Nearly 1,000 people from 30 different countries are expected in Williamsburg next week for the 10th Biennial Conference of the Association for the Study of the Worldwide Diaspora, or ASWAD.

The conference, from Nov. 5 through 9, is being hosted in remembrance of the first enslaved Africans who landed at Point Comfort in Hampton 400 years ago in 1619.

The theme: “Remembrance, Renaissance, Revolution: The Meaning of Freedom in the African World Over Time and Space.” Scholars from around the globe will present papers at the conference on a wide range of topics dealing with Africa and the disapora during 400 years. ASWAD’s members have produced pivotal interdisciplinary scholarship that emphasizes black people’s humanity from African antiquity to Afro-futurism and advances the understanding of global black history and culture.

Internationally renowned scholars Dr. Claudrena Harold of the University of Virginia and Dr. Shani Roper, museum curator at the University of the West Indies, Mona, will be among the keynote speakers at the conference.

Best-selling author Ta-Ne-hisi Coates also will speak at the conference on Friday, Nov. 8, at the Williamsburg Lodge, while noted actor and filmmaker Tim Reid of Richmond will host ASWAD’s inaugural African Diaspora Film Festival on Thursday, Nov. 7, at the Williamsburg Lodge.

A choreopoem, “Dance of the Orcas,” written by Omiyemi Artisia Green, associate professor of theatre and Africana studies at the College of William & Mary; choreographed by Ann Mazzocca Bellecci; and featuring music arranged and performed by Alagbara, will be presented.

Conference participants also will go on excursions to Port Comfort in Hampton, where the first Africans arrived in 1619, and to African-American historic sites in Richmond. During the Richmond tour, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts will host performances by William & Mary dance professor Leah Glenn of the Leah Glenn Dance Theatre, with guest artists Chloe Abel, Janine Beckles and Christopher Page Sanders.

“The ASWAD 2019 conference tells our stories of suffering and sorrow forged in the crucible of slavery, racial capitalism, colonialism and white supremacy, but especially our revolutionary ideals of full freedom by any means necessary to make this world anew, said Dr. Robert Trent Vinson, the 2019 ASWAD conference leader and the Frances L. and Edwin L. Cummings Professor of History and Africana Studies at William & Mary.

The conference is sponsored in part by William & Mary and is a signature event of 2019 American Evolution, the umbrella group of Virginia's 400th anniversary commemoration events.

Details and conference registration are available at http://aswadiaspora.org. A special conference registration rate is available for Virginia residents and their families.