Sons & Daughters of the United States Middle Passage
2026 Conference Program
Saturday, June 6, 2026 | 9:30am EST
9:30am
Welcoming Remarks
9:35am
Remembrance Ceremony
10:00am – 10:50am
Keynote Address – Sharece Blakney
Q&A with Keynote Speaker
10:50am – 11:00am
Break
11:00am
Phillis Wheatley Literary Awards Presentation
- Hubert Harrison: Forbidden Genius of Black Radicalism by Brian Kwoba
- Maya’s Exciting Day at the African American Inventors Museum by Michelle Knight
- Charlotte Ray: Trailblazing Lawyer by Nancy Loewen
- Entangled Alliances: Radicalized Freedom and Atlantic Diplomacy During the American Revolution by Ronald Angelo Johnson
- The First and Last King of Haiti: The Rise and Fall of Henry Christophe by. Marlene L. Daut
- Child X by Jamie Mustard
- The Black Family Who Built America: The McKissacks, Two Centuries of Daring Pioneers by Cheryl McKissack Daniel
- Early County Massacre, The: Goolsby vs. The State of Georgia by Orice Jenkins
11:30am
Service Awards Presentation
- Chairperson’s Award – Nikki Williams Sebastian
- Ida B. Wells Leadership Award – Sharece Blakney
- Crispus Attucks Leadership Award – Michelle Cousins Wherry
- William Wells Brown Leadership Award – Jacqueline Long
- Solomon Northup Family Service Award – The Flateau Family
- Harriet Tubman Leadership Award – Ruth D. Hunt
12:00pm
Closing Comments