The James A. Porter Colloquium is a three-day scholarly program at Howard University

Howard University

Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...

 exploring African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 art history

Art history

Art history has historically been understood as the academic study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts, i.e. genre, design, format, and style...

 and cultural development

African American culture

African-American culture, also known as black culture, in the United States refers to the cultural contributions of Americans of African descent to the culture of the United States, either as part of or distinct from American culture. The distinct identity of African-American culture is rooted in...

. Started in 1990 by art historian Dr. Floyd Coleman, the Porter Colloquium is the foremost academic setting for innovative dialogue and perspectives from leading and emerging scholars, artist, collectors, and cultural critics.

Over the years the Colloquium's presenters have included leaders in the field, such as David C. Driskell

David C. Driskell

David C. Driskell is a scholar in the field of African American art and an artist. Driskell is an emeritus professor at the University of Maryland, College Park....

, Ann Gibson, Leslie King Hammond, Samella Lewis

Samella Lewis

Samella Sanders Lewis is an African American artist , author, and former educator. Widely exhibited and collected as an artist herself, she is nevertheless perhaps even better known as a historian, critic, and collector of art, especially African-American art...

, Lowery Stokes Sims

Lowery Stokes Sims

Lowery Stokes Sims is Curator at the Museum of Arts and Design. From 2000-2007 Sims was executive director then president of The Studio Museum in Harlem and served as Adjunct Curator for the Permanent Collection. Sims was on the education and curatorial staff of The Metropolitan Museum of Art from...

, Deborah Willis

Deborah Willis

Deborah Willis is a contemporary African American artist, photographer, curator of photography, photographic historian, author, and educator. Among other awards and honors she has received, she was a 2000 MacArthur Fellow...

 and Judith Wilson

Judith Wilson

Judith Ingrid Wilson is a beauty pageant contestant who won Miss Northern Ireland 2008 and represented the province in Miss World 2008 in Johannesburg, South Africa. She is a graduate of The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, where her first study instruments were double bass and piano. ...

. The Colloquium is named in honor of the pioneering Howard University

Howard University

Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...

 art historian and painter, James A. Porter

James Amos Porter

James Amos Porter was a pioneer in establishing the field of African-American art history. He was instrumental as the first scholar to provide a systematic, critical analysis of African-American artists and their works of art. An artist himself, he provided a unique and critical approach to the...

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