Grace Holt Celebration

The Annual Grace Holt Celebration serves the purpose to engage our community of faculty, staff, students, and alumni with emerging scholars and pressing issues in Black Studies as well as provide a space for reconnection and networking. We believe that training in Black Studies is critical for our students as they enter an increasingly tumultuous world and that we provide an important companion to many professions ranging from health care, to business, law, and public policy. This was Grace Holt's vision and we are committed to sustaining it even in challenging times. Each year, we honor Grace Holt's legacy and celebrate our community through the Grace Holt Luncheon where we present student awards and the Grace Holt Keynote Lecture featuring a scholar in the field of Black Studies.

  9. Five people posing with award certificates and one holding flowers
    Professor and Dept Head Jane Rhodes with 2018 Grace Holt Award recipients. From left to right: Jon-Tel Carter, Rasaan Booker, Prof. Jane Rhodes, Tauja Merriweather, and Regina Baker.
  13. woman speaking to a room of guests
    Terrion Williamson, Assistant Prof of African American and African Studies, American Studies, and Gender, Women, & Sexuality Studies at University of Minnesota. Terrion Williamson was the 2018 Grace Holt keynote speaker/guest. Williamson received her BA in English and AAST from UIC and is a former Grace Holt award recipient.
  15. woman standing while speaking to seated guests
    Zakkiyyah Najeebah, photographic artist, educator, and documentarian, speaking to attendees at the Legacy Luncheon. Najeebah is pursuing her BA in Art History and AAST at UIC.