A celebration is in order: Thirty years ago, the Africana Studies and Research Center at Cornell University opened its doors, ushering in a new era in higher education for black students and scholars. The center's creation remains one of the remarkable, lasting accomplishments of the Black Power struggle of the 1960s and 1970s.

To honor its 30th anniversary, the Africana Studies Center is hosting a public conference titled "Visualizing Blackness," Thursday, Oct. 12, through Sunday, Oct. 15, on the Cornell campus. It is being held in conjunction with the "Blackness in Color" exhibition at the university's Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art.

All events are free and all are open to the public. However, tickets are required for the Thursday night music event at Barnes Hall and the Saturday evening banquet at the Biotechnology Building.

Faith Ringgold, Amiri Baraka and Jeff Donaldson are among the notable artists and academics who will participate in discussions, readings and performances during the conference, which is funded by a grant from the Ford Foundation.

While the conference will focus on the visual expressions of the Black Arts Movement from the 1960s to present, that topic will serve as a springboard for dialogue on current issues related to African American, African Diaspora art and visual culture. Speakers and panelists will take a critical look at the role of art in activism and the community as viewed through the Black Arts Movement in the aftermath of the Black Power and Civil Rights movements.

The conference begins Thursday, Oct. 12 at 5 p.m. in Cornell's Johnson Museum with opening remarks by Cornell President Hunter Rawlings; James Turner, professor and founding director of the Africana Studies Center, and Frank Robinson, the Richard J. Schwartz Director of the Johnson Museum. The museum event also includes performances by poet and playwright Baraka and poetry readings by Angela Jackson, Sonia Sanchez and Haki Madhubuti, among others. Public festivities continue at 8 p.m. that night in Barnes Hall with performances by internationally renowned jazz pianist Randy Weston and his quintet and by Baraka and the Blue Ark Band.

On Oct. 13 at 8:30 a.m., Turner will lead a panel discussion titled "The Black Arts Movement in Theory and Practice" in the Robert Purcell Community Center, following the conference registration, which begins at 8:30 a.m.

On Oct. 14 from 1:30 to 3 p.m., Ringgold, one of the most prominent and seminal black woman artists in the United States, will deliver the keynote address, titled "More than 30 Years of Making Art," in Uris Hall Auditorium. Ringgold's talk will be followed by a discussion panel moderated by Salah Hassan, assistant professor of Africana studies and co-curator of the "Blackness in Color" exhibition. A banquet will be held 7:30-9:30 p.m. in the G10 conference room of the Biotechnology Building, with keynote speaker Barry Gaither, director/curator of the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists and special consultant/adjunct curator of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Music will be performed by Mamadou Diabate.

For further information, contact the Africana Studies Center at (607)-255-4625 or visit the conference web site at .

"Visualizing Blackness" conference schedule: Thursday, Oct. 12 , Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art:

• 5-7 p.m. Welcoming Remarks and Reception. Speakers: Professor James Turner, President Hunter Rawlings and Elizabeth Rawlings, and Museum Director Frank Robinson. Tribute to Toni Cade Bambara, Carolyn Fowler, Hoyt Fuller, Addison Gayle, Larry Neal, Dudley Randall and Margaret Walker, with poetry readings by Amiri Baraka, Mari Evans, Angela Jackson, Haki Madhubuti, Sonia Sanchez and Askia Touré, and moderated by Ken McClane, W.E.B. DuBois Professor of African American Literature at Cornell. Music by Mamadou Diabate.
• 8 p.m., Barnes Hall: Performances by jazz pianist Randy Weston and African Rhythms Quintet, and Amiri Baraka and The Blue Ark Band. (Note: Performances are free but tickets are required, available at the Johnson Museum poetry reading) .

