Symposium focuses on defining the black experience

A symposium designed to highlight important developments and achievements of black people in America will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21, at the Friend Center on the Princeton University campus. The event is free and open to the public, but advance registration is required by Thursday, Feb. The event, titled "From the Middle Passage to the Oval Office: Defining the Black Experience," will feature talks on a range of issues facing the black community, as well as distinguished speakers, a mayoral panel discussion and graduate student presentations. Princeton's Office of Academic Affairs and Diversity in the Graduate School is sponsoring the event along with the Black Graduate Student Caucus in honor of Black History Month.   - "This is an extraordinary moment in American history, and this symposium underscores the contributions and achievements Americans of African descent have consistently made to American society," said Karen Jackson-Weaver, associate dean of academic affairs and diversity in the Graduate School. "In addition, it provides a unique forum to interrogate, engage and explore how one defines 'the black experience' and what it means to think of this experience in historical terms.