KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The University of Tennessee's Office of Multicultural Student Life is organizing a conference to bring together students, staff members and faculty to discuss issues uniquely affecting the Black community.
It's part of the 18th annual Black Issues Conference and will feature a prominent author and activist as its keynote speaker. Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman is the editor of The Black Agenda: Bold Solutions for a Broken System, a collection of essays written by Black authors.
She is also a co-founder of the Sadie Collective, a nonprofit that works to improve representation in fields like economics, finance, data science and policy.
Organizers said the conference will also include workshops, giving people a chance to learn more about Black communities. The purpose of the conference is to offer a forum for research and to discuss issues impacting Black communities.
It started in 2005 and around 300 people usually participate in it, according to the conference's page online. The Office of Multicultural Student Life works with the UTK chapter of the NAACP to organize the event, bringing together diverse student organizations, university departments and companies to help sponsor it.
It will be in the Student Union on Saturday, starting at 10 p.m. and lasting until 4 p.m.