This program has been postponed due to weather. Please stay tuned for more information.

About the Program: In this presentation, Dr. Psyche Williams-Forson will discuss her research on Black life, particularly as it relates to food and foodways. Among other topics, Williams-Forson will cover the research guided her acclaimed work Building Houses out of Chicken Legs: Black Women, Food, and Power, which examines the complexity of Black women’s legacies using food as a form of cultural work. 

About the Lecturer: A scholar of African American life and culture, Dr. Psyche Williams-Forson is a speaker, teacher, and author of several books on African American food cultures and history.

She coined the phrase “Black Women, Food, and Power” and has spoken extensively on topics such as food and literature; food and sustainability; race, food, and design thinking; eating and workplace cultures; as well as the ways that Black people’s race and gender have been continuously misrepresented in visual and textual media. Williams-Forson also has written extensively about African American history and life in reviews, articles, and magazines. 

A cultural historian who studies objects and the material work, she is currently working on a research project that explores class, consumption, and citizenship by looking at African American domestic interiors from the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. 

Dr. Williams-Forson is a professor and department chair in the Department of American Studies at the University of Maryland College Park. She holds a BA from the University of Virginia, and an MA and PhD in American Studies from the University of Maryland College Park. Her published works include, Eating While Black: Food Shaming and Race in America; the award-winning, Building Houses Out of Chicken Legs: Black Women, Food, and Power; and Taking Food Public: Redefining Foodways in a Changing Food World.

Date & Time: Saturday, February 17, 2024. The lecture will begin promptly at 1:00 pm. Arrive 15 to 30 minutes early to ensure that you are seated on time.

Registration Fee: $10 per person.

Registration Information: Register online or by calling the Barns of Rose Hill Box Office at 540-955-2004 (Noon to 3:00 PM – Tuesday through Saturday). When our Box Office is closed, please leave a message. All ticket sales are final; no exceptions.