– 25th Anniversary –
Black Queer Studies Conference
April 4th – 6th, 2025
Location:
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill ​
**At this time, pre-registration is closed.
Same-day registration is still available.**
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Registration for the conference performance, on Saturday Night, is separate.
BQSC25 celebrates the 25th anniversary of Black Queer Studies at the Millennium by convening an intergenerational group of artists, activists, and scholars at UNC-Chapel Hill, the site of the original conference in 2000.
The original Black Queer Studies conference was co-organized by Dr. E. Patrick Johnson and Dr. Mae G. Henderson in 2000 at UNC. BQSC25 will feature a series on intergenerational conversations between some of the original participants and an emerging generation of scholars, artists, and activists whose work focuses on the intersections of Blackness and queerness.
Beyond panel discussions, the conference will include performances, a curated exhibition, and a closing community picnic.
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These events are free and open to the public, but registration is required as space is limited.
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BQSC25 would not be possible without the tremendous support of our co-sponsors, who are listed below. We'd like to extend a special acknowledgement of the Lambert Family Conference Gift, funded by the generous donation of Bill and Sheila Lambert.
E. Patrick Johnson
About
E. Patrick Johnson is Dean of the School of Communication and Annenberg University Professor at Northwestern University. He is a 2020 inductee into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Johnson is a prolific performer/scholar, and an inspiring teacher, whose research and artistry has greatly impacted African American studies, Performance Studies, Gender and Sexuality studies.
He is the author of Appropriating Blackness: Performance and the Politics of Authenticity (2003); Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South—An Oral History (2008); Black. Queer. Southern. Women.—An Oral History (2018); and Honeypot: Black Southern Women Who Love Women (2019), in addition to several edited and co-edited collections, essays, and plays.
Johnson’s written and performance work dovetail intimately. His staged reading, “Pouring Tea: Black Gay Men of the South Tell Their Tales,” has toured to over 100 college campuses since 2006. The full-length stage play, Sweet Tea—The Play, premiered in Chicago, toured across 8 other cities, and to the National Black Theater Festival.
Johnson is also among the subjects and co-executive producer of the film, Making Sweet Tea, which has received several awards, including Best LGBTQ Film at the San Diego Film Festival, Best Documentary Audience at the Out on Film Festival, and the Silver Image Award from the Association of American Retired Persons (AARP) for Positive Representation of LGBTQ People over Fifty at the Chicago Reeling LGBTQ Film Festival.
Sponsors
Sponsored by the Lambert Family Conference Gift, funded by the generous donation of Bill and Sheila Lambert.
SLATE
(Institute of African American Research’s Student Learning to Advance Truth and Equity)
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The Program in Sexuality and Queer Studies
Housed in the Women’s and Gender Studies Department
