Rasheeda Phillips, Esq., is Director of Housing for PolicyLink, Co-Founder of The AfroFuturist Affair, Co-founder of Black Quantum Futurism, and Co-creator of Community Futures Lab.

2023: What is the Spirit of Afrofuturism?

In 2023, the Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities welcomed Dr. Chesya Burke, Dr. Scot French, and Rasheedah Phillips as keynote speakers.

Scot French is an Associate Professor of History, Associate Director of the Center for Humanities and Digital Research, and Director of Public History at the University of Central Florida.

2024: What is the Space of Afrofuturism

The final year of the cycle focused on the space of Afrofuturism. This cycle called attention to both the historical space of Eatonville and the challenge around development and preservation while also asking important questions about the vision required to build into the 21st century.

Keynote address from Dr. Julian Chambliss, Michigan State University - "The Hungerford Legacy and the History of Black Futures” and Dr. Bruce Janz, University of Central Florida - “Where is the African Future in Afrofuturism?”

In the afternoon the Afrofuturism conference featured a panel discussion called Zora Neale Hurston through Space, Place, and Time featuring Rae Chesny, Sidney Rose McCall.  

A Conversation with Julian Chambliss and Ibram X. Kendi exploring his adaptation of Hurston's work. 

The closing keynote featured Dr. Lonny J. Avi Brooks's presentation, "Developing the Mothership AI of Ancestral Intelligence for the Astro-Equalitarian Virtual Nation from 2025 to 2050 while Retaining our Historic Black Towns on the Ground"

On Day Two of the 2024 Cycle,  A diverse program took place in Eatonville. Presenters include Dr. Walter Greason, who presented  "A Matter of Chance: The Hungerford School in the African-American Place-Making Tradition,"  and Dr. Scot French: A Trust Betrayed? Eatonville's Hungerford School in Historical, Cultural, and Legal Context. A roundtable entitled John Beacham, Julian Johnson, and Desiree Stennett: Keeping the Community Informed: A Conversation with the Orlando Sentinel's Investigative Reporter & Hungerford School #LandBack Community Activists. The day finished with a presentation by the Southern Poverty Law Center Economic Justice Team about their effort to prevent the Hungerford Property school from being sold without community input.