THEME: SANKOFA: LOOKING BACK TO MOVE FORWARD
As we are celebrating 15 YEARS of Beyond the Bars Conferences, this year's theme is Sankofa:
SAN (return)
KO (go)
FA (look, seek, and take)
Remembering our past, to protect our future! There must be movement and new learning as time passes. Our past provides the knowledge, lessons, and strategies gained through our fight for freedom and full-citizenship which enables us to develop stronger strategies and tactics in our current movement.
This year, we will feature topics discussed at Beyond the Bars over the past 15 years and also envision the future of our movement together. In our current times, it is so important that we look back at and preserve our histories and how our ancestors and those who have come before us have succeeded in organizing, advocating, and taking care of their community when systems of oppression seemed too overpowering. So much knowledge has been shared throughout the 15 years of Beyond the Bars and we hope to capture and preserve that through our plenaries, workshops, art displays, and more. If you have memories, photos, videos, etc from previous Beyond the Bars Conferences, please submit them here.
We especially want to highlight the contributions of women, femmes, non-binary, and trans people who have led the way towards liberation for centuries but whose inspiring work is often overlooked or co-opted. We hope the conference serves as a catalyst to continue to follow their leadership through these tumultuous times and into an uncertain future.
Conference FAQs
CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
THURSDAY NIGHT, MARCH 6TH: PRE-CONFERENCE EVENT - WOMEN TRANSCENDING COLLECTIVE LEADERSHIP CELEBRATION
TIME: Doors at 5:30pm, Event begins at 6pm
LOCATION: The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
FRIDAY NIGHT, MARCH 7TH: OPENING NIGHT
TIME: (Doors at 5:30pm, Event begins at 6pm)
LOCATION: Low Library at Columbia University
SATURDAY, MARCH 8TH: BEYOND THE BARS: SANKOFA: PLENARIES AND WORKSHOPS
TIME: Light Breakfast Begins at 9:15am - Panels Start at 10:00am with the last workshop ending at 5:30 pm
LOCATION: Columbia School of Social Work (1255 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10027)
SUNDAY, MARCH 9TH: BEYOND THE BARS: SANKOFA: PLENARY + WORKSHOPS
TIME: Light Breakfast Begins at 9:15am -Plenary Starts at 10:00am with the last workshop ending at 3:30 pm
LOCATION: Columbia School of Social Work (1255 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10027)