Food For The Soul - Lunch and learn with us every Wednesday from 12-1pm at BNAACC!

Food for the Soul, part of the Lunch on Us series, is a weekly noontime discussion focused on topics relevant to the many communities globally within the African Diaspora and our allies.

  • Day: Wednesdays
  • Time: 12:00-1:00 pm
  • Location: Bruce D. Nesbitt African American Cultural Center
    1212 W. Nevada Street, Urbana, IL 61801

Spring 2026 Topics

This year's Spring 2026 Food For The Soul theme is Black Continuity, Creativity, and Liberation!

Each session explores a different dimension of how Black communities remember, imagine, build, and sustain themselves. The series moves intentionally from history to futurity, from struggle to joy, from scholarship to community wellness.

  • 02/04: Lunch & Chill: Reflections of 100 Years of Black History Celebrations with the Bruce D. Nesbitt African American Cultural Center
  • 02/11: Lunch & Chill: Reflections of 100 Years of Black History Celebrations with the Bruce D. Nesbitt African American Cultural Center
  • 02/18: "Intangible Blackness" Creating Indelible History in a Regressive Time of Black Erasure (Presenter: Professor Stacey Robinson)
  • 02/25: Freedom Forum: Possible Black Futures (Presenter: Dr. Erik McDuffie)
  • 03/04: Black College Students Thriving: Healing, Hope, and Joy (Presenter: Dr. Helen Neville)
  • 03/11: Learn about the C-U Reparations Coalition! (Presenter: Dr. Jeffrey Trask)
  • 03/18: No Session - Spring Break
  • 03/25: Black on Black: A Celebration of Black Dance (Presenter: Professor Alexandra Barbier)
  • 04/01: Diaspora Wars & Black Solidarities : Living Black Diaspora Here and Now (Presenter: Dr. Krystal Smalls)
  • 04/08: Freedom on the Horizon: Transmarine Marronage in the Lesser Antilles, 1824-1848 (Presenter: Dr. Tayzhaun Glover)
  • 04/15: Inside Scoop (Presenter: Rita Dove, Humanities Research Institute)
  • 04/22: Wellness in Community: Building Health Together (Presenter: McKinley Health Center - Special Populations)
  • 05/06: Family Reunion BBQ hosted by BNAACC and Black Faculty and Professionals Alliance (5:00-7:30 pm)
Food For The Soul - Spring 2026 Schedule, Every Wednesday12 - 1 PM at BNAACC

If there is a topic you'd like to present as it relates to the Black/African diaspora, please reach out to us at bnaacc@illinois.edu to show your interest.