Friday, Oct. 13 , Robert Purcell Community Center:

• 7:30-8:30 a.m.: Conference registration.
• 8:30-10:30 a.m.: "The Black Arts Movement in Theory and Practice." Moderator: James Turner. Panelists: Amiri Baraka; Haki R. Madhubuti, poet, founder and publisher of Third World Press, Chicago, and professor of English and founder and director emeritus of the Gwendolyn Brooks Center at Chicago State University; Ekwueme Michael Thelwell, professor, W.E.B. DuBois Department of Afro-American Studies, University of Massachusetts-Amherst; Eleanor Traylor, graduate professor and English department chair, Howard University; and Sonia Sanchez, poet and professor, Temple University.
• 10:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m.: "Affirmation and Reclamation: Modernism and the Origin of a Black Aesthetic." Moderator: Biodun Jeyifo, professor of English, Cornell. Panelists: David Driskell, emeritus professor, University of Maryland-College Park; Tritobia Hayes Benjamin, associate dean, Division of Fine Arts, College of Arts and Sciences, Howard University; Lizzetta LeFalle-Collins, independent curator and art critic; and Clyde Taylor, professor of Africana studies at the Gallatin School, New York University.
• 2:30-4:30 p.m.: "Foregrounding Blackness: Art, Activism and the Community." Moderator: Howard Dodson, director, The Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture. Panelists: Floyd Coleman, professor of art, Howard University; Cora Marshall, professor of art, Central Connecticut State University; Edward S. Spriggs, executive director, Hammonds House Galleries and Resource Center of African American Art, Atlanta.
• 4:45-6:45 p.m.: "Foregrounding Blackness: Comparative Perspectives From Africa and the Diaspora." Moderator: Daniel Dawson, curator and arts consultant, New York. Panelists: Eddie Chambers, independent curator and art critic, United Kingdom; Richard Long, Atticus Haygood Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, Emory University; Zita Nunes, professor of English, University of Maryland.

Saturday, Oct. 14:

• 8:30-10:30 a.m., Robert Purcell Community Center: "Race, Stereotypes and the Politics of Representation." Moderator: Olu Oguibe, artist, art historian, art critic and curator, New York. Panelists: Camille Billops, artist, filmmaker and co-founder of the Hatch-Billops Collection and Archive of African American History; Michael Harris, artist and assistant professor of art history, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Howardena Pindell, artist and professor of art, State University of New York at Stony Brook.
• 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Robert Purcell Community Center: "New Discourses: Gender, Feminism and Postmodernism." Moderator: Leslie King-Hammond, art historian, curator, artist and dean of graduate studies, Maryland Institute, College of Art. Panelists: Freida High Wasikhongo Tesfagiorgis, artist and professor of art and Afro-American studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Kellie Jones, professor of history of art and African American studies, Yale University; Deborah Willis-Kennedy, artist and curator, Smithsonian Institution.
• 1:30-3 p.m., Uris Hall Auditorium: Keynote address by artist Faith Ringgold, "More than 30 Years of Making Art."
• 3:30-5:30 p.m., Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art: Artists' panel. Moderator: Salah Hassan, professor of Africana studies, Cornell. Panelists: Emma Amos, artist and professor of art, Rutgers University; Kay Brown, artist and art historian, Washington, D.C.; Jeff Donaldson, artist and emeritus dean, School of Fine Arts, Howard University; Mel Edwards, sculptor and professor of art, Rutgers University; Ademola Olugebefola, artist and co-director, Grinnell Fine Art Collection, New York.
• 5:30-7:30 p.m., Johnson Museum of Art: Public reception.
• 7:30-9:30 p.m., G10 conference room, Biotechnology Building: Banquet (Note: Tickets are required, available during the conference registration Friday) : Keynote speaker: Barry Gaither, director/curator, Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists and special consultant/adjunct curator, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Music by Mamadou Diabate.
• 11 p.m., Robert Purcell Community Center: Dance party (with DJ).

Sunday, Oct. 15:

• 10:30-noon: Farewell brunch and discussion, Hoyt Fuller Room, Africana Studies and Research Center.