Facilitated by: Angela Fitzgerald Ward and Jessica Lee Stovall

Audience: All – Open to Everyone

Description: The SoulFolk Collective (affectionately called “SoCo”) is a community of researchers dedicated to positioning Black space as a blueprint for more liberatory futures. We engage in multidisciplinary research that prioritizes Black-affirming methodologies to amplify the voices, stories, and lived realities of Black communities. Our scholarship seeks to address the stark antiblackness in the State of Wisconsin and aim to touch the very essence of the Black soul—acknowledging its pain, celebrating its joy, and committing to its freedom through every page of our scholarship. SoCo’s mission directly aligns with this year’s Summit theme of becoming a liberation ecosystem, and connects with all four of the supporting pillars. Session attendees will learn about SoCo’s inaugural oral history project, the Black Madison Archive, and will be invited to engage in discussion on how research can support community building and liberation work in Madison.