ABSTRACT
With an overall conference theme of "Planting the Seeds of Our Future: Defining Next Steps," Prof. Abdullah was one of the first speakers whose names was brought into the space. Prof. Abdullah draws striking and salient parallels between the 1966 start of the Black Panther Party and the rise of the 1968 Black Student Movement and the 2013 start of Black Lives Matter as a movement and the 2015 rise of the "New Black Student Movement." In both these movements, the tactics have varied, but many tactics have also overlapped with previous movements. And one of the most important tactics in the Black Lives Matter movement is the exact same tactic that started the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which was a literal disruption and act of civil disobedience by Rosa Parks in 1955. Prof. Abdullah talks about the liberation of all of us, especially Black women; Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer (LGBTQ) folks; and those not yet socio-politically conscious.
