of History, and the W&M Libraries Special Collections Research Center, and 91心頭利 Libaries